urban garden party VI

Strawberry Basil Rose Trifles- Strawberry and rose is a classic combination and was kind of my starting point for this whole concept. I was originally thinking shortcake, but trifle seemed more elegant and appropriate. I made them individual to stick with the idea of finger foods and they looked beautiful in these vintage green ice cream dishes that my mother gave me years ago. I made the pound cake from my favorite recipe (Nick Malgeri High Ratio Pound Cake) but you could purchase one to make this easier. Strawberries were macerated with sugar and rosewater, and I used a basil infused simple syrup and sherry to moisten the cake. (I also tried a version with Campari and orange flower water, but didn't like it as much) I used my fake whipped cream, but obviously regular whipped cream would work just fine. Just layer strawberries, cream, cake, then syrup and repeat until you reach the top. I like to let them sit for a bit so that all the flavors meld.

Rose Punch- As I mentioned in the first post this is the recipe that started it all. I've been eying it since childhood. but had never made it before. The centerpiece is an ice ring embedded with roses- I am afraid it didn't come out that well in the photos what with ice being super reflective. The tween inside me was really happy with this though. The adult was happy with the booze. Punches have been out of fashion for so long and they really are pretty good idea for a party. In fact I always pre mix drinks for parties, so I guess I have been making punch all along. I didn't actually use the punch recipe that came with the ice ring because I thought it was a bit boring. Instead I used rose sparkling wine, (punch should always sparkle in my opinion) rose infused vodka, simple syrup and some cranberry juice. It is served in my pretty milk glass punch bowl that I got for a steal on ebay. I used champagne coupes instead of the little punch cups because I thought they looked more elegant and were more appropriately sized for floating a rose in. These roses were all from my garden (and not treated with chemicals) but if you bought them and were trying to conserve you could do a petal instead.

Rose Crackle Cookies- Found these on the web and added more rosewater and a little pink food coloring. I also used rose sugar (rosebuds left sitting in sugar, much like vanilla sugar then ground up in a food processor) on the outsides. They were a pretty good old fashioned cookie, although the rose flavor was far more subtle than I would have liked.

I don't have credit information on the drawing, but it is from the Life photo archive.

Flowers are roses from my garden and indian strawberries.