Tea Room Food

For my Book Club's 11th Anniversary Dinner I made tea room type food.

The pictures are not great, but I took the pictures in a rush and they get the idea across.

I made a pumpkin bread which is fantastic.  My dear friend Kady gave me the recipe and told me I didn't even need to Test Kitchen it - she has tried many and this is the best.  I agree!  Of course, the first time I made it, I did modify it a little with Oat Bran Flour - did not turn out near as well as the 2nd time.  I had purchased Oat Bran Flour for another recipe and was looking for ways to use it up.  The bag said you could substitute the Oat Bran for up to half of the regular flour.  So, I tried that - the flavor was really good, but the bread was so soft and moist that it fell apart.  That was the first time I substituted a different kind of flour - I may do it again, but just use a teensy bit of Oat Bran flour, not 1/2.   The recipe makes 2 loaves, so I made one in a regular loaf pan and one in a bundt pan.  For Book Club, I sliced the loaf made in the bunt pan, and made sandwiches filled with cream cheese that I had mixed with a little powdered sugar.  Yum!

I was going to make bread for the other sandwiches, but decided to save that for another day.  I used Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse White (something like that).  It was the perfect bread to cut for mini sandwiches - was moist and did not fall apart.  I cut flower shapes and filled them with Pimento Cheese Spread (April Southern Living Recipe).  With the extras from the flower shapes, I cut squares and filled them with an Avocado Green Pea Spread.  I was intrigued when I saw this recipe in the April issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  It was so simple - 2 avocados, 1 cup of thawed frozen green peas, and 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice - mash together and spread on the bread!  Everyone was a little skeptical at first, but they all loved it!

I also served a fruit salad of grapes, bananas, mango and nectarines.

For dessert I made half of the cover recipe from the May issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  I was going to make the full 4 layer cake, but not everyone was going to attend and I didn't want to be left with a huge layer cake.  The idea of the cake is great - lemonade cake, four layers, 2 different pink colors, tons of frosting.  Since I was only making half, I just marbled a darker pink in to the light pink cake.  Both the cake and the frosting call for frozen lemonade concentrate.  The problem I ran in to, which was my own mistake, is that I read the full icing recipe which called for 2 jars of marshmallow cream, but neglected to note the size of the jars.  I just assumed it was the normal 7oz jar, but no, it was supposed to be a 16oz. jar.  I made the half recipe for the icing and tasted it - all I could taste was butter with a hint of lemon and sweetness.  At this point, I had not figured out my error, so I just added more lemonade concentrate, lemon extract and powdered sugar until I got it sweet enough to pass as frosting.      I think I re-read the recipe 15 times, looking for the problem, before I figured out the marshmallow creme jar size difference.  Who knew!?!?  It wasn't until I read a little note that said - if you can't find this size in your area...- ugh!  My guests all ate the cake and seemed to like it.   Little C said she loved it and had a piece the next day.  I  tried the cake by itself and it was good, but I threw the rest away.  I want to try to make the full cake with the tons of marshmallow cream and see how I like that.  It could be a perfect party cake, if it turns out like I thought it would.  So frustrating when a little oversight makes such a huge difference.  

Overall, the food was a success and we had a nice Book Club Anniversary Celebration!

Lemonade Cake 

Lemonade Cake Slice

Pumpkin Cream Cheese, Avocado Green Pea Spread & Pimento Cheese Sandwiches