And now Holy Week Begins!

My cake was a success.
First time I used cherries with it.
I had help with the inspiration of it. :)

 

And now Holy Week begins!
Wishing all of my Orthodox blogging community
a blessed Holy Week!

Hard to believe this night was the last presanctified liturgy

Liturgy was beautiful.
My sister-friend and her family came;
I got to take my godson to communion.

Another beautiful cake.
Lenten with a Lenten cream and kiwi.
So good.
*
It was a beautiful evening.
Was so wonderful to have my close friends
with me this night.
They are so warm and hospitable.
It helped ease the sense of loss of this evening
being my last full lent at
my church here.
*
It was a beautiful night.

 

My humble cake.
Recipe here
and photograph here.
*
My Orthoman comes this Holy Wednesday!
God willing I will make him a special
cake for his arrival;
pictures forth coming! :)
*
It is so hard to believe that Holy Week is almost here!
My spiritual father says that
if you were going to live 7 days
Holy Week is the 7 days you would want to live.
How I look forward to this week.

Mid-Week Already

Yesterday was St. John of Rila

and St. John of Kronstadt's days.

Liturgy was beautiful.

I hope to continue to get to know each of these

Saints better;

thankfully I have paper versions of Akathists to both of them...

We celebrated another birthday at church.

I made the cake :)

Lemon with lemon glaze.

I am clearing the decks for

my new job search.

How much I wish I did not have to look for work again.

But, as a close friend reminded me,

God will not abandon me in this search.

Making your cake and eating it too

Mat. Emily asked about my cake recipe.

Oh you know,

Betty Crocker in a box!

See below, and notice the French on it...

Canadian Cake! (grin).

However,

when I make a cake from a box

I do things a bit differently.

Add each ingredient separately and mix each time.

When the cake is for a super special occasion,

such as a House Blessing,

I put a tiny bit of Holy Water as well.

Uses of Holy Water are varied and I know that I am not

the first woman to ask God to bless one's cake

and put a little bit of Holy Water

in it.

The frosting however was homemade -

see my post from last year for this recipe,

given to me from a very good friend.

***

I do make cakes from scratch as well but to save time

I find stocking up on cake mixes when on sale

really convenient for fast-free times.

***

Well,

I am slowly working on French.

THANK YOU ALL for your comments, prayers and support!

It means so much to me.

***

This week, as Orthodox Christians know,

is what we call Butterweek.

A full fast for Lent is to be a vegan.

God in His mercy has the church gently prepare us for the fast

by first having a fast free week (where all meat and dairy are allowed)

then a normal fast week (fasting Wednesday and Friday)

and then Butterweek,

where we give up meat

but have dairy all week

(or at least in the Slavic tradition all week)

and then it is the full fast.

***

Of course people fast according to what they are capable of

in their own situation

and

according to what one's spiritual father has counseled us to do.

***

Mimi

left me a comment a few posts back

when I was feeling really stressed

reminding me of Lent

and that this may be the cause.

This really helped me

(thanks!)

and I thought I would mention it here

to remind us all of how

Lent can have unexpected difficulties

and to be aware of this.

I pray that God will help us all during this holy time!

Cake and the secret to baking one from a mix

Canadian Thanksgiving was this past Monday.

This is the Marble Cake I made,

to many people's delight.

With the homemade frosting.

Packed and Ready To Go;

I walked to my dinner a lovely 20 minute walk.

+++++

The secret I discovered when baking a cake for my house blessing over two years ago:

When using a cake mix, do not follow their instructions,

to put the eggs, oil and water in all at once and mix.

Instead put the eggs in and blend;

put the oil in and blend again;

put the water in and blend again.

This makes an incredibly light and airy cake.

I found that the frosting to be too hard for the cake;

it was so thick that it was ripping the top of the very soft cake

when spreading it on.

I should of made the margarine a tad softer for a better frosting.

That said, people really liked the cake and frosting!

Here is the recipe for frosting (given to me by a very lovely friend):

*About 50 g or 1/2 cup of margarine - softened

*2 cups powdered sugar

*3 tbs of cocoa

2 tbs milk (or water to make it vegan)

Put in bowl and mix together.

The trick is to get the margarine soft enough to made a light spreadable frosting;

not to melt it or have it too hard and thus not as spreadable.

+++

I get cake mixes on sale for a dollar or so. By making it as explained above,

these cakes taste like fancy made from scratch cakes.

Ask the Lord to bless your cake and all is done!