Raspberry Cream Jello

H celebrated her 6th birthday Saturday afternoon with a Pink Hearts party.  All guests were asked to wear pink clothes.  Pink flowers and pink foil wrapped chocolates decorated the table.  The guest of honor wore a pink feather boa.  Her mother made her favorite dinner - Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots.  I brought a raspberry cream jello mold. Of course, we had cake and ice cream for dessert.

The jello turned out a bit thicker than I would have liked but would have been perfect as the filling for a pie.  I've increased the amount of ice so that the mixture will be less stiff and more fluffy.

Raspberry Cream Jello

2 - 3oz boxes of raspberry jello (I used sugar-free)
2 cups of boiling water
1 and 1/2 cups of ice
1 - 8 ounce box of lite cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup + 4 T of sour cream
1 small container of whipped topping (I used fat free)

Dissolve the jello in two cups of boiling water.  Add 1 cup of ice cubes.  Whip the cream cheese in a separate bowl and add the 4 T of sour cream to loosen it up (I used my stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work, too).  Slowly add the dissolved jello to the cream mixture and mix until smooth.  Fold in the whipped topping and chill to set 4 hours or overnight.

Before serving, top with sour cream, fresh raspberries, and mint leaves.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Clown Brownie Cake

As I shared last week, my Dad's birthday was Tuesday but we celebrated this past Monday.  "Papa" as the grandchildren call him, doesn't particularly care for clowns -- he believes that "clowns are creepy".  What better way to celebrate his birthday than to create a Clown Brownie Cake?!?!  I used this recipe from Simply Recipes.  It is one of my favorites and has never failed me.

In addition to this decorated cake, Mom made his favorite dessert -- an eclair cake comprised of layered pudding and graham crackers topped with dream whip.  Refrigerate it for a few hours (or even overnight) to allow the graham crackers to soften.  I must admit it is one of my favorites, too.  We've always made eclair cake with regular honey grahams and chocolate pudding but I think that chocolate grahams with cream cheese pudding or even pistachio pudding would also be wonderful.  If you are not fond of dream whip, feel free to substitute cool whip or real whipped cream.

Anyway, here is a picture of the clown cake.  Not one of my best cakes (I wasn't feeling that day) but not bad for a self-taught baker, I suppose.  Maybe some day I will take one of those Wilton decorating classes and then I'll look back at all my previous attempts and laugh.  There is something charming about homemade cakes, don't you think?