One of my favorites cakes to make is my mom's Upside-Down Pineapple Cake, which was her mother's original recipe that is close to 70 years old! However, today I wanted something that celebrated the beginning of summer.
With a gorgeous bowl of tart cherries and some sweet fresh peaches smiling at me, I found my inspiration. I added some freshly squeezed orange juice and zest which compliments the fruit and adds another dimension of flavor.
This is an amazingly light, moist cake that is only made more irresistible by a thick, sugary crust that holds the plump cherries and peaches firmly in place. After one mouthful, you'll wish you could eat it every day.
Leave it to my grandmother’s generation to have a delicious dessert with gelatin. A standby ingredient of the “greatest generation,” gelatin is often forgotten these days. Yet, this one ingredient provides a fantastic texture and appearance for dessert dishes. Strawberry Charlotte Russe is an “oldie but goodie,” for its name is derivative of Russian royalty and French culinary prowess.
It wasn't until I moved to the West Coast, that I realized how many
people had been deprived of one of my favorite childhood treats - Whoopie
Pies. A New England favorite, Whoopie Pies were always part
of bake sales, school lunches, and family gatherings. And, they were
quite often the confection upon which many mother's were judged. The
variations in the pie (which is actually cake) and the sweetness and
texture of the filling can differ greatly with each recipe. My Aunt
Mary would often lament about the pies turning out too flat, or the
filling too runny. Our next door neighbor, Mrs. Ekberg, made a
memorable Whoopie Pie, with a completely unique cooked
cream filling, a recipe that she never shared, but I later discovered
the method while researching frostings for Red Velvet Cake. At home, my
sister has become the family champion of Whoopie Pies, and has a blue
ribbon from the county fair to prove it.
Slowly, we are all starting to lead a gluten free life. Finding snacks and savories, without gluten is a conscious effort. And, it’s really not that hard. Gluten free pretzels dipped in 
February is zipping right by. The days are getting longer, the sun is shining, the temps have been mild. I’m enjoying a mid-winter high. In just a couple of weeks, though, March will arrive with gray days, dirty snow, more snow, ice — all things that make the month of March in Minnesota my least favorite time of the year.