I wish I could be one of those bloggers that can stage an entire holiday party before the holiday and post it for all to see. It would be nice to have those ideas, say, two weeks before the holiday so you can plan if you want to replicate such ideas.
Well, maybe someday, but that didn't happen this time. So you get to see my Fourth of July celebration on the fifth of July.
We hosted a barbecue for a small group of friends. In total, there was about twenty people. Just enough to get some real mingling going. Just enough for one fantastic cake.
I'm kicking myself for forgetting to take a photo of a cake slice. It was my first attempt at a four layer cake (meaning I split the two layers in half and added more filling), and it actually worked! It was a lemon cake,
lemon cake mix+lemon pudding mix+zest and juice of one lemon+milk, oil, eggs
with lemon curd and raspberry jam fillings. It was delicious. I used this Gale Gand recipe for the buttercream frosting and it was the best I've ever had. (A dream to work with and to eat.) Obviously, I dressed the sides with coconut and the top with blueberries and raspberries. The star idea came from here.
I gussied up our plastic utensils with some ribbon-adorned jars, adapted from Christine's idea.
We had lots of other barbecuey foods, as well. Hubs grilled some tasty meat, and all the guests brought wonderful salads. But my contribution was the cake and the table. If I remember, I'll post this again next year. Say...mid June? :)
