OK, so I'm slow... Raspberry Coulis & Sweet Corncake

It's been a while since I promised these two recipes. And at this point, I'm reasonably certain that all of my plans are made to be changed.

I haven't tried these two recipes together, but now that I'm thinking about it, it might be pretty tasty. Different, but tasty ;o)

I don't have a shot of the coulis, but just think of a beautiful, white square plate with ribbons of deep, glistening magenta flowing over and pooling around a slice of Costco's decadent All American Chocolate Cake (or their plain cheesecake—as served with the coulis at the RS Christmas dinner in 2005 to rave reviews). So striking (and tasty) for so little work, you just gotta love it.

When I dressed up the chocolate cake with the coulis for a birthday party at work last year, I expected the women to add a bit more coulis; the guys surprised me. They came back multiple times for more. Enjoy!!

(In case you're wondering why I'm posting the coulis, it's waaaay down at the bottom of the blog; the coulis was mentioned as a possible finisher for the chocolate 3-2-1 cake.)

P.S. Hopefully, I'll get back to this a little faster in the future. But please don't count on it. Plans change. So much so that I can't belive it's October already.

Greeting Cards instead of Recipe Cards

Clearing the unnecessary junk out of the garage so I can get the truck in has proven to be a monumental task. In an effort to retain some sanity, I've come back from the garage long enough to try some card techniques in new ways (for me).

For this month's Clean and Simple Style Stamping at Hero Arts, two cards to thank the ladies who put on a lovely evening hike last month.

For the planner and idea person:

Inkadinkado 98171•K stamped in VersaColor 19 Cyan

on Neenah Classic Crest Natural

Mat: Scrap from my stash; card is Bazzill Basics Island Breeze 

Interior of planner card:

The same natural stock

Sentiment: Splendid Day 2284 from Hampton Arts,

masked for bg stamp from HA Good Thoughts, set CL 443

both in Memento Bahama Blue Dewdrop ink

Mask cut with Cutterpede deckle-edge blade

I swear, this next card must be made with photo-sensitive paper. No matter where I shot it, or what I did for light—natural, incandescent, or flash—each shot was a different color, and none match inside and outside under the same conditions. None of the shots match the actual card, either!! Oh, well... I still like it in all it's flavors.

This photo doesn't show it well, but the green actually sparkles in the light due to the translucent DEP

For the speaker:

Bazzill Basics card & mat, Classic Purple, stencil on Heather

Dreamweaver LM 140 Lily of the Valley stencil

Paste embossed with DEP and translucent DEP mix

Colored initially with mowed grass distress ink (didn't work on the DEP)

Recolored with Colorbox/Doodlebug Limeade

The interior of this card took several attempts. First, the right color for the card, HA Little INKER (dark purple, but not named) was so juicy that it bled through the first mask (that I was reusing from the blue card). I was also using a different bg stamp that didn't work as well as I'd hoped. So I went back to my Hero collection for a different bg.

Then I tried again with a new, double-Post-it mask. Turns out that two Post-it notes for the mask created a small problem for this all-over design: the bg stamp wasn't giving me the whole image.
I ended up masking the sentiment area to stamp the bg. Then I stamped the sentiment in the open space. This mask was cut with the same deckle edge as the one above, but with two Post-its to block ink seepage, it rounded itself in the actual impression. Who am I to question? I like it!!

Interior of speaker card:

Heather cardstock for art;

HA Butterfly Field CG 176

Splendid Day 2284 from Hampton Arts

both stamped with HA Little INKER (dark purple)

Another Thank-You card, for one of the many angels in my life:

Image from HA CL 449 Delicate Blossoms set

Stamped with Colorbox/Doodlebug Limeade,

Colored with Copic markers

Card: Paper Company, Tango collection, Red; mat: Bazzill Grape Delight

Art on Neenah Solar White

This card is a double emboss for my dear friend's birthday. I wanted to use her favorite colors, and I wanted her to laugh. When I first colored the greenery, I wasn't thrilled with it. However, after it sat for a couple of days, I liked it a lot more. It's grown on me over time. I hope she likes it...

The bg stamp is Hero Arts CG 145,

sentiment is from the Fiskars laugh set

Because I wanted her to laugh, I played some more on the inside:

Stamp sets: HA CL 582, CL 491, and Fiskars

ColorBox (don't recall which purple), and VersaMark

And she did, indeed, laugh!!

That was more than enough for one post, so it may have to last a month or two or three...

 ;o)

Thanks for stopping by!

The 3-2-1 Mix

Ah... Life is so daily! And a whole month has slipped by. But here's the promised mix. I did manage to experiment a little with the 3-2-1 mix proportions.

Press Ctrl and + to zoom in.

Or let me know and I'll email it.

The mix I was given used one cup of angel food cake mix to one box of any flavor cake mix.  I made a batch of  lemon, and that left me with 1-3/4 cups of angel food cake mix, which I decided to use with a chocolate cake mix AND a chocolate fudge cake mix. I combined them in a 1-gallon Ziplock. The 1/8 cup difference per chocolate mix didn't make a bit of difference.
So now I divide an angel food cake mix evenly among three other cake mixes. I just eyeball it at a slightly generous 7/8 cup and it works. If your mix has settled, the measurements could change some.

Lemon 3-2-1 Cake in a 6oz. Cordon Bleu ramekin; barely rounded tablespoons of mix.

Lemon 3-2-1 with Lime Sherbet (lovely when it's 98º outside)

Watch for my Sweet Corncake on the next recipe card.

In the meantime, the card techniques I've been playing with recently (in my copious spare time ;o) will be posted in a few...  

Uh oh! She did it...

Starting a blog is NOT what I planned to do today. I planned to make a card and then get back to the sorting. The card is for a friend who came to dinner Sunday. I did dinner; she brought dessert. The dessert was so amazing that a card was in order. Besides, when we made the "3-2-1" cakes, we used ramekins that were just a tad too small. So I wanted her to see how it came out in the 1-cup Pyrex® bowl; it certainly wasn't going to stay around long enough to show her the real thing!

I'm entering the card in the Hero Arts June Challenge in the "Thinking of You" category.

Here it is (the card):

I used Hero Arts stamps, CL443 Good Thoughts,

the background stamp and the individual flower stamp.

The masked background is stamped with Hero Arts Shadow Ink

Soft Lilac-02-MEMSLI. (The purple matched the shadow in the photo.)

The flower on the front (and the one hiding my mechanics inside)

is stamped with Color Box 15025 Cranberry on pink cardstock.

The card is Neenah classic crest cover, Solar White.

About the Cake

It's simply 3 heaping tbsp of the mix (next post, or as soon as I have details) in a coffee mug, with 2 tbsp water, stirred completely. Microwave 1 min. That's IT! 3-2-1. Serve with whatever you like: raspberry coulis, whipped cream/topping, chocolate sauce, ice cream... (That's black raspberry ice cream up there.)

The cake is very light, not very sweet, and there's nothing left over to tempt you. Not even a bowl or beater to lick. My kind of dessert.