Red, white and blue all over

I must apologize. I feel as though my posting hasn't been very frequent over the past month. I suppose I have a few excuses for that... 1) I was traveling through Europe for over two weeks, 2) there was prep for that trip which felt like it took me a MONTH to complete and 3) depressingly enough I gained ~3 pounds on vacation and have therefore been trying to curtail the whipping cream, butter and egg yolks in my fridge! Eeeps!! You feel my pain, yes? This may not even be a very exciting post for any of you since it perhaps looks a bit familiar? But Happy 4th of July all the same!

Red, white and... turquoise?

4th of July is such a happy holiday. It's full of warm sunshine and parades and bright colors and fireworks. But let's not forget about the MOST important aspect of 4th of July, our independence BBQs! I love and hate that I had to turn down 4 different BBQs today for a 5th my family does annually. BBQ usually means potluck which means I can make a yummy goodie to share with friends and family. BBQ also usually means doggies are invited!

Better put on my shades before we hit the 'Q...

We went to a 3rd of July BBQ yesterday. What a fantastic idea!! A way to get together with friends on a day most everyone I knew was off work but wouldn't conflict with anyone's 4th of July plans. I wanted to make a dessert that was definitely "July 4th" but other than raspberries and blueberries over vanilla ice cream, it wasn't coming to me. A friend at work is doing a favor for me, and in return I asked her to pick a "yummy goodie" for me to make her. Red Velvet cake was the seemingly quick reply. And it suddenly hit me... red, white and BLUE velvet cake?

This sorta reminds me of Macy's...

But would the blue be blue if I mixed it with cocoa? How much blue would I need? You can't buy whole bottles of blue food coloring like you can of red... I didn't have time to experiment with multiple cakes - this was a 1 time shot.

That's one thick, blue, cocoa paste

So instead of buying 4 boxes of the assorted food colorings (and end up with way more green and yellow than I needed.... wait... St. Patrick's Day velvet cake??) I used my little tub of blue gel coloring and a few drops of the blue liquid coloring already had. I used about half as much cocoa (didn't want a muddy blue color and wasn't sure how it'd all work out) and there you go. Quite the vibrant blue cake if you ask me. Almost more of a turquoise! I can do turquoise...

My dirty dishes cracked me up ~~~ Turquoise and red velvet ready to bake!

I've started doing a different frosting than either a cooked flour or a thick cream cheese. The frosting I'm doing on fill-in-the-color velvet cakes lately is a very light cream cheese. Not too thick or sweet or goopy. Not the kind you'd wanna find on a carrot cake, cuz it's too light. It's something I made up - with just a bit of sour twang but mostly light sweet cream. It fits perfectly!

It was scrumptious if you ask me...

I'm off to spend the day BBQing with family and (if we're lucky) fireworks-ing with longtime friends. I hope you aren't at home reading this right now. 'Cuz it'll be here waiting for you when you get back from your own fabulous 4th of July. And a very happy one to you!