Christmas Party

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is my favorite season, everyone is a little kinder, a little more generous and a little happier. It's almost like the colorful lights and Christmas trees make everyone remember a simpler, gentler and more care free time. Well readers, you should know by now that Nate and I adore throwing dinner parties and tonight is no exception! We decided to throw a formal dinner party complete with name cards, table cloths and lots of champagne. 

To take some of the pressure off of Nate and I, we asked our guests to each bring a side dish or a dessert (along with wine or champagne, of course). 

My contributions are a cheese plate appetizer and a snowy white layer cake for dessert. 

Cheese Plate 

My cheese plate consists of a wedge of Brie, aged sharp cheddar and my personal favorite, Jarlsberg cheeses. I'm serving these with water crackers and Concord grapes I picked up at the State Farmer's Market here in Raleigh. 

Snowy White Layer Cake 

1 C milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C unsalted butter

2 C sugar 

3 C Cake Flour 

1 Tbsp Baking Powder 

5 egg whites 

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and grease with butter and flour. 

Stir together milk and vanilla. 

In your trusty stand mixer, cream the butter until fluffy and gradually add in sugar until well creamed. 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. 

Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture in batches to butter mixture and beat until well blended. 

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. 

Fold egg whites into batter and pour into prepared pans. 

Drop the pans on the counter a couple times to get out any bubbles and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick can come out clean. 

Vanilla Buttercream

1 C Butter

1/4 tsp salt 

1 32 oz package powdered sugar 

6-7 Tbsp milk 

1 Tbsp vanilla extract 

In your favorite stand mixer, beat softened butter and salt until fluffy. 

Gradually over medium-low speed add in the powdered sugar in intervals with the milk (i.e. Add powdered sugar, beat until combined, add milk, beat until combined, etc.) until all the powdered sugar and 7 tablespoons of milk have been added. 

Add in the vanilla extract and frost your cake using an offset spatula. 

I retrieved these recipes from Southern Living's book "Christmas All Through the South" which is a wonderful book full of Christmas stories, pictures of Christmas decorations and fabulous recipes. 

Nate decided to make a bison roast with roasted vegetables for our guests to enjoy.