Poppyseed Cake with a Creme Fraiche and Fresh Berry Filling for the Fourth!

I made this delicious creation for the Fourth of July yesterday! It is a *deep breath* poppyseed cake with a creme fraiche and fresh berry filling *phew.* It came out of the Passion for Desserts cookbook that I've mentioned before. 

I'd never made anything with: a) creme fraiche or b) poppyseeds before so this was a bit of an adventure cake. I'd never even tried creme fraiche before! It was creamy and nutty. And not in the crazy sense. The filling was creme fraiche, heavy whipping cream, and sugar, all whipped together. The creme fraiche made the filling quite tangy, but the sugar added a hint of sweetness. The blueberries were cooked with sugar until they popped, making a tasty sauce! Fresh strawberries were thrown in there to complete the patriotic homage.

The cake was just a typical cake, made with buttermilk, flour, eggs, sugar, etc. But the poppyseeds made it exciting! I loved dumping them into the cake batter and watching them swirl around, looking a little like a belt of stars in the sky of my cake batter.

The cake was well received, by everyone at our picnic at the park. I left the cake out of the picnic basket, and it was admired by most everyone walking by. I even gave out a piece to an elderly lady who said she liked the way it looked. This cake is a great way to enjoy your fresh summer berries at their best.

Three Layer Brown Sugar and Berry Pavlova

This is a fantastic recipe from the July 2009 Gourmet Magazine. For those of you who don't know, a pavlova is a meringue with cream and berries. It is an Australian/New Zealand dessert which is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

The pavlova was just heavenly. I made it for the Fourth of July. The unusual addition of brown sugar in the meringue gave it a melt in your mouth texture. The recipe calls for no sugar in the cream, and I was a bit hesitant about not putting any in, but I am glad I didn't. The meringue and the macerated berries were very sweet, but not overpoweringly. The cream acted as a sort of balancer between the two. I would make it again, and I am making it again right now for a picnic in the park.