Rick's "Lane Cake"

We have our second cake in the

2019 Summer Bake Off:  The Lane Cake

Here's the proud baker, my brother Rick,

who makes his home in Germany,
with his wife Terry.

Although he insists it's "still a Lane,"

he used "real butter cream between the layers."

(Does that qualify as a Lane,

which is a vanilla butter cake

with a fruit rich custard filling?

Asking for a friend.)

He DOES get extra points for creativity

because he did not use a recipe,

but rather "looked at a whole lot of

recipes and built my own."

Rick is a devotee of

The Great British Bake Off

and used Mary Berry's

boiled icing.

Rick's assessment of his cake,

"Really good. Really rich.

Between the frosting

and the butter cream between the layers,

we are talking two cups of butter."

How could it not be good???

from Google Images

I have just finished an excellent book,

LOST ROSES

by Martha Hall Kelly.

About one third into this book

it kept reminding me of

LILAC GIRLS,"

which I read last year.

So I checked the author and yes, 

she wrote that one too.

It deals with a real historical figure, Eliza Ferriday,

the mother of Caroline Ferriday from LILAC GIRLS.

Although considered a prequel

to the earlier novel,

both books stand very well on their own.

This week in the garden
I cut back the iris.
They were magnificent this year
and I hated to see them end.

This is how they looked a few weeks ago.

It's June!
It's summer!
Hope you're enjoying it!