One of the most frequently asked decorating questions I get from clients is what to do with a fireplace wall, how to style the mantel and how to make them both become a “feature” and not a “flop.” Continue reading
A “Coastal Cool” Kitchen Reno that feels right at home in Tennessee
When you think “coastal interiors” what comes to mind? If it’s paint hues of white, blue, grey and silver, soft weather-worn wood, clean lines, and light cotton fabrics, you and I are on the same page. And if you’re like me, your blood pressure just dropped and you exhaled a peaceful sigh just thinking about it. Continue reading
Peach Carrot Cake – Carrot Cake with a Delightful New Twist!
Oh how I love Carrot Cake! I think not so much for the carrot part, but more for that decadent, fail proof cream cheese frosting part. For me, the cake is a medium just to get to the frosting! Is that awful??? SNS? Same goes for Hummingbird Cake…but I digress…just look at this beautiful Carrot Cake!
Easter is a little over a week away and millions of folks around the world will celebrate this holy holiday by “brunching and lunching” with family and friends. My hunch is that Carrot Cake will make its share of appearances at dessert tables far and wide. If Carrot Cake is one of your favorites like it is mine, then you will definitely want to add this new twist on a traditional dessert to your Pinterest board. It just so happens that my blog’s namesake, the glorious peach, is the added ingredient that creates such a delightful new riff on a classic cake. The peach notes in the cake are subtle…the perfect balance of fruit and spice. I decorate my Peach Carrot Cake in the naked fashion, not to overwhelm the cake with too much of that beautiful cream cheese frosting. Believe me… it’s hard for an icing addict like myself to admit, but this cake is so good it doesn’t need frosting!!! Trust me on this one and keep the frosting layers thin. I also love the rustic elegance the cake renders…especially with the addition of peaches and blackberries. So earthy and beautiful…like spring and summer wrapped into one! 
PEACH CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING & CARAMELIZED PEACHES
Makes one 6-inch cake; Serves 8 – 10
Ingredients for the Cake:
- 3/4 cup salted butter
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 3/4 cups grated carrots
- 1 can of peach halves in juice (2/3 cup of peach pure will be used in the cake, save the rest for the filling)
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 3/4 cup softened butter
- 7 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 – 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
For the Filling:
- Remaining Peach Puree
Caramelized Peaches:
- 3 – 4 fresh peaches (you may also use frozen peaches, thawed)
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar, loosely packed
- Fresh Blackberries
Cake Directions:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F
- Line with parchment and butter sides of two 6-inch cake pans
- Melt the butter and leave to cool.
- Beat eggs and sugars until fluffy and lighter in color and texture, about 3 minutes. Add melted butter and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, then stir into the batter until just smooth.
- Peel and grate the carrots. Put the peaches (without the juice) in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
- Add grated carrots and 2/3 cup of the peach puree to the batter and stir until combined. Divide the batter between the two cake pans.
- Bake for about 40 – 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat butter until pale and fluffy. Add cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until just smooth.
- Put the bowl in the fridge while you cut the cake.
Assembly:
- Cut both cake layers in half with a serrated knife so you end up with four cake layers.
- Put the first cake layer on a cake board or directly onto a plate or cake stand. Spread a layer of frosting on the first layer, then spread a layer of peach puree over. Repeat this until you’ve used up all layers.
- Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake and put in the fridge while you prepare the topping.
Caramelized Peaches:
- Slice the fresh peaches. Heat the butter over medium heat in a non-reactive skillet. Add brown sugar and swirl with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts.
- Add the peach slices and caramelize for 2 -3 minutes. Let cool completely, then put them on top of the cake with the blackberries.
***Cake recipe credit: Award winning baker, writer and blogger, Linda Lomelino ***Peach Carrot Cake Photo Credits: Robyn Rodehaver
Looking for other great cake ideas for Easter (or anytime!)??? Try this one from Peach and the Willow! Click HERE for recipe!
Everyone Enjoy and Happy Easter! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Love ~ Sabrina
A Light and Airy Kitchen Renovation – Just in time for Spring!
The kitchen…the heart of the home…the very hub of life’s “hubbub,” wants to be loved too! If our kitchens could talk, I sometimes think that they would say they felt neglected. Not just neglected from a “wear and tear” standpoint, but aesthetically, as well. Don’t you agree? The kitchen performs on the daily for us…first in the morning over pots of coffee, bowls of cereal and trails of toast crumbs…then into the evening where it takes the heat, the sauce splatters, the wine spills, the ice cream plops, the oil slicks and performs like a champ through it all. But shouldn’t our kitchens be more than just our work horse? Doesn’t most of LIFE happen in the kitchen?…from social gatherings to family meals to homework to bill paying? And since everyone ALWAYS ends up in the kitchen, shouldn’t your kitchen not just function but look really awesome too??? I think yes! Continue reading
Lemon Ricotta Cake with Strawberry Frosting and Balsamic Strawberries
Are you feeling it like I’m feeling it…seeing it like I’m seeing it??? The warmth of the sun, the pop of greens, the new melodies of the song birds??? Spring, albeit too early, is bursting all around us! From tree blossoms to grass weeds…the signs are everywhere! Soon…crates of Strawberries will be showing up from Plant City, Florida to satisfy our strawberry indulgences and vices. And although a nasty freeze will surely make an unwelcome appearance before it’s all said and done…we can still be excited about Spring’s beautiful, life renewing arrival. Continue reading
Tea (or Champagne!) Party 101 and 3 Must Have Tea Cookie Recipes
Tea Champagne Party 101. Start with three really good cookie recipes, a few bottles of champagne and some of your best girlies! Done! It’s that easy! You’ve made a party.
But seriously…with a little pre-planning, you can throw the most heavenly tea champagne party that’s ever been. The pay off is so worth the effort! Like with any party, once you’ve determined what you’re celebrating…birthday, engagement, baby shower, etc…you can then settle into some details. My planning/brainstorming looked something like this:
Tea Party…Around Valentines Day…A “Gal”entines Day Affair…Marie Antoinette Style…One Year Blog Anniversary…around 8 – 10 ladies…all in shades of blush Continue reading
“That Calls for a Celebration!” A Modern Day Tea Party
So your kid went pee-pee in the potty for the first time? Let’s Celebrate! Your pups got a clean bill of health at the vet? Let’s Celebrate! Your rude co-worker didn’t give you the stink eye in the hall today? Let’s Totally Celebrate! Point is, it really doesn’t take much to whip me into a frenzy and pop a cork in celebration. But with the one year anniversary of my blog approaching, I knew I wanted to do something a little over the top to commemorate the occasion. Soooo… (pronounced long and drawn out…very southern-like), being the self proclaimed prissy pants that I am and having never shied away from anything girly or glamorous, I decided to throw a tea party…but not just any garden variety tea party. A modern day Marie Antoinette style tea party where there is, in fact, no tea, only champagne, and plenty of delectable treats on which to feast your eyes and tickle your taste buds. Since the party was to occur just before Valentines Day, I made it a “Galentines Day” affair and invited a few girlfriends, making it the most fabulous, frolicky, gorgeous party I’ve thrown in a very long time! Friends came dressed to the hilt and we spent Friday afternoon laughing, loving, sharing, being a little serious and a tad silly! I’m guessing Marie Antoinette would have felt right at home! Continue reading
Joy To the World!
As I open my heart and home this Christmas, LOVE, PEACE and JOY is what I wish for you, Christmas Day and EVERY day!!! Amidst the anticipation of Santa Claus, the cooking of the tenderloin or the roast bird and the placement of the last flourishes on your Christmas table or dessert tray, I hope you’re beginning to slow down and earnestly reflect on the Christmas story; our Lord and Savior, God’s most perfect gift to mankind. I am awe stricken as I think about the virgin birth, how angels announced his coming, and how he humbly entered this world and became THE hope for eternity. I lift a prayer of utmost thanks and gratitude.
And to all of you, thank you for making Peach and the Willow’s first year a huge success! You inspire me to no end! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy sharing the tidbits, treats, spaces and gatherings from my lil’ world and hope you found some ideas you could run with along the way! Here’s to many more in 2017!!!!
Now…it’s off to make some Santa deliveries and check off the last of my list before Steven, Ethan and I head to Christmas Eve Service followed by our traditional 7:30 dinner reservation at one of our favorite local restaurants! Such a glorious day!
Merry Christmas Everyone! I pray you have the most blessed season and New Year!!! See you in 2017!!!! Love…Sabrina.
Help! I Want A New Living Room!
I often hear my clients say that they wish they could just start over and redecorate their entire home. But let’s be honest. Who can afford to ditch everything they’ve accumulated and start from scratch?!! I know I can’t! Nor would we want to as we’ve collected treasures throughout the years that we may not be able to part with. So…we improvise with what we have, right? Continue reading
Fireside With Friends ~ A Casual Fall Dinner Party Celebrating Comfort Food in the Great Outdoors!
I promise that no friends were harmed in the shooting of this blog! Real Friends. No actors. (Wait! Check that. A couple of my friends are actors but let’s not get caught up in semantics.) And from all accounts (and even though I bossed my friends around a great deal that night)… everyone had a ball! Create your own outdoor party like this one and you’re guaranteed to have a ball too!!!
Confession…I have dreamed of creating a party in this backyard oasis ever since I was first invited to the Russell’s beautiful home about a year ago. Continue reading
