Dessert at the Grown-up Table

Easter Sunday pulls us out of the grave into Celebration that Our Lord has risen. That celebration often focuses on the children’s celebration – through Easter Eggs, symbolizing new life, joyous, in riotous pinks, blues, reds and greens, maybe even polka dots and stripes. And, if course, if you give a child an Easter Egg, well, then you know an Easter Egg Hunt must follow – and instead of the day ending in a jumbling of tired legs, and bellies full of too many chocolate Easter Bunnies – let’s stop and think about – the grown-ups a minute.

Granted, my Cadbury miniature eggs sit on my desk. I feed my husband’s little yellow peep fetish. Why not have a little adult celebration. And, no, I don’t mean swilling back beer or playing quarters with the sweet ice tea. I mean letting the grown-ups celebrate with, well, grown-up desserts? Sit across a dinner table, talk resurrection, life, children – over a desert that is child-proof (anything lemony doesn’t appeal to taste buds until post-22) – and designed to have one item men love – fruit sauces (think preserve, i.e. peanut butter and preserves sans the peanut butter) – and Waa-La – you have Angels on a Cloud in a Fruit Patch.

The Angel is the angel food cake. The cloud is the homemade whipping cream. The fruit patch? Pick yours – homemade blueberry, strawberry or blackberry sauce, and lemon curd. Heerjlijke, blasus, sobhlasta - or in just plain English – Delicious!

1 Angel Food Cake (Kroger Brand tastes like Grandmother’s – Wal-Mart’s Angel Food Cake does not taste like what grandmother used to make)

Lemon Curd
4 eggs
Pinch of salt
2 Cups sugar
1/2 Cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
1/4 Cup butter
Zest from one lemon
Mix well. Then put in a double boiler, cooking 30 minutes until thick. Put in jar and refrigerate. Use left overs in tart shells, meringue shells, over chocolate ice cream, in a puff pastry.

Fruit Sauce
Thank you Reeni from Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice for your The Blueberry Sauce recipe (and permission to use it here). It has been a favorite since I met you a few years ago when I entered the blogahood. It was perfect for this dessert – so perfect I added two other types of  fruit to create a trifecta of sauces: Blueberry, Blackberry and Strawberry.

1 pint blueberries, blackberries or strawberries
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey (I used honey with the strawberries and maple syrup with the blue and black berries)
1 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon boiling water

Reenie’s directions are as follows: Add everything to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the blueberries pop. Whisk the boiling water and cornstarch together to make a slurry. Stir the slurry into the blueberry sauce and continue simmering for 2-3 minutes to thicken. Remove from heat and set aside.

Whipping Cream

I pint whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar

Assembling Dessert
Slice cake into two layers. Spread Lemon curd on lower layer then place top layer on. Spread more lemon curd on top of cake. Using a spatula, “icing” the cake with the whipping cream. As you slice cake, dollop either Blackberry, Blueberry or Strawberry Sauce onto individual piece. Serve.

There is blessing, sitting around a table, the chorus of grown-up voices talking, solo moments, laughter, big and little ideas shared , learning the nuances of boundaries, words trickling down on a hum to children hearing but not listening , a time where we lift ourselves out of our children’s lives and look closely at ours and those about us, sharing our ideas, stretching our thoughts, relaxing, living at the table – life grown closer. That is what sitting at the adult table is all about.

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