Necessity is the Mother of Invention

If you've been following along with our Finishing School Series, you know that Julieann posted the steps for making a lovely cake garnished with lemon. See her blog at juliean-mylife.blogspot.com

I had bought the ingredients to make the lemon cake. I had also bought a box of lemon cake mix in case I just wanted to practice with the icing.

Friday night, I found myself in need of throwing a meal together quickly. So, out came the box of yellow cake mix, which I baked in a 9 x 13 inch pan. I asked my father, who is staying with us, to slice some lemons. I whipped up the icing. I let the cake cool as much as I could. Then, I iced it. I spaced out lemon slices in a fashion that the cake could be cut in squares, with a lemon slice garnishing each square. I ran out to the deck and pulled a few sprigs of mint, which I crisscrossed in the center. Voila! I had a lovely cake in a short amount of time.

Now, I do intend to go back and make the cake again from scratch, using round cake pans to make layers, and icing it according to Julieann's directions. But, I'm always fascinated by the way that one recipe idea can be made many different ways to suit different needs. Certainly, the recipe idea that Julieann chose lends itself to some creativity.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth