French Vanilla Fleur De Lis Cake

The Nordic Ware Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan is perfect for so many feast days, including today's feast of St. Joan of Arc since the fleur de lis is one of her symbols.

These pictures are from a couple years ago, but the girls are planning to pull it out this afternoon to bake another cake for dessert this evening. This cake is simply a French Vanilla Cake Mix baked in the Fleur de Lis Bundt Pan and then dusted with powdered sugar. If you have a favorite from scratch French Vanilla Cake recipe please share it in the comments below!

The Story of St. Joan of Arc • St. Joan of Arc from  Naturally Catholic • Nordic Ware Fleur De Lis Bundt Pan

St. Joan of Arc, pray for us! 

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New "Catholic Cuisine" Apron!

Catholic Embroidery has recently created a new apron for us embroidered with a gold Fleur-de-lis and the "Catholic Cuisine" blog title! I'd love to hear which color you like best, the burgundy or the brown. I wasn't able to decide so we went with both! Either one can be ordered right here in our Catholic Cuisine Apron Shop or directly from Catholic Embroidery.

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Strawberry Pink Lemonade Birthday Cake

Today is our dear Blessed Mother's Birthday!  We are hosting a Mother/Daughter tea at our home this afternoon so I decided to make a special cake for Our Lady.  

This year, I ended up using my Fleur de Lis Pan again.  I just love this pan!  The Fleur-de-lis is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary because it resembles both the Iris and the Madonna Lily:

• Iris: The iris or "Sword Lily" is an emblem of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.
• Lily: The Lily, symbol of virginity and purity. There is also a white day lily which only blooms during the time of the Assumption in mid-August and is known as the Assumption Lily among horticulturalists. The species here is very similar to the Assumption flower.

I also opted to just use a cake mix, since baking the cake was just one little thing to check off my long to-do list for the tea party, but you could make it from scratch if you'd prefer.  I basically just wanted to share the glaze with you all.  I thought it turned out pretty! 

Strawberry Cake 

with Pink Lemonade Glaze

Cake
Strawberry Cake Mix (with pudding), plus water, oil and eggs to make the cake
Bundt/Crown shaped Cake Pan

Glaze
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup pink lemonade concentrate

Bake cake according to directions on the box, or use your favorite strawberry cake recipe.

Beat butter, powdered sugar and lemonade concentrate until light and fluffy.   Transfer to pan and heat until the icing is quite runny.   Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

Impart unto Thy servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gift of Thy heavenly grace, that to us, for whom the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin was the beginning of our salvation, the votive solemnity of her nativity may give increase of peace. Through our Lord. Amen. 

Thou art my Mother, O Virgin Mary: keep me safe lest I ever offend thy dear Son, and obtain for me the grace to please Him always and in all things. Amen.

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An Edible Bouquet for Our Lady in May

The following pictures were submitted by Seth Peters, from CatholicLand! He made these, using ideas from our various May Crowning posts, to take to the May Crowning luncheon at his wife's school. They turned out beautifully!  

"I made the cucumber roses, though I had to hold mine together with toothpicks." 

 "I made the fleur-de-lis out of crescent rolls." 

"I modified the calla lily recipe to be cream cheese and green onion & stems rather than peanut butter and swizzle sticks. Thanks for the inspiration!"

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Mardis Gras Cupcakes

Merry Mardis Gras! 

(Fat Tuesday in French)

I thought I'd share this fun recipe for cupcakes using the official colors of Mardis Gras, 

with their roots in Catholicism.

Purple=Symbol of Justice

Green=Faith

Gold=Power

*Idea inspired by Family Fun Rainbow Cupcakes*

Ingredients:

~White cake mix

~Food Coloring (red, blue, yellow, green)

~Baking Cups

~Frosting or Whipped Cream

Instructions:

1. Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among three small bowls.

2. Add food coloring to the 3 bowls. (purple, green and yellow)  Combine red and blue food coloring to make purple. 

3. Line approximately 15 muffin pan wells with baking cups.  Evenly distribute the green batter among the cups, then the yellow, then the purple.  As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.

4. Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions.  Before serving, you may remove the paper wrapping to better view the color scheme.  This is what they look like inside!

5.  We added both chocolate and whipped cream frosting to please different palates and to see how both frosting colors reflected the colors.

6.  We made these Fleur-de-lis cupcake toppers from a google image, toothpicks and tape.  I reduced the image to 30% for printing.  You may find it here: http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/3-mardi-gras-fleur-de-lis-karen-conine.jpg  Or you can google images for "Mardis Gras Fleur de lis" to find other beautiful ideas.

~There is much Christian/Catholic symbolism here~

Enjoy your feasting with this beautiful prayer:

~Fat Tuesday Prayer~

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for it is from your goodness that we have this day to celebrate on the threshold of the Season of Lent.

Tomorrow we will fast and abstain from meat. Today we feast. We thank you for the abundance of gifts you shower upon us. We thank you especially for one another. As we give you thanks, we are mindful of those who have so much less than we do. As we share these wonderful gifts together, we commit ourselves to greater generosity toward those who need our support.
Prepare us for tomorrow. Tasting the fullness of what we have today, let us experience some hunger tomorrow. May our fasting make us more alert and may it heighten our consciousness so that we might be ready to hear your Word and respond to your call.

As our feasting fills us with gratitude so may our fasting and abstinence hollow out in us a place for deeper desires and an attentiveness to hear the cry of the poor. May our self-denial turn our hearts to you and give us a new freedom for generous service to others. We ask you these graces with our hearts full of delight and stirring with readiness for the journey ahead. We ask them with confidence in the name of Jesus the Lord.

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Blessed*Mary Mother of God*Brownies

Happy New Year

and

*Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother Of God*

The fleur-de-lis with its three petals

united by a single stem has embedded in its

emblematic symbolism Mary's own

supernatural relationship to the Holy Trinity:

Mary is the daughter of the Father,

the Mother of the Son,

and the bride of the Holy Spirit.

(Magnificat, December 2010)

This beautiful symbol inspired me to make a decorative stencil

for this feast day treat!

Supplies:

Fleur-de-lis symbol to trace

(I used an ornament)

File Folder

Exacto Knife

Brownie Mix

Edible Pearl Dust

(Or Powdered Sugar)

After baking the brownies and letting them cool,

I gently placed the stencil over the brownies:

I applied the edible pearl dust with a small paint brush.

This was the result after removing the stencil:

This was incredibly easy and fun to do!

*It has gotten my wheels turning about what other fun designs to create and decorate with stencils*

"The Blessed Virgin's womb remains for ever fruitful.  

Mary leads us to Christ,

but Christ leads us back to his Mother,

for without Mary's maternity,

Jesus would become a mere abstraction to us.

The Lord wills us to 'let his face shine upon' us through

the face of the Mother of God.  

We serve a Mother who seems to grow more beautiful

as new generations rise up and call her blessed."

~C.K. Chesterton~

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