Orange Cream Gelatin Dessert is an easy dessert that you can make from a few items in the pantry and freezer at any time of the year. It works well for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day, bridal or baby showers, etc. It is sweet and rich, yet somehow also seems light and refreshing. It is a rather nostalgic dessert as it reminds me a little of an orange push-up ice cream treat from my childhood. Plus, it is a molded gelatin dessert, which always reminds me of the past. As with other gelatin and fruit dishes, someone might call this a "Jello salad" in the United States. However, this recipe uses an entire quart of orange sherbert in addition to gelatin, so I can not bring myself … Continue Reading about Orange Cream Gelatin Dessert

Strawberry Mascarpone Filled Cake
My daughter usually wants me to make her a strawberry cake for her birthday. The first year she asked for one, I made the strawberry cake with a strawberry filling completely from scratch. Although it was good, the color was kind of muted and not extremely appealing. The second year she asked for one, I made the strawberry cake with strawberry filling completely from boxed, jarred,and canned items. It had a more pleasing color and tasted okay, but the strawberry preserves filling was a bit overbearing.
This was the third year (out of four) that she asked for a strawberry cake. I decided to combine my last two attempts and make a boxed strawberry cake with a from-scratch filling and a home-made butter cream frosting.

The result was a very tasty and appealing looking (well, as much as any cake I make and decorate can be) cake.
This cake was still very simple to make. The cake was just a Duncan Hines box cake. The frosting a simple American buttercream. The filling was a slight variation of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for a strawberry and mascarpone cupcake filling.

