Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake

7 / 17 / 167 / 17 / 16

My go-to summer dessert has always been strawberry shortcake. Here in Seattle, we have the most incredible strawberry farms that provide the largest and juiciest strawberries you’ve ever seen! When these strawberries start popping up at farmers markets in the area, it’s a no brainer, we’re having strawberry shortcake for dessert!

With my kids out of school for the summer, I’m always thinking of ways to keep them busy. I thought it would be fun to let them experiment with me in the kitchen. We decided to combine two of our favorite desserts into one: Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake!

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake

You will need:
(2) 8″-9″ round baking pans
springform pan
non-stick cooking spray

Ingredients:
Yellow Cake Mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
2 cups strawberries, sliced
5-6 large strawberries for topping
1 gallon DREYERS SLOW CHURNED Simple Recipes Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
1 gallon DREYERS SLOW CHURNED Simple Recipes Strawberry Ice Cream
Whip cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat round nonstick cake pans with cooking spray. Set the prepared pans aside.

2. Using an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cake mix, water, oil and eggs on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again until all the ingredients are incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans, filling each one approximately 3/4 full.

4. Place the pans in the preheated oven, on the middle rack. Bake the cakes for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Remove the pans from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack for 25-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, flip pans over and gently extract the cakes. Return to the wire racks and finish cooling completely.

6. Pull ice cream out of freezer and let it melt a bit. Softer ice cream will be easier to work with. While waiting for it to thaw, trim the crowns from the cake tops with a cake cutter or long serrated knife. Cut each cake into two layers (also known as torting).

7. Slice 2 cups of strawberries. Set aside.

8. Using a springform pan, place one torted cake layer into the bottom of the pan. Spread DRYERS SLOW CHURNED SIMPLE RECIPES Strawberry Ice Cream on the top of the cake. Repeat the ice cream layer but with DREYERS SLOW CHURNED SIMPLE RECIPES Vanilla Bean. Slice strawberries and place around edges of the ice cream cake.

9. Repeat step 8, twice. (Depending on how thick your cake is or how much ice cream you use, you may only be able to repeat this once. Whatever you do, it will taste good!)

10. When your springform pan is layered and filled to the top, scatter sliced strawberries around the top of the cake in the ice cream.

11. Freeze cake for 12-24 hours.

12. When removing cake from the freezer, let stand on the counter for a few minutes. Run a knife around the outer edge of the springform pan to loosen the cake. Unbuckle the springform pan side and place on a cake pedestal.

13. Draw swirls around the top of the cake with whip cream. Place a strawberry in the center of each whip cream swirl.

14. Serve and indulge!

Our cake was delicious! A little bit messy but sometimes when you’re doing things with kids it’s more about the time spent together and not the perfection of the project. We had so much fun making this cake together! The Dreyer’s Slow Churned Strawberry and Vanilla Bean ice cream really added another level of creamy and deliciousness to this recipe.

What’s your favorite summer dessert?

Photography by Solie Designs

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. JENNY COOKIES HAS RECEIVED PAYMENT, TRADE AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM DREYERS IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMOTING, HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS STATED ARE MY OWN AND I ONLY PROMOTE PRODUCTS/COMPANIES I LOVE. FOR THOSE OF YOU EAST OF THE ROCKIES, YOU MAY KNOW THE BRAND AS EDY’S.”

Jenny Cookies Bake Shop

6 / 23 / 16

I knew I would do this, someday. It’s been ten years since I made my first “jenny cookie”. I’ve spent the last decade (that is insane!) baking, decorating, party planning, blogging and raising two fantastic kids. It’s flown by in what feels like minutes.

Over the years my husband and I have scouted numerous bakery locations, run numbers, put together business plans and have come very close to signing leases. It was never the right time, the right location or the right price.

Until now.

We are thrilled to announce we are opening a Jenny Cookies Bake Shop in Lake Stevens, WA.

I can’t wait to include you in our progress. Follow along #jennycookiesbakeshop.

Farm Chicks Pre-Show Party at Anthropologie

6 / 13 / 166 / 14 / 16

Each June thousands of women (and some men..) make their way to Spokane, WA to visit the annual Farm Chicks show. The Farm Chicks, dreamed up by Serena Thompson back in 2002, is known as the happiest antiques show on earth, featuring antiques, vintage, crafted goods and the most friendly and stylish curators around. It’s absolutely incredible, a must do!

Last year I had two book signings at the Farm Chicks Show and had so much fun I wanted to be a part of this year’s show. Serena and I tossed around ideas of how I could be involved. We landed on a pre-show party on Friday night, to celebrate the excitement and rev the ladies up for all the shopping to be had the following morning.

One of my favorite stores, Anthropologie, opened in Spokane this past fall. It was the perfect place to host the event! Anthro offers many events across the US in their stores (check the hashtag #anthroevents on social to learn more). Anthropologie graciously closed their store early to accommodate all 150 guests and celebrated with us over drinks, dessert and crafts!

With such a large group, we spread each station across the store. Dessert and drinks were located near the entrance and craft stations were placed around the perimeter. We offered three hands on crafts: Flower Crowns, Body Scrubs and DIY Tote Bags.

As guests arrived, they scoured the dessert table. I had created a 13 foot dessert table with a county fair theme to coordinate this year’s Farm Chicks show concept. The table was filled with hundreds of fair themed treats like popcorn, snow cone, cotton candy and ice cream cone shaped sugar cookies in addition to a gigantic assortment of treats from Harry and David. We had the most delicious cheesecake pops, mini donuts, brownie bars, and their classic Moose Much popcorn. For those looking for a healthier option, I included gorgeous trays of dried fruit and nuts. It was incredible…and wiped out in 8 minutes. I guess the ladies were hungry.

Shawn Chamberlain of Flower Bar Co headed up the Flower Crown station with the most gorgeous display of flowers. She brought in a gigantic assortment of ranunculus, peonies, roses and greenery displayed in glass jars and buckets, reminiscent of a flower market. It was absolutely adorable, I couldn’t get over how cute it turned out!

Women fled to her station to make their flower crowns. I don’t think there was a single head in the building without a crown. Everyone looked amazing!

Emily of Eylander Sign Co led the tote bag station. Emily had more fabric pens, stamps and totes than you could ever imagine and not a single tote left by the end of the night. Women love to craft, that’s for sure! The ladies were super creative in their designs and thrilled to leave with such a great take home.

Anthropologie led the body scrub activity. Their table was filled with epson salts, lemons, coconut oil, mini mason jars and beautiful dishes to create in. I was so busy I never got a chance to make a scrub but it sure looked like fun.

Throughout the night guests were able to help themselves to our Lemonade Bar. You always find lemonade at county fairs so it was just the right fit for our bar! We offered a variety of flavored lemonades: Strawberry Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade and Original Lemonade from Cascade Ice. I included fresh fruit to each beverage dispenser as a label but also because fresh fruit in dispensers looks so pretty! Cascade Ice water is one of my go-to party drinks because it is a sodium free, caffeine free, gluten free flavored sparkling water with a clean crisp, delicious taste. (You can find it at grocery stores all over Seattle, including Albertson’s, Safeway, Fred Meyers, QFC and Winco.)

You can’t attend a fair without enjoying cotton candy so I made sure each guest was offered freshly spun cotton candy. I found the cutest pink cotton candy machine at Nostalgia Products that fit our theme perfectly. It was simple to put together and not too heavy to bring along on our 5 hour journey to Spokane. My husband Dan (AKA Cotton DANdy) was hired to work the cotton candy station all night. He is the best sport! He happily obliged and made women cone after cone of airy, light clouds of sugar.

Because it’s an only-happens-once-a-year event, We made sure to include a photo op for guest to snap a photo to commemorate the night. My talented friend and Seattle photographer Brit Solie flew in to capture all the excitement and fun of the night.

The night was a blast and ended way too quickly! I always enjoy seeing familiar faces, old friends and of course all the new friends who came out to join us for the evening. Spokane Anthro, you are wonderful! Thank you for allowing me to host in your beautiful space!

Photography by Solie Designs

The Art of Lettering Brunch

5 / 31 / 165 / 31 / 16

With summer just a few weeks away, I wanted to host a special brunch before everyone’s summer schedules start going crazy. Whenever I host an event, I love to offer a hands-on activity for my guests. It’s always a treat to get together with friends and even more fun when there is a creative element to it.

For my end of the school year celebration, I settled on an Art of Lettering brunch. I absolutely adore hand lettered design and calligraphy though it’s something completely out of my skill set. I thought brunch with a local calligraphy artist would be the perfect creative activity!

Local creative and Minted designer Brandy Brown of Marabou Design was the perfect fit for the day. I met Brandy a few years ago at a local calligraphy workshop (which I was terrible at..but here I am trying again). I absolutely love her style and talent. She makes hand lettering look so easy. Spoiler alert..It’s not.

I settled on a cobalt blue and lavender color palette. It felt fresh and different from what had been done in the past. My cobalt blue glass collection was happy to make an appearance as it’s a color I don’t use very often. After seeing how pretty it all came together, I need to incorporate it more often. It’s so pretty!

My friend Kelli of Country Bouquets Floral put together a beautiful assortment wildflowers in a mixture of vintage glass bottles, jars and vases. Flowers always make the best table centerpieces combined with a great fabric runner. I found the perfect blueish-purple dotty watercolor looking runner at Minted.

Each guest had their own personalized place setting hand lettered by Brandy. We included all the tools needed for our lesson, which makes it nice so no one is having to get up and down and eliminates materials having to be passed around.

For a hearty morning snack, I made fresh fruit and granola yogurt parfaits and placed them on each place setting. It was just the right size, saving room for later donuts and muffins!

I believe the centerpiece to any party is the dessert table. Because I was hosting at 11am, dessert didn’t feel right. Instead of cake and cupcakes, I created a pastry bar of your dreams!

I found this weathered potting bench a few years ago at a second hand store and had to have it. I love anything with chippy paint! I could just imagine it overflowing with desserts. Fast forward a few years and here you have it! It was filled with muffins, scones, donuts and miniature cinnamon rolls.

As guests arrived, I sent them to pour themselves a mimosa or make a cup of coffee and find their place setting.

Once everyone arrived, I introduced Brandy to the group and we got to work!

Brandy explained the different calligraphy materials and had us begin practicing by tracing letters with a pencil to get a feel for the curvature of the alphabet.

After we traced, we moved on to a calligraphy nibs. These little guys are temperamental!

We filled our pens with ink and began tracing lines. Who knew a line would be so challenging.

Each guest was given a darling packet of note cards, envelopes and coordinating stamps from Minted. Their stationary is absolutely beautiful and they’ve taken it a step further offering coordinating postage. I didn’t think their designs could be any more gorgeous but I was wrong! The personalized stamps are the icing on the cake!

Each guest practiced until they could move on to full words. It was impressive to see how well some of my friends did!

It was a lovely, creative morning with great company and an awesome activity. If you need me, I’ll be practicing my name in calligraphy.

Photos by Kelly Clare Photography

Jenny Cookies Spring Workshop with Wilton

5 / 31 / 165 / 31 / 16

One of my favorite classes to teach is my Cookie Decorating Workshop. From renting the kitchen at my daughter’s preschool 7-8 years ago, to private small group classes, to the last few years of workshops at Romp‘s kitchen, it’s been a course that never gets old!

This past month I taught a great group of aspiring cookie decorators all my tips and tricks for my no-fail sugar cookies. The class begins with an introduction to making the dough to baking perfectly shaped cookies. As we wait for the cookies to bake, we mix up my buttercream icing. The attendees are able to watch and observe as I decorate a sample set of cookies and then are set off to decorate their own! I’m always very impressed with how well each person does (and I think they are too!).

For our spring workshop we partnered with Wilton and gave the space a colorful palette filled with sprinkles. The tables were lined with rainbow colored cake pedestals of dessert from donuts, lemon bars, rice krispy treats and cupcakes to stacks of naked cookies ready to be decorated. Attendees were treated to some of my favorite Wilton products like the best cookie spatula ever, to the cutest ice cream cone cookie cutters and all kinds of goodies in between.

It’s always so flattering to have such incredible people come out to spend the evening with me. I love meeting each person, hearing where they are from and how they came across Jenny Cookies! We had a few out-of-staters from Oregon and Iowa which is something I really appreciate. It’s hard to say goodbye at the end of the evening!

Because we’ve had such a huge response for an online course (work in progress…), I want to treat someone to the next best thing: a swag bag from the Jenny Cookies Workshop! Enter below at the bottom of this post to win all the goodies to make your own summer themed cookies!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photos by Kelly Clare Photography

Tanaka Farms & Mom 2.0 with Tree Top

5 / 18 / 165 / 18 / 16

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to fly down to Orange County to be a part of the Mom 2.0 Conference with Tree Top. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m certain you are familiar with their apple juice! Tree Top is a grower owned co-op located in the heart of Washington’s apple country, and processes nearly 55 percent of the fruit in our state. More than a dozen apple varieties are pressed each harvest!

The event was held in Laguna Niguel, CA. I couldn’t arrive to the event empty handed, so I brought fresh baked apple sugar cookies!

The first day we visited Tanaka Farms in Irvine, CA for a farm-to-table lunch. Along with 15 other bloggers, our group took a part guided walking/tractor tour around the farm and harvested our own veggies for lunch!

After we had each picked what we were going to eat, we washed and prepared the food for the BBQ. While we ate we learned all kinds of interesting things about Tree Top! Tree Top was founded more than 50 years ago by a small group of Washington state fruit growers, who weren’t happy that perfectly edible apples were being wasted. Apples that were damaged by hail or heat, too small in size, misshapen or had poor coloring were being tossed into landfills by the tons. Virtually none of the apples at Tree Top go to waste. Just because a piece of fruit isn’t pretty enough for the fresh apple market doesn’t mean it’s not tasty and perfect for juicing or another fruit-based product.

One of the things “ugly fruits” are used for are dry ingredients. I never really thought about where the fruit comes in cereals, baking mixes, yogurt, etc. Tree Top has become the largest supplier of dried apple products in the world. Dried fruits are mainly for ingredient use, and Tree Top’s dried and low moisture apples find their way into the nation’s top brands of cereals, breakfast pastries, cake mixes, snacks, etc. Isn’t that fascinating? It was great to learn these things I’d never thought twice about while we enjoyed our meal overlooking the beautiful farm.

After we enjoyed our lunch, we were treated with the most gigantic chocolate dipped strawberries. I kid you not, I could have eaten six. They were delicious!

After our fun afternoon at Tanaka Farms, we spent the next two days at the Mom 2.0 Summit. Tree Top had a darling booth with a fresh pressed Honeycrisp Apple Juice bar that we served with a variety of herbs. I would have never thought to mix apple juice with mint, thyme or rosemary but it was so refreshing! One of the reasons I love Tree Top so much is because it’s the only major brand that uses 100 percent USA apples for it’s apple juice. The brand maintains a trained taste panel to guarantee the finest quality in every single batch of apple juice produced. You know what you’re going to get…delicious apple juice!

Crafts were also a huge hit at the Tree Top booth. We decorated lunch sacks with fabric markers and a variety of stamps. After decorating, people could “Pack Some Happy” meaning packing apple sauce pouches and boxed apple juice, etc.

Not only was it an informative, hands-on experience, the view wasn’t too bad! I’m already looking forward to going back!

For more information, including recipes and nutrition facts, visit www.treetop.com.

Indulge Ladies Lunch

5 / 17 / 165 / 17 / 16

I had such a great time hosting an INDULGE Ladies Lunch at Tacoma Mall with Eylander Sign Co recently. The event was open to the public, benefiting the American Cancer Society. It was so fun to meet new faces and spend the afternoon crafting together!

Since the theme of the event was INDULGE, the centerpieces translated just that, indulgent treats like Lindt chocolate topped cupcakes, delicate brownie bites, white chocolate dipped rice krispy treats and gorgeous sugar cookies decorated as flowers. Between the plethora of dessert filled cake plates, beautiful pink ranunculus filled the tables in white milk glass vases (created by Country Bouquets Floral). The tables were bright, happy, and full of sugar!

As ladies arrived, they enjoyed a simple picnic lunch from Panera Bread as Emily of Eylander Sign Co led us in a simple wood sign making craft. I loved watching people connect and make new friends as they made their signs. Everyone’s creations turned out adorable.

It was the perfect afternoon!

Photography by Solie Designs

How to Make a Ruffle Cake

5 / 5 / 165 / 6 / 16

Ruffle cakes are one of the sweetest and easiest cakes to decorate! With a few twists of the wrist, these charming ruffles will delight any guest.

Vanilla Ruffle Cake
makes one 2-layer 8″ cake

You will need:
cooking spray
(2) 8″ nonstick baking pans
Disposable decorating bags
Wilton 104 tip
cake board
cake turn table
angled spatula

Ingredients:
1 box vanilla cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
1 (3.4 oz) box Jell-O vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 batch buttercream icing (recipe card below)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the two 8″ round nonstick pans with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pans tapping out the excess flour. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl and using an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil and eggs on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again until all the ingredients are incorporated.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, filling each one approximately 3/4 full.
4. Place the pans in the preheated oven on the middle rack. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile, make buttercream frosting.

6. Remove the pans from the oven and place on wire cooling racks for 35-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, flip the pans over and gently extract the cakes. Return the cakes to the wire racks and finish cooling completely before frosting and decorating. After layers are cooled, freeze or refrigerate the cakes for 1 hour before decorating to reduce crumbs and make for a smoother icing process.
7. Trim the crowns from the cake layer tops with a cake cutter or long serrated knife so they are flat and even.
8. Place one of the 8″ cakes on a cake board. Using the angled spatula, spread about 1/2 cup of the buttercream icing evenly across the top of the cake layer. Place the second 8″ cake on top of the first, with the cut side on the bottom. Use the angled cake spatula to cover the cake completely with a very thin layer of icing (this is called a crumb coat) to help reduce the amount of crumbs in the final coat of icing. Set the cake aside to allow to dry, about 30-60 minutes.
9. Place the cake on a rotating cake turntable. Fill the pastry bag with buttercream icing. Using Wilton decorating tip #104, start at the bottom of the cake with the widest side of the tip closest to the cake. Begin to squeeze the pastry bag with even pressure while slowly spinning the cake to create ruffles. Continue decorating the cake until finished with the sides of the cake.
10. Starting at the outer edge of the top of the cake, holding the decorating tip with the widest end closest to the cake top, use the same technique, spinning the turntable and squeezing the pastry bag with even pressure to create ruffles around the top of the cake until you meet in the middle.

Watch my quick video for step-by-step instructions!

*Note the cake in the video is a three layer cake. Recipe above makes a two layer cake. If you’d like to make the same size cake as pictured in the video, you’ll want to double the recipe and bake three cakes instead of two. You can use the remaining batter for cupcakes, make a 4 layer cake, or use extra cake for cake pops!

Below you’ll find a few more examples of this decorating technique on cakes:

For more simple and delicious recipes, check out my book Eat More Dessert!