A Birthday Cake

I saw this cake on Pinterest a while back and have always wanted to recreate it and I finally did on Mother's Day. It turned out amazingly and was such a light summery cake that when my mom's birthday came along we decided to make it again. I assembled the cake at my grandmas house on Mother's Day and forgot my camera and iPod so I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but this time I made sure to take get some good shots. I remember reading the recipe and getting the gyst of what was required for it and took it from there.
First you will need a really good/trusty sponge cake, the recipe I used was a double batch of the Lazy Daisy cake found in the Company's coming Cake recipe book. Poured into a 13" spring form pan and cut into three layers, I brushed each layer with a generous amount of simple syrup (equal parts sugar to water warmed up for a couple minutes in the microwave). I learned in my Sugar Baby recipe book by Gesine Bullock-Prado that bakeries brush simple syrup on all their cakes to help keep them moist! I would suggest letting that sit for a couple of hours (or overnight properly sealed up) so that it gets a chance to soak right through. The end result of the cake ends up being layers that consist of cake --fresh raspberry jam (for its tartness -- store bought black currant would be a good alternative) --whipped cream -- chopped pistachios -- blackberries (placed strategically around the edge so you can see them peeking through) -- and repeat for all three layers. For the top and around the edges I even sprinkled some purple rose petals on the one I made for Mother's Day.

I've also found that if you let the cake settle for a couple of hours before you cut it, it is much much easier -- this one was assembled before supper and eaten right after and it was quite the mess trying to get the pieces onto plates, the one we had for Mother's Day however was a breeze to cut but, it was sitting for awhile before we ate it.

This past week went by so fast I can't even believe it! I received my iPad mini on Monday which got me very excited to be able to be back on Instagram and twitter again - my iPod crapped out on me (it had gone through so much in the nearly 3 years I had it that it just had enough)! Anyways so that's one reason I kind of went MIA on the Internet the other is pure laziness I guess.
We have had quite the summer here, a mix of really warm muggy days and a generous amount of rain! I keep thinking I need to take a picture of the beautiful canola fields that surround our acreage before they are done flowering. They have been especially brilliant the past couple weeks it's been sunny with a few dark rain clouds so everything looks sort of gloomy but the sun shining on the fields makes the canola look as if it is glowing neon yellow -- quite the contrast to the dark grey sky! Perhaps that will be in my next post...
I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and let me know if you try out the cake!

P.S. The blackberry-pistachio cupcakes I featured on here a couple of weeks ago was the cupcake version inspired by this cake!

Beach Days

Better late than never I guess! These are some pics from the Canada Day long weekend. We spent Sunday and Monday lounging on the beach, and thank goodness we did because was it ever hot!

 

These two rascals came out of the bush on Sunday just as we were packing up to go back home and ofcourse that created quite the sensation with these youngsters! The deer at Shaw's Point are pretty tame until they don't want to be anymore so you should be pretty careful (as someone warned them after I snapped this shot).

Some of our extended family joined us on Canada Day and we got to enjoy some ice cream sandwiches that I made! They were pretty tasty!  I got the recipe from Martha Stewart and they were really easy to make actually. My favourite was the vanilla ice cream, coated with candied almonds, the one above is just mint chocolate chip.

What a busy couple weeks it has been! I just started my full-time job at the cooperators on the 2nd so a lot of my time and energy has been devoted to that. It was quite the shock information wise!! I came home my first day with a splitting headache and a dread to go back to work, because how was I possibly supposed to remember all of that! Well I'm just starting my second week and it has already gotten a lot better, I am still being "trained" but I am finding my way around.

From now on I'm counting down the days till the weekend...that will be my life :P On the plus side I'm making money and can look forward to a possible Europe trip in the spring(!?)

The end of the beginning...

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 

~ Winston Churchill

As of now I have one more exam left and then my High School career is officially over, it's definitely a bitter sweet moment. I have always loved school, learning, solving problems, writing etc. it's challenged me and I did my best to compete and reach my highest potential. I'm going to miss that I think -- the pressure and incentives that pushed me to reach new levels. In the real world you aren't necessarily measured on the same criteria as you are in school, you aren't "graded"per se. 

Right now, facing a gap year to work and perhaps travel, I know the thing I will miss most though is the social aspect of school. A typical day at school for me this semester was probably, 40% learning/working, 60% socializing/goofing around! Our teacher's are really cool, most of them anyway haha, I'd say about 30% of that goofing around was initiated by our teachers! It helped that our class was really small and chill, the teachers liked the break from the large and obnoxious freshman/sophomore classes!

I am uncertain about what will happen after this year is over. University has always been something I've wanted to do…I am also toying with the idea of Pastry school…a semester abroad…the possibilities are endless, and quite daunting I must say.

On another note the sun is finally out! We have had constant rain and overcast days for probably over 2 weeks -- it was starting to feel like winter on the west coast! The boys planted a vegetable garden a couple of weeks ago and Christian has been keeping it in pretty good condition so far! It will be interesting to see what comes out of it this summer. 

The past two weeks I've been baking on a more summery theme -- light and fresh -- it also looks like blackberries have played a role in executing that as well ;)

And this is a candid shot of Calder and Christian, messing around with my camera when I was in the grocery store! I think I just got the last laugh…haha

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week,

Bronté xo

Hello there...

A Certain Type

...it's been awhile...a month actually...

Time has a way of creeping by slowly and than suddenly you blink and it's been a week. That has been my last couple of weeks really, "the first 5 days after the weekend are the hardest!" I keep finding myself just living for Friday and the weekend -- trying to get through the week unscathed and in relatively good condition -- which isn't the greatest thing because you end up missing all of those little moments that make up the good things in life...As for what I've been doing in-between then, not a whole lot I suppose but I have managed to be pretty busy, surprisingly.

During May long (Victoria Day) I spent half of my time baking for my job and the other half at the lake (Lesser Slave Lake). My grandparents own a rather old, but loved, cabin out on Shaw's Point and my Aunt and Uncle were down with there boat so we went wake-boarding -- this was Sunday and the ice just got off the lake the Tuesday before! I should mention that my cousins wake-boarded and I only attempted to wake-board -- I got up right away but I couldn't quite master the balancing aspect and being able to shift my board so it was parallel with the rope...my muscles gave up due to the cold water before I did, which resulted in a very sore and stiff me for the next couple of days!

The weekend after, I believe, I went to Edmonton Friday afternoon for YC Alberta 2013 This is Love! If you don't know what YC is, it's a Christian youth conference put on by Extreme Dream Ministries and it is basically a very fun filled weekend with a bunch of speakers and different bands. (My favourite year was last year when Switchfoot was their main band!) I wasn't planning on going this year but my Aunt and Uncle graciously provided me with a ticket and I am truly grateful because I think this might have been my last year and it was really fun/inspirational. Sometimes you just need that little pick me up!

We came back late Sunday night and then another mundane week at school recommenced and that Friday afternoon I left for Edmonton again, except this time with Christian and Blythe (my older brother and sister)! We  spent the evening shopping at West Edmonton Mall, and I was able to get some clothes for my desk job I'll be starting July 2nd :/ !! Saturday morning we lazily got ready and then me and Christian dropped Blythe off at South Edmonton Common and made our way to Christian's friend's wedding ceremony. There was like 5 hours between the ceremony and the reception so we joined Blythe and shopped at the outlet stores in South Edmonton Common afterwards. We then went back for the reception and had a fairly good night! (I didn't know anyone at the wedding but it ended up being fine, there was a group of girls that we hung out with from his school so that was nice.) Sunday we packed up went to my brother's church, Central Baptist, which Ryan Smyth from the Edmonton Oilers attends -- fun fact ;) -- and headed home!

I feel like this upcoming weekend is the first time in like 2 or 3 weeks that I get to actually sleep in, in my own bed! It should be good!

*sigh and my exams have officially started...I had my first in-school final on Thursday for Social Studies Part A (written -- Part B is multiple choice) -- in-school finals are only worth 5% so it wasn't that nerve wracking but it still wasn't fun staring at a computer screen for 3 hours trying to write as much of a well planned essay as you can in the 10  minutes you can actually a lot to planning. (You need all the time you can get just to spit every fact/piece of information that you can remember out on the page!)

I have three exams next week including my first diploma which I am not looking forward to...Needless to say my days have been looking like this:
Wake-up, eat, school, eat, study, sleep -- it's great... :P

I am done school, including High School as well as exams on the 21st of June...Oh Happy Day! It's actually going to be quite bitter sweet I think...it'll be the first day of the rest of my life...most everyone is going away to university in the fall but I'm taking a gap year to work, mature (hopefully haha) and make money so I can actually pay for my schooling...

Well anyway I've rambled and written this big long post, but it's good to be able to get this out and hopefully I can keep up and create some more consistent posts on here...

I hope you have an amazing weekend!

Bronte xo

It's a time of celebration...

The celebration of my brother's birthday that we had last week

The celebration of summer (I think we skipped spring)

The celebration of Cinço de Mayo

Last week was my brother's 22nd birthday! My mom made the cake and I iced the rosettes, we celebrated with our cousins, grandparents and aunt, meanwhile the wind was howling and snow was covering the recently uncovered brown grass!

Our cousin-in-law from England asked if I was surprised about the weather (because it was promising to be spring before this unfortunate event!), impulsively I said, "Yeah!" and then I thought for a second, "Actually, no…I'm not…haha" -- or we shouldn't be anyway, sad as it is. 

If you don't like the weather -- wait 5 minutes. 

And if that wasn't shocking enough a week later (Sun-Mon) we had +30 weather! You definitely don't get used to the strange weather in Alberta's fall/spring but you can't say that your ever surprised at the fluctuating temperatures. 

Sunday was Cinço de Mayo, did anyone celebrate? We always make a point to have some sort of Mexican food for the holiday every year. It's sort of a tradition I guess…

I am recently obsessed with the band Bastille! It's crazy how good his voice is and the style of the music is definitely right down my alley. These are my favourite songs Pompeii (this live version is awesome) and Flaws.

My dad showed me this commercial for Travel Alberta, it makes me feel proud of the country/province that I live in! It is seriously a beautiful place and if you ever wish to see more of North America, Alberta should be part of your itinerary!

Have a wonderful rest of the week

xo Bronté

It's moments like these...

I love dressing up for no reason.

I love experimenting with my makeup.

I love the first sip of hot tea after a long day at school.

I love when all of our family is together just hanging out.

I love being able to capture a moment with just a click of a camera.

I love when I'm nearing the end of a book and I find myself pausing to soak it in before I move on.

I love the feeling of pulling on my favourite pair of jeans and t-shirt combo on days that just don't start out right.

Currently...

watching: Call the Midwife! Every Sunday night my sister and my mom and I watch this very cute BBC series. It's on the second season, but the first is on iTunes. It's about these midwives on the east end of London in the 60's who live, work and study midwifery with some nuns at an abbey called Nonnatus House. It's based on a true story and you can even read the biography (of the same name) written by one of the midwives, Jenny!
listening to: Panic Cord by Gabrielle Aplin. I came across this singer by accident on YouTube and fell in love with her music!
thinking about: I've been thinking about my grad off and on this month, we've had to bring in a baby picture for the PowerPoint that's playing during the ceremony and I've been trying to find a good song clip for my 30 sec I get to walk down with my escort! (It's more difficult then you would think!)
looking forward to: I'm looking forward to next Friday when we are going to Edmonton to pick up Christian from University and maybe do a bit of shopping…?!!
reading: I just finished Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth (which was really good), but I am currently reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, I decided to jump on the bandwagon (I'm a little late!) and read it before the movie comes out.
making me happy: the return of the Canadian Geese! In Canada, well at least Northern Alberta, spring is not marked by blooming trees, green grass, 20+ weather or budding leaves because all of that marks the beginning of summer, but the melting of snow, big lake sized puddles, mud, slush and Canadian Geese are what suggests that spring has sprung! There is a fairly big puddle in a farmers field by our property that is housing a flock of Geese returning from warmer weather (they are probably keeners because it is a bit early with all the snow we have left, but they'll get first pick on nesting grounds once they settle in their homes a little farther north -- their not so dumb!) ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you live further south where the grass is green and the sun shines strong, soak it in and enjoy it for all the northerners who have to wait a couple weeks longer!