18 minute read
A Birthday Cake to Remember
from FF Jan 2021
by Forsyth Mags
BY LAUREN SEPHTON
Birthdays are your golden ticket to spend a little extra time in the kitchen, as you make your dream cake. It’s your chance to experiment with new flavors, create a work of art in the most delicious form, or repeat your favorites. The possibilities are endless when it comes to baking a cake, from the cake batter to the frosting to those awe-inspiring finishing decorations. However, whether you decide to keep it simple or make it over-the-top, choose flavors that make you happy, to help make your special day shine even brighter.
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You can never go wrong with the delicious classics: yellow, chocolate, marble, confetti, and red velvet. But if you are looking to step outside the box this year, you may find inspiration from the list below.
SIMPLE CAKE BATTERS
Lemon Poppy Seed German Chocolate Apple Spice Chocolate Chip Cookie Raspberry & Vanilla Swirl Orange & Maple Pecan Vanilla Lavender Lemon Blueberry Basil Coconut & Strawberry Dulce de Leche with Toasted Almonds Apple Cider Caramel with Walnuts
TRADITIONAL FLAVORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
• FRANCE: GALETTE DES ROIS
A puffed pastry cake that’s filled with a warm almond frangipane, and often a little charm called “fève” will be hidden inside for a guest to find during the celebratory dinner.
• JAPAN: MOCHI
A specialty rice cake that Japanese often view as a sign of good fortune. • SOUTH AFRICA: VETKOEK “FAT CAKE”
Crispy on the outside and filled with a deliciously warm minced curry that won’t have you regretting staying away from the traditional sweet side of birthday cakes.
• GREECE/TURKEY: REVANI
A cake batter made with semolina flour, then sweetened with natural syrups and flavored with a variety of citruses.
• GERMANY: BLACK FOREST
CHERRY CAKE
Rich, sweet, decadent, and a nice little kick from the abundance of fresh cherries and cherry liqueur.
• CHINA: PEACH-SHAPED PASTRIES
FILLED WITH LOTUS PASTE
In Chinese literature, the peach is to signify a prosperous, long life.
• CHILE: LUCUMA
Layers of dried meringue complemented by fruit fillings and a sweet custard for the frosting.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAKES
• MERINGUE CAKE
If celebrating during the winter months, warm up with a hot chocolateinspired meringue cake that beautifully combines two dark chocolate meringue layers with a fluffy marshmallow buttercream frosting.
• CREPE CAKES
A lovely surprise awaits an admired breakfast treat. From Meyer lemon to double chocolate hazelnut to being tiramisu-inspired, you’ll always be able to create something new.
• POUND CAKE
Delightful when served alongside warm fruit and toasted nuts. For a little inspiration, try a classic vanilla pound cake with warmed pears and toasted almond shavings. • GENOISE CAKE
Most commonly known as a sponge cake, this type of cake is popular in
France and Italy when rolled up into a roulade.
• ANGEL FOOD CAKE
Each bite is very light as this cake batter is whipped only with egg whites and best served with your favorite summer fruits.
FROSTINGS TO DELIGHT
• BUTTERCREAM
By far the most popular, a buttercream frosting is versatile and very forgiving.
A simple buttercream includes the delicious combination of butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract; then add whatever additional ingredients that’ll most complement your cake batter.
• MERINGUE FROSTING
Most often known as the seven-minute frosting, as it is a combination of cooked egg whites and sugar that’s vigorously beaten until very fluffy.
• WHIPPED CREAM
It can’t get much simpler than this: whipped cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to round out the flavors.
A perfect addition to a summer birthday cake, as it is light and pairs delightfully with fresh berries.
• GANACHE
Who knew mixing melted chocolate and heavy cream could add such a beautiful coating to your favorite cake?
• GLAZE
More on the liquid side of frosting consistency, glazes can create a shiny hard crust when cooled on pound cakes, Bundt cakes, and more.
• CREAM CHEESE
Similar to buttercream frosting, it’s easy and makes a creamy addition to any spiced cake.
THREE TIPS ON BAKING A FLUFFY CAKE
• ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS
While the science behind room temperature ingredients is vast, the simple matter of fact is that room temperature eggs help create a more evenly mixed and voluminous batter.
• SPOON & LEVEL THE FLOUR
It’s important to scoop your flour out of the bag or jar into the measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. This can be a defining step in making a moist cake over a dry cake.
• ADEQUATE MIXING
Remember to only mix the batter until “just combined.” Over-mixing the batter can cause it to become tough and deflated in the oven, while under-mixing won’t evenly distribute the ingredients that cause it to rise properly.
Whether you prefer to keep it classic or choose to think the sky is the limit, it doesn’t take an expert to bake a beautiful cake! Book your party at Surge Adventure Park and let our staff do the work – from organization, to set up, and cleanup!
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VALID ON ALL BIRTHDAY PARTIES IN 2021!
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TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AS YOU CARE FOR OTHERS
This past year has thrown us lots of curveballs. Is it any wonder that selfcare is trending? As we get ready to say good riddance to 2020, it might be worth asking, “What if we could give the perfect gift to ourselves for the New Year? What if we borrowed a fraction of our energy use to take care of others and focused that energy toward taking care of ourselves?”
Let’s be honest. We all want to start the new year happy – perfect even. We’ll sometimes make unreasonable resolutions. We expend enormous amounts of energy, time, and emotion trying to meet all the normal year demands: working from home, making sure the Zoom space is free of toys and clutter, cooking, cleaning, shopping, keeping up with children’s online classes, overextending our capabilities and our financial resources. If you throw other COVID-related issues on top of that, the stress multiplies exponentially.
Taking care of yourself as you care for others can not only help improve your own mental and physical state, but it can also help you be more present during whatever limited gatherings with friends and family look like this year.
GENERAL TIPS: • Set realistic expectations. This is especially important around budgets and time commitments. • Plan ahead. Include downtime and time doing things you enjoy and find relaxing. • Basic needs. Basic needs are even more important during stressful seasons and times as the impact of including adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise, and outdoor/sunlight time can reduce overall stress levels.
COVID specific tips: • Reach out to others virtually to maintain a level of connection and to reduce feelings of loneliness. • Work toward accepting the differences this year will bring, instead of focusing on the negatives and wishing things were different. • Be creative and embrace “new” ways to celebrate holidays and spend time with loved ones this year. Some examples include:
- Virtual get-togethers with family and friends
- Include a theme or focus such as watching or sharing a movie, eating a meal, playing virtual and interactive games, a talent show or contest
Follow Family Services on social media for some curated mindfulness practices designed to help you find some calm in this topsy-turvy world. But even with some of the best coping strategies and mindfulness exercises, sometimes life is too stressful to handle alone. Sometimes talking with a therapist who will listen and look for ways to approach challenging situations can help people feel safer, stronger, and regain a sense of control.
For families facing intense challenges that are overwhelming, Family Services is here with essential counseling and support. Our highly qualified, professional therapists provide effective services for a wide range of life concerns and challenges in a confidential, respectful, and collaborative environment.
All of us need help from time to time. This is where we focus.
What If?
Presents the First Steps of Food Storage
BY LISA S.T. DOSS
Imbedded in our minds is the worrisome mantra, “What if…” that spans topics from safety and financial security to the health of loved ones, pets, and self. Pondering “What can I do?” can lead to a proactive decision to invest time in the ultimate insurance policy—valuable life skills comprising security, shelter, food, water, and medical care! In any emergency from extreme weather to a personal disaster, you have the power to take charge of your fate by making plans and taking action!
One instructive outcome of 2020 was the realization that we may not always have the luxury to shop supermarket aisles to locate the food we need to feed our families. We all experienced bare shelving and limiting products per household. While food storage sounds like an expensive and overwhelming enterprise, fortunately, planning and preparation never end. Each month, consider setting aside a small amount to invest in expanding your pantry. It begins with having enough food for each member of your household to eat for three months. With a new determination to prepare, start enforcing the habit of replacing one popular item with two more. The first steps require a plan to buy grocery store products, bulk dry foods, freeze-dried or dehydrated foods, and, in some cases, sealable, airtight containers. Mason jars of all sizes work great!
Grocery Store Items
Familiarity is the reason why we go to the grocery store. Without looking at signs, we know where to find every item on our list. We enjoy the ease of opening cans or packages and having a meal readily available in minutes; but start looking at expiration dates when you reach for your family’s favorite comfort foods. Canned chicken and tuna, soups, sauces, and spices all have a timeline of consumption. It’s important to have “extra” on hand. Young children and teens need the calories to grow; therefore, you know it will be consumed!
TIP: Take time to look at your recipes for ingredients that can be found as a canned good. Typically, the shelf life is two years and often longer!
Freeze-Dried Foods
Rather than placing foods in a chest freezer for short-term storage, freeze-dried foods have a 30-year extended shelf-life, are lightweight, and preserve the food’s nutrients. The number one reason the market for household freezedryers has risen is that the food is delicious, often surpassing Grandma’s recipes! Take the plunge, and consider investing in single items, such as pineapple, corn, Mandarin oranges, or compact meals, namely, chicken teriyaki. Often wanting a “just add hot water” type of meal, Survival Moms and Dads need a viable solution!
Kids and Food
Kids will ravage food supplies. One week, it may be grape jelly, while other weeks will show noticeably fewer peanut butter crackers or powdered lemonade packets. Your shopping may have a new focus, but the family also needs to become invested in the idea. Try reading books together, such as The Ant and the Grasshopper or the Little House on the Prairie series. The lessons apply perfectly today! The goal is investing in our future; therefore, start talking about the purpose of the pantry and how the foods in it can make great meals. Grandmas will love bragging that their grandchildren know how to make homemade pancake batter from scratch, and bread, pizza, and pretzel dough. Not every item comes from a box or a grocery store!
TIP: Start freezing broth in Ziploc bags, laid flat in the freezer, and place beef and chicken bouillon cubes in vacuum-sealed Mason jars. Don’t forget to label and date! Thinking outside the box can help you when it’s most needed!
Dehydrated Foods
The beauty of dehydrated foods is that they are 100% natural, which in their raw form allows you to benefit from their essential vitamins and minerals. Everything you need from eggs and butter to milk items, such as sour cream and cream cheese, and that includes fruits and vegetables, is available in a dehydrated or freeze-dried variety. Your dehydrator may be dusty from lack of use, so consider all the items that can comprise a homemade soup, vacuum-sealed in a Mason jar for extended life.
TIP: 2020 taught us the value of growing our own foods. Whether you grow them in a bucket, barrel, planter, raised bed, or the ground, consider investing in amending the soil and growing fruits and vegetables. Start planting in late March through June, and begin again in August through October! Next Month Presents: Long-Term Food Storage and Containers
The Grandeur of Elderflowers & Turmeric
BY LAUREN SEPHTON
From lemon elderflower-infused wedding cakes for the royals to turmeric lattes to warm your hearts, elderflower and turmeric are bound to keep things pretty unique and tasty this winter season.
What is elderflower? Elderflower is typically an extract naturally derived from white elderflowers grown on elderberry bushes. While the flowers can be spotted beautifully spaced throughout northern Europe, from late May to early June, you may be surprised to find this capturing extract at a local farmer’s.
What does elderflower taste like? Often, bakers will compare elderflower to rosewater, especially because a little goes a long way. Its intriguing taste can be described as fresh, slightly floral with subtle pear nuances, a little tropical, fruity, and with hints of honey.
How to bake and cook with elderflower? Its subtle floral nature makes it a spectacular addition to fluffy buttercreams, lemon-based desserts, cocktails, white wine, whipped cream, fruit parfaits, ice cream, homemade lemonades and sodas, pear tarts, ginger strawberry jam, custards, vanilla bean cakes, lemon poppy seed muffins, panna cotta, sugar cookies, and more. Elderflower’s fruity notes of lychee and pear can add a remarkable touch to many savory dishes, as well, like creamy soups, scallops, crostini, and salad dressings. In addition, if you can spot a whole head of elderflowers, they make elegant garnishes to bring your masterpiece to life!
What are the health benefits of elderflower? As with most ingredients, the health benefits will depend on the quality of the product, as well as how you’re consuming it. Nonetheless, elderflower is rich with antioxidants, especially bio-flavonoid compounds and vitamin C. Its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties are only the beginning of the list. Due to its natural antioxidant powder, elderflower has been widely used as a natural medicine to overcome flu and cold symptoms. While its antiviral properties are most evident in elderberries, elderflower syrup can still provide the body with diuretic properties to help effectively flush out the kidneys.
What is turmeric? Turmeric is a root plant that’s in the ginger family and is native to Southeast Asia. Its early applications s are noted in many traditional Indian and Chinese medicines that are used for joints, digestive disorders, arthritis, liver, and respiratory infections.
What does turmeric taste like? This vibrant root has remarkable earthy notes with an impeccable bitter, almost musky, flavor to complement its slightly pepper spice. Its immaculate flavor is unique, yet it can make the tastiest of recipes.
How to bake and cook with turmeric? Not only is turmeric a natural food dye that provides a remarkably vibrant shade of a warm, bright yellow-orange, but it also offers big flavors to the simplest dishes. Whether used in powdered form or freshly grated, turmeric can be added to drinks, like anti-inflammatory turmeric ginger lattes, golden milkshakes, and morning detox water. Bake drool-worthy desserts, such as coconut turmeric pies, turmeric sugar cookies, cashew butter chocolate chip cookies with turmeric powder, turmeric lemon bars, golden milk cheesecake bars, ginger turmeric cinnamon rolls, and lemon turmeric tea cakes. For savory dishes, turmeric makes a great addition to yogurt sauces, Indian dishes, curry recipes, and meat marinades. For a little inspiration, some ideas include crispy turmeric sesame potatoes, chicken and rice bakes, turmeric chickpea curry, vegan mac-ncheese, savory nutritional yeast turmeric popcorn for a dairy-free cheesy taste, and a yogurt marinade with turmeric and garlic for lamb chops.
What are the health benefits of turmeric? Turmeric’s main active compound, curcumin, has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. You may often hear that a little black pepper activates the turmeric. Natural anti-inflammatory properties not only play a major role in helping your body fight foreign invaders, but they also neutralize free radicals to stimulate your body’s own antioxidant enzymes. In addition, curcumin may help lower heart-disease risks; it has been found to affect the spread of cancer at a molecular level; and has been studied to cross the blood-brain barrier to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
These immune-boosting plants are not only tasty and can add a unique flair to tonight’s dinner, but can keep your skin, mind, and body healthy during this cold winter season. With the endless possibilities, tag @forsythmags with your elderflower and turmeric creations!
More Cooks in the Kitchen
Encouraging the Family to Make Meals Together
BY TARYN JEREZ
You’ve seen the old sitcoms with the family all seated around the table, place settings at the ready and the doting mother bringing out the perfectly seared pork chops on a lovely platter in one hand, and a steaming side of farm fresh vegetables in the other. It’s like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, and for many mothers today, it’s a downright fantasy.
The truth is, fiction is fiction. The average family’s day consists of so many moving parts that it’s typically unrealistic to have one person in charge of cooking meals— and getting everyone around the dinner table to eat is a whole other story! The trick is to have your family tackle meal time in a way that works for them! The best place to start is right in your kitchen, making meals (and memories) together!
Let Go of the Leave It To Beaver Fantasy Today the mother watching that same sitcom scene could easily dissect it pieceby-piece, finding the essence of what’s wrong with the image easily by asking herself questions along the way.
How is that mother, father and children all home at the same time for dinner? Surely her children don’t all agree to eat the same thing without complaining? How does she have time to cook an elaborate meal while working a full-time job and running each of her kids to soccer practice and ballet? It’s okay that the scene in your household at mealtimes doesn’t exactly match what’s on the TV. What’s important is to know your family and the kinds of meals that really bring them together, regardless of when or how they are served. Create a meal plan and cooking schedule that best supports the life each of you leads in your home, and success will follow!
Get Everyone Involved In the Planning
There is no better time to get your family involved than at the very start of things! Regardless of your children’s ages, you can have them help with the planning process. Do you have littles? Take them to the grocery store to help pick out their favorite fruits and veggies, asking them to choose one item they’ve never tried before this week. Preteens or teenagers on your hands? Have them find a recipe on YouTube that they are excited to try and write the ingredients on a grocery list themselves. Those everyday breakfasts, lunches and dinners you create are a great opportunity to teach your family about nutrition from a young age and to build good habits.
Find Joy in the Process
Of course, cooking together may take more time, but there’s so much value in the process. In a house with a lot of hustle and bustle, having time with your family to plan a meal and to cook together can quickly become the best part of your week. Remember that as you continue to invest more time in the kitchen together that skills and tastes will grow! You can make some age-appropriate recipes with your small children, even if it’s something as simple as making PB&J’s for lunches, mixing the pancake batter for breakfast or counting grapes to go in little bags for snacks. Expect messes, whether they come from the kids or your spouse! Who says the family that cooks together can’t also clean together?
Make It Part of Your Weekly Routine
Once you decide to start, ask your family to pick a day and time each week to have all of your cooks in the kitchen for meal prep! Make it something everyone looks forward to! Maybe it’s Sunday afternoons after church and you make a fun brunch as a family. Are Wednesdays after work and school the one time the door isn’t constantly revolving? Tackle getting lunches together for everyone by pulling out all the sandwich necessities from the refrigerator and sitting at the table ready to assembly-line-style some delicatessen deliciousness. If you have a calendar hanging in the house or a family calendar app, add a reminder of which time slot is for family cooking, so everybody remembers to block that time.
When you carve out time as a family to cook together, you can transform an otherwise daunting task into a memorymaking time with the ones you love the most.
