Afternoon Dessert in the Garden with Girlfriends…

It’s easy to let time slip by, we are all so busy and often forget to slow down and plan a little something just for the fun of it! Life has been incredibly full lately, maybe a bit too full…so I recently invited a few close girlfriends over for a very simple afternoon of chit chat, coffee and delicious desserts…to slow down and to make sure I didn’t let another day slip by!

I decided to plan an easy dessert menu, nothing too time consuming…but it had to be truly delicious. These are some of my favorite and easiest desserts to make…perfect for busy days!

 

 Very Vanilla Madeleine Cake with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting 

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
½ cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs room temperature
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup buttermilk room temperature preferred
1 batch Blackberry Frosting

Donsuemor Madeleines

 

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F  and prepare two deep round cake pans, an 8 inch and a 6 inch, by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly greasing the sides. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, canola oil and sugar until creamy and well-combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla extract.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. The batter should be smooth, but avoid over-mixing.
Evenly divide batter into your prepared cake pans, and bake on 350F  for 30-35 minutes. When the cake is done, the surface should spring back to the touch.
Allow cakes to cool in their cake pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frost cake with Blackberry Buttercream frosting and garnish the edges of the cake with Donsuemor Chocolate dipped Madeleines.

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup fresh blackberries

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

2 16 ounce boxes powdered sugar

1/2 cup extra blackberries for garnishing the cake

Beat first four ingredients on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar on low until frosting is smooth. This is a large batch, enough to frost a double layer 8 inch cake and one dozen cupcakes!

I love adding the beautiful chocolate dipped Donsuemor Madeleines around the edges…they make my vanilla cake suddenly fancy and fun..

I made a double batch of the cake batter and frosted the second cake with the buttercream frosting but omitted the blackberries and added and 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice…oh my goodness, so delish! I garnished this cake with the darling and very yummy Donsuemor Lemon Zest Madeleines…

I had a little extra Blackberry Frosting left so I added a dollop to the tops of a few darling little  Donsuemor French Almond Cakes and topped them with a fresh blackberries…so easy and elegant!

The afternoon was filled with laughter and fun…we ate way too much but it was worth every delectable bite!

We may have only been sitting in my tiny courtyard on a busy week day but we all felt as if we had a tiny getaway! After all..it’s the little things that matter most in life!

A huge thank you to Donsuemor…this post was developed in a partnership. Providing the amazing sweet petite and very unique speciality baked goods for this special afternoon was the icing on the cake!  They certainly do “bring delight to everyday life”…I am quite grateful!

Many thanks for stopping by, as always I adore hearing from you…

XOXO…

Janice