You're a Grand Ol' Flag....

Well, it's 4th of July weekend, and for the last week I have seen so many blogs with amazing cookies, cakes, and other goodies featuring Old Glory.  I wish I had time (and an air conditioned kitchen ) to make them all. 

The 4th also happens to be my Step-Father's birthday, and last year, after my first cake decorating class I made him this:

I was very proud of it!


Well this year, I decided to do something different.  Rather than decorate the outside with the flag.....

I decided to make the INSIDE a flag!

I have seen this in a couple of blogs, but most recently, I found it on Glorious Treats.  Glory is an amazing baker/decorator,and she also give really helpful tutorials, so I was feeling pretty good going into making this.

Like Glory, I decided on a simple outside, since the goodness is on the inside.

A lot of cake...

So here it is all built.  I covered it in a thin coat of canned frosting
to help keep it moist and to hold it all together.

I frosted it with Whipped Cream icing.

Here it is cut... so cool I think!

It got rave reviews.  The cake was from a box (Mrs. Crocker spent all that time putting her mix in those boxes, why should I ignore her effort), but I did make the icing.  I used a stabilized recipe, so that it didn't melt in the humidity.  It worked pretty well. 


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In other news, I bought an ice cream maker.  Well yesterday, I went to a local Farm and got some fresh picked strawberries... like so fresh they were picked a couple hours before I bought them... I swear they were still warm from the sun!

Rather than try anything Too fancy for my first time, I just used the recipe that came with it. 

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream:
Recipe from the Cuisinart Recipe Book

1 and 1/2  Cups Strawberries
3/4 Cup Whole Milk
2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
Pinch Salt
1 and 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

First, wash and cut the strawberries in half.  Next, use a Food Processor to roughly puree them.  I left some chunks, but it was also pretty juicy.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combined the Milk, Sugar, and Salt, either by hand with a whisk or with a hand mixer on low.  Mix until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the Cream and Vanilla, mix.  Finally add the Strawberries, along with all the juice.  Stir to combined.  It'll be a bit frothy.  Cover, and refrigerate 1-2 hours at least, the longer the better.  Can be done the night before.  I left mine for about 3 hours.

The I just followed the directions of my mixer.

Here's the concoction just poured in:

 And here it is just before it's done:

I didn't get a picture when it was finished, since I was trying to get it into the freezer to firm up.  It's pretty creamy right out of the mixer, so it's recommended to put in the freezer to firm up to scoop. 

I have to say, I may never buy ice cream at the store again.  This was so cream, and so fresh tasting, I couldn't believe it came from my kitchen.  The Hubby was so impressed!  I love when that happens!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone.  I hope you got to get out and enjoy!