All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

borscht and birthday cake



My birthday was last week, but it was only yesterday that I found time for my little home celebration.

I've had a stack of recipes from other bloggers I wanted to try, so my treat to myself was pulling out two that looked delicious and cheerful: Sass & Veracity's white velvet cake, and Dr. Zhivago Borscht(!) by the naked beet.

The borscht was a gorgeous color, and lighter in flavor than I thought it would be - the only change I made was to use half water/half beef (you can use vegetable) stock, and reduce the amount to 6 cups, instead of 10. I couldn't find juniper berries, so I added a small handful of chopped parsley, in addition to the fresh dill.

I only made a half recipe (only one layer) for Kelly's cake, and I used my own cream cheese frosting. The white velvet cake took an extra 15 minutes to bake, but what a wonderful crumb it had - definitely a keeper!

Sass & Veracity's White Velvet cake (scroll way down the page)

My thanks to everyone for all the birthday greetings!

6 comments:

kellypea said...

I love the scroll WAY down the page part. haha! I have way too many words for just one person. I swear.

You know, I'm forever finding things take different amounts of time to bake as well. This is the recipe I just made last week, but because I used 6" pans there was a lot of batter in each one. I think each took about 50 minutes. I'm so horrible at taking notes when I bake any more. Anyhoo -- glad it turned out for your birthday. The color of your borscht is gorgeous!

katrina said...

Hey- I LOVE your thoughtful musings, Kelly! I'm usually posting under pressure (*roll eyes*), like, "Oh good grief, I'm three days late and I have to do this NOW". I'm so bad at deadlines, which is why I love your easy going posts so much. Maybe sometime I'll learn. I do think I overbaked by about 5 minutes, but the cake came out wonderfully anyway.

Marianne said...

Happy Birthday, Katrina! I love your choice of a birthday menu ... borscht and birthday cake! WooHoo!

katrina said...

Isn't that crazy, Marianne - but oh, so me:) Thanks for the good wishes!

Elina said...

Glad you found a way to alter the borscht to your liking! This was always something we made without meat stock, so that's what makes it lighter in flavor. Happy belated birthday!

katrina said...

Elina - thanks for commenting - and bringing this soup to my attention after 3 years! I remember it was delicious , and high time I made it again!