Butterflies, ladybugs, strawberries ... Oh my!

Two weeks ago today my little princess celebrated her fifth birthday! At the risk of sounding oh-so-cliche, I cannot believe five years have passed already. She seems quite grown up for her age--and as I too was always much too mature for my own good, I see a lot of myself in her. One key difference, however, is that she is much more outgoing than her Mommy...and that's a good thing. Aside from that she possesses much of the personality I do: she's got my love of reading, my romanticism, my creativity, my stubbornness, my affinity for perfection, my willingness to keep trying and--as most who know us can attest--she looks exactly like me ... my very own little clone!

We celebrated her birthday with family and friends and I made this special cake:

Inside was a buttery vanilla cake with layers of fresh cream whipped with Mascarpone cheese and dotted with sliced strawberries that were tossed in some sugar and raspberry preserves. The flowers, ladybugs, butterflies and strawberries on the cake's exterior were all molded from gumpaste and hand painted with some food-safe color dust mixed with lemon extract. The grass and basket-weave design were made of freshly whipped meringue buttercream frosting. All for my little girl ...

Keik me Fraoules kai Karydia--Strawberry Walnut Loaf

Strawberry season is on and our local fruit and vegetable markets are brimming with containers of these ripe red berries. The kiddies can eat an entire quart in the blink of an eye so I barely ever get to set some aside for anything (or, ehem, anyone) else. But as strawberries now are ridiculously fresh and really inexpensive, I didn't hesitate to buy a few extra the other day.

I love quick fresh cakes that double as a breakfast option and a healthy snack. So it was a no-brainer that any extra strawberries on hand would make it into one such sweet treat. Moist, just sweet enough and loaded with fresh strawberries this Strawberry and Walnut Loaf is the perfect way to put your strawberries to good use.

As Happy Cook of My Kitchen Treasures is hosting the event Strawberry Feast, I am sending this her way.



Strawberry Walnut Loaf

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

Stir in half of the flour mixture, then all the yogurt and finally the remaining flour. Mix in the sliced strawberries and walnuts until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in center of oven for about 40 minutes, until golden or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack.

Note: To dress this simple treat up, drizzle a simple glaze over top or serve with freshly whipped cream.