Coffee and Cake

Tablescape Thursday...these fabulous days seem to creep up fast!!! Or maybe it's that I am just summertime slow. After all, the heat and humidity certainly makes one feel a bit sluggish... Thank you, Susan, for hosting this wonderful event. Each week I am inspired to create something wonderful. Some weeks, I manage to do that. Other weeks...it's a real stretch to get my act together...and my dishes out. This was one of "those" weeks. With all the business travel, and the subsequent paper/computer work, I decided on a simple coffee and dessert theme.

My husband has been such an angel for putting up with my travels this past week...and listening to my ramblings about all I learned about aromatherapy and about the fabulous women I met. I thought he deserved something special...like a moist, rich, made from scratch spice cake. After a long search on the wonderful world-wide web, I found a recipe that seemed to fit the bill. Three layers of lusciously rich, spicy cake made with freshly ground cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and iced with a rich, maple cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm...... The cake stand is vintage green Depression glass...a lucky find at a garage sale!

The recipe for this cake can be found at:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moist-Tender-Spice-Cake/Detail.aspx

The frosting is one of my own "recipes"...there is none! I used 1 stick softened butter, 2 blocks of softened, cream cheese, a dash of vanilla, a dash of salt, powdered sugar (enough to make the frosting spreadable) and pure maple syrup...to taste. You will definitely have frosting left over, but it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. One of my dear friends loves to use this as a dip for fresh strawberries!

One of my goals in table design is using items I already have. Over the years I have collected some solid-colored stoneware in orangy-red, deep green, and of course, white. These are the bases of many of my designs. When browsing garage sales and specialty stores, I look for salad/dessert plates, bowls, mugs, etc. to use with these base colors. By interchanging the base colors, I have many different looks...and a lot less problem with storage!

While browsing in one of my favorite store, Home Goods, I found this interesting stoneware. Unfortunately, there were only 4 mugs and 4 plates. Oh well, that's a perfect setting for coffee and cake. I love handpainted dishes...especially when I find items that will work with my base colors. This set works well with my dark green plates.
The rim of these plate has a slight ruffle...so cute!


These vintage napkins were given to me as a wedding present from one of my kindergartner students. They had been a wedding gift to her parents...and they passed them on to me. I truly treasure them...for the sentiment and the beauty. Each napkin has a different embroidered fruit. I chose to show the "welcoming" pineapple. The "tablecloth" is actually a length of woven fabric. I frayed the edges to make a casual topper for my kitchen table. So easy!!! and inexpensive!


Would you care for some coffee and cake?