Making Lilac Lemonade

The jar on the right contains lilac syrup. I made this a couple of weeks ago when the lilacs were in bloom in my garden. My plan is to serve lilac lemonade at the upcoming reception.

My first attempt at lilac syrup turned out very pungent, so much so that I diluted that batch substantially with additional plain simple syrup. The end result was pleasantly floral when mixed with lemon juice and water.

Lilacs don't naturally impart their beautiful hues to the syrup, so I dyed this batch with the blueberry juice from a thawed bag of blueberries. It's now a beautiful shade of, well, lilac. The carafe to the left contains lilac lemonade. I'll fill my thrifted punch bowl with lilac lemonade for one of two beverages.  We have some lovely magenta roses just beginning to bloom in our garden. Keeping with the floral theme of the lemonade, I plan on making an ice ring filled with rose petals. The second beverage will be a decaffeinated spiced tea, which I'll keep hot in my large crockpot. In addition, I'll also serve water in repurposed cider bottles.

Did you know that lilac blossoms are edible? I didn't until a friend told me just a few weeks ago. You can use the blossoms in scones, tea cakes, and poundcake. In addition to lemonade, the lilac syrup is also delightfully floral when added to a pot of plain black tea. The syrup keeps in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or in the freezer for several months.

Advance Preparations for a Big Party: The Cake

So, I'm working on menu items for the graduation reception for my daughter. I am preparing as much as I can ahead of time and freezing. I figure that if I do at least one thing toward the reception each day, I should be able to put this together as much from scratch as possible, without fully exhausting myself. The other day, I baked the cake part of a quarter sheet carrot cake and two dozen cream puffs (using the recipe in this post, but making 24 cream puffs instead of the recipe's yield of 12-15). I stashed both in my freezer. I'll frost the cake and fill the cream puffs the morning of the reception.

I was pricing sheet cakes at WinCo the other morning. Their quarter sheet carrot cakes begin at $19.98.  By baking my own cake from scratch, I believe that I will save at least $12, and I think it will taste much better.

I wanted to make my cake look as much like a bakery cake as I could, so that meant taking it out of the pan to frost the sides as well as the top. I baked the layers in a 9 X 13-inch rectangular pyrex baker. If you've ever tried to get an entire cake out of an extra large pan, you know that keeping it from cracking is a bit tricky. I followed a trick of my mother's and lined the baker with waxed paper.

My mother would grease and flour the sides and bottom of the baker, then line it with waxed paper, using one sheet across the length of the pan and another across the width. There would be overhang on all four sides. After lining the pan, she would brush oil lightly on the waxed paper, to ensure the cake would release without pitting. She allowed the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a rack. After this brief cooling, she would lift the cake out of the pan, using the overhang on the long ends as handles. After another 10 minutes of cooling, the cake would be carefully turned onto a large rack, and the waxed paper would be peeled off. I can tell you, this worked like a charm for me. I was able to get both layers out of the large baker without sticking to the pan or developing cracks.