Here in our little village, we have a community park which fronts on the river which runs through the village.  Twice each week during the summer season, free concerts are held in the bandshell!  This week the Schenectady Pipe Band was scheduled to play!  Oh, I just love bagpipe&drums!!!  (How about you?)  So Robert asked if I would like to go…ummm, let me think…YES!

I thought that he would love it if I made some kind of sweet treat to bring along and enjoy out under the stars listening to stirring bagpipes!  Originally I was planning on making some cookies (his favs!) but we had an abundance of gorgeous berries this week. So then I got ready to make a berry crisp…all yummy warm berry sweetness with a healthy topping of cinnamon-y crunchiness!  But THEN I was talking with my daughter, kassia, about the trendiness of mason jars filled with salads, and suppers…and desserts! My mind was made up—Fruit and Cake Parfaits!

These were super simple to put together.  I prepared all the components earlier in the day: an easy-peasy yellow sheet cake (gluten free, of course), a berry compote, and homemade whipped cream.  After supper, all that was needed was to layer it all up into mason jars, cap ‘em off, and put them into my picnic basket!  I hope you give these a try!  They would be a great dessert to bring along to a bbq, or picnic…or how about taking them to the drive-in?  Enjoy!

Fruit and Cake Parfaits…to go!

components:
mason (or Ball) canning jars
yellow cake or angel food cake
fresh fruit
whipped cream

note: quantities are at your discretion! For our parfaits, I used a ‘manly’ quart-size jar and a pint-size jar for me. I would suggest “wide mouth” jars, too (much easier to spoon out the yumminess!).

cake component:

• I simply baked up a plain yellow cake (use a mix…go right ahead!)
• when thoroughly cooled, cut up into small cubes

fruit component:

• we had strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cut up peaches
• sprinkle sugar (I used coconut sugar) over the fruit and gently combine
• proportions: 1 tablespoon sugar to 1 cup fruit (I used 3 cups of fruit)
• set aside for a minimum of 30 minutes (or up to 2-3 hours) to allow the sugar to draw out the moisture from the fruit creating a syrup

whipped cream component:

• please indulge and make your own whipped cream
• I used a half-pint container of heavy cream, 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, and 2 teaspoons of confectioners (10X) sugar

to assemble:
in this order—cake cubes, macerated fruit, whipped cream—fill up your jars; done!  oh…if taking along with you…don’t forget the spoons!!!  Enjoy!

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Please don’t ever forget that!)

♥  coleen