Today I’ll share a recipe for Layered Strawberry Dessert — it’s a classic. White cake, strawberries, sauce, and whipped cream. And if you don’t want to slave in a hot kitchen during these hot summer days, I’ve included some shortcuts to help speed things along for you. Enjoy!

For the Strawberry Sauce:
1 pint strawberries, washed with stems removed
1/4 cup honey
Water

Top the strawberries and put them in a sauté pan with the honey and enough water to cover them. Start out with a little honey, then continue to add it as you finish the sauce.
(*Strawberries vary in sweetness so it’s best to taste the mixture; when it tastes adequately sweet to you, that’s when you know you’ve added the right amount.)
Bring the berries to a boil until softened, then transfer to a blender and puree.
Pour the puree back into the sauté pan and slightly thicken with a cornstarch slurry.

For the cake:
Shortcut Alert – buy an angel food cake at your favorite grocery store… or if you want to make one from scratch, follow these instructions:

4 oz sifted cake flour
12 oz granulated sugar
12 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Combine the flour with half of the granulated sugar
Whip the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar at high speed until three times its volume
Gradually add the remaining sugar until it will hold soft peaks
Slowly incorporate the sifted cake flour and fold it in by hand
Fold in all remaining ingredients
Pour batter in greased 10″ pan and tap to release any large pockets of air

Bake at 325 degrees until golden brown ( 30 – 40 min ).

For the whipped cream:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla

Pour one cup of heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl.
Mix on high speed until peaks just barely start to form and you can see a change in color between the peaks.
Add sugar and vanilla at this point then continue to mix for no more than 30 seconds (or you run the risk of creating butter).

Assembling the dessert
(Give the cake and the strawberry sauce plenty of time to cool)

Cut angel food cake into bite size cubes, and put a few in the bottom of a hurricane glass
Layer in some of the strawberry sauce
Drop in some fresh strawberries (washed and cut)
Layer in the whipped cream
Repeat as many times as will fit in your glass.

Chad Borner is the Sous Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm. Find more great recipes online in the Lied Lodge Recipe Box.

With anywhere from 30-80 pounds of perfectly crisp-yet-tender Arbor Day Farm asparagus being harvested and brought to the kitchen two or three days per week, the culinary team here at Lied Lodge is finding all kinds of great ways to prepare this seasonal treat for our guests.

Today I’ll share a recipe for Bacon Chicken Asparagus Wraps with Orzo Pasta Salad. 

Try them out for yourself, and let us know what you think:

Bacon Chicken Asparagus Wraps
makes 2 sets of appetizers (shown above, left side)

1 six-ounce chicken breast cut in fourths the long way
12 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
4 large fresh basil leaves
4 strips apple smoked bacon
Salt & pepper to taste

Lay out each strip of bacon. Then lay out 2 asparagus spears perpendicular on one end of the bacon, lay the chicken strip parallel on top of the asparagus, and place a third spear on top of the chicken. Roll the chicken and asparagus until the bacon wraps it completely. (See photograph at right.) Place the rolls seam-side down on a sprayed cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Flip rolls and bake for about another 8 minutes, or until the bacon is a nice dark brown and the chicken breast is done.

Port Wine Glace
This brown sauce is drizzled over the wraps and onto the serving platter or individual plates.

2 cups of your favorite port wine
Reduce it in a sauté pan, medium heat, down to about 1/2 a cup
Add honey until slightly thick
Let cool and check consistency

*When adding honey, it will seem perfect, like the consistency of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, but it will thicken when cooled… so stop adding honey when it seems almost too thin.

Orzo Pasta Salad
Shown in top photo, right side.

1 c. orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
6 artichoke hearts
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
Dozen leaves baby arugula
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. basil pesto (fresh basil blended together with roasted pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, asiago cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper)
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Splash of red wine vinegar

Cook orzo in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well. Transfer to medium bowl; cool.

Whisk olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice in small bowl; pour dressing over orzo. Mix in remaining ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature and stir before serving.

Enjoy!

Chad Borner is the Sous Chef at Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm. Find more great recipes online in the Lied Lodge Recipe Box.

Hot Toffee Pudding Cake

Part one:
1 pound butter croissants, torn into small pieces
½ cup toffee pieces
½ cup dark chocolate chips or shavings
¼ cup toasted, chopped pecans
¼ cup toasted almonds, sliced or slivered

Combine all ingredients in a 9″x13″ greased baking dish and set aside.

Part two:
½ cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
16 egg yolks

In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and egg yolks.
In a medium sauce pan, heat the cream until it just begins to simmer, then remove from heat.

Slowly pour (temper) the cream into the egg and sugar mixture.  After combining, place mixture back in the sauce pan and cook on low heat for 3 minutes, constantly stirring with a heat-proof plastic spatula.

Pour the mixture over the ingredients in the baking dish (from Part 1) and bake, covered, at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes. You want the cake to slightly jiggle in the center.

Serve warm with ice cream and caramel sauce for a dessert that your friends will rave about.

Until next time,
The Food & Beverage Staff at Lied Lodge

The Timber Dining Room at Lied Lodge & Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska, serves breakfast lunch and dinner seven days a week. Make your reservation: 800-546-5433, or email us your food questions.