Friday Chat: Flowers and Cake

" Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need

For this bright morning dawning for you... "

MAYA ANGELOU, 'On the Pulse of Morning'

We interrupt this blog post. I posted this earlier today, but for some reason B-l-o-g-g-e-r had issues with it and removed the post and comments that were attached to it. They said the post breeched content guidelines. I'm scratching my head for I cannot imagine what—it has to be a glitch of some kind. I'm now re-posting it. The text remains the same but I changed the title and lead photo. So with fingers crossed and a little prayer whispered, I press publish. Hope everything works now. (I've backed up my blog, just in case.)

Spring is still in its early stages around here, and although things are coming to life in the garden and trees are unfolding tender green leaves, there's still not much to show you yet. There are barely buds on the lilacs, and we're still not sure if our somewhat hardy roses survived the winter. With fingers crossed, we keep checking for signs of life.

The greenhouses are humming with excited gardeners. I did a curbside pickup the other day for some plants I ordered: several pots of hollyhocks 'Radiant Rose' (rose pink) and 'Las Vegas' (multi-colours) and three climbing perennials—a container of fast growing hops to screen an area, a 'Doctor Ruppel' pink and white clematis, and two 'Dropmore Scarlet' honeysuckle for climbing up the drain spouts, alongside any itsy, bitsy spiders.

Later this afternoon we're anticipating an outdoor visit with dear friends who are dropping by after some errand running. Since I knew they were coming, I baked a cake. Cinnamon Coffee Cake is a simple and easy recipe that pairs nicely with ice cream and fruit like strawberries, or pears. Or, if you are familiar with Susan Branch's vanilla cream sauce, you just know it would be a delicious combo. We'll have ours today with ice cream and strawberries. And tea. Yorkshire Blend.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

1 3/4 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 large egg

1 cup milk, soured with 1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder,

salt, and sugar.

Cut in shortening until mixture looks like

bread crumbs.

In another bowl, beat egg, milk, and vanilla.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add liquids.

Stir until moistened.

Pour into greased 8" round or square pan.

Topping

2 Tablespoon butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Melt the butter. Mix in brown sugar and cinnamon.

Sprinkle mixture over top of batter.

Bake in preheated oven at 350°F for 20 - 25 minutes,

until golden brown or sides pull away from pan.

Serve alone or with ice cream and fruit.

Or, serve with Susan Branch's Vanilla Cream Sauce, recipe below.

 Susan's Vanilla Cream Sauce

1" piece vanilla bean

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

Slit vanilla bean in half lengthwise and

scrape seeds into a small saucepan.

Stir in cream, bring to a boil.

Add sugar, stir, and remove from heat. Chill well.

Place cake slices in a puddle of sauce on a dish,

or pour sauce over slices, whichever you prefer.

* * *

On that sweet note, I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend.

Heart hugs,

Brenda

xox

Photo (top): Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay