Bastille Day

Happy (belated) Bastille Day!! I know I haven't posted in ages. The boys and I are still with my parents, and while I have made a few things here and there, the majority of my evening time over these past two months has been spent hanging out with my mom and dad instead of sewing, baking or blogging. It has been such a long time since I have been able to just hang with them, that I am taking full advantage of it. My parents are amazing for a variety of reasons, but one of my favorites is that they are always looking for an excuse for a party. Enter Bastille Day. We are not French. We celebrate anyway.

A number of their close friends came, and everyone was instructed to bring a bottle of French wine as well as some "French" food item. I bought a lovely bottle of white and decided to make a cake that would have made Marie Antoinette proud. Last week my mom and I went blueberry picking and in an hour we amassed 18 pounds of blueberries. We froze most of them, but kept a few pounds fresh for eating, or in my case, for baking. I made a delicious lemon blueberry layer cake. Yum.

We only really finalized the party on Saturday. Then I worked out the cake I would do. Sunday morning my brother and I headed to the grocery store and as soon as we got home, I got to baking. Baby T slept from the time we left until 5 minutes after I got the cake in the oven - it was a small miracle.

Once the cakes were cooled and the frosting was made, I got assembling. Since I was limited on time, I ended up buying the lemon curd for the filling.

Then it was time to frost and decorate the cake. I started with a light crumb coat, put it in the fridge and after about 30 minutes got to business. My mom doesn't have a turntable or a cake spatula, so my edges were not going to get as gorgeous as I was hoping. Instead I just made it kind of messy on purpose. But, I finished the top with little frills. I love them!

Once the cake was on the platter, I piped little balls along the bottom edge. So sweet.

My mom suggested we finish it off with a little sign:

It looked so sweet when cut. Blueberries galore, but with a delightful lemon tang. Yum, yum!

My parents' friends know how to do it up. We had onion tart, cheese plate, fondue, ham and gruyere crepes, the French flag out of wafers and icing, cherry crepes, chocolates, and a whole lot of wine.

We started with the food inside, but it was a lovely day, so the party quickly moved outdoors. It was a wonderful night and I am sure that all the attendees would agree - if they can remember it!