I saw this pin and immediately repinned it to make on Glow’s birthday because I knew this stack of pancakes would make for a good breakfast (birthday cake) in bed! Breakfast in bed is tradition for birthday celebrants in our home, and while it usually is some sort of pancake or waffle, we knew we’d be out the entire day so we needed a breakfast dish that would also double as a birthday cake. This one fit the bill perfectly!
Nordic Pancake Cake with Berries and Cream
(original recipe here made by A Tasty Love Story, but I slightly changed it up, so you’ll get my changes below)
For the pancakes:
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon
Cooking spray
For the berry sauce:
2 1/2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)
2 tbsp sugar
For the toppings:
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup greek yogurt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cup mixed fresh berries (this is for topping the cake)
Directions:
In a bowl, whisk all the pancake ingredients together. Make sure the batter is smooth. Heat a nonstick pan, spray some cooking oil and pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the pan. Fry the pancake for about 1-2 minutes on each side. When you see one side start to bubble, it’s time to flip it. Repeat for the rest of the batter. Allow pancakes to cool completely before stacking together with the cream and berries.
To make the sauce, place the berries in a small pot over medium heat. Add the sugar and with a potato masher continue to mash the berries together. Once all the berries have been mashed (it’s okay to have some chunks), allow the sauce to simmer for 3-5 minutes. Allow it to cool completely before you use it. I made all the various components the night before, so the pancakes and the sauce cooled in the fridge overnight.
Whisk the cream with wide strokes (or using a mixer) and once the cream starts to thicken up, add the sugar. Continue to whip the cream until it is light and airy. Once it is done, gently fold in the greek yogurt.
To assemble the cake (make sure all the components have cooled), place a pancake on the plate. Next add a layer of berry sauce or whipped cream (or both), then layer another pancake on top. Continue until you have used all your pancakes. Top the cake with the rest of the whipped cream and the fresh berries… voila!
Our pancakes were about 8″ circles and we had about 15 pancakes layers in our cake. Your cake might differ slightly based on the size of your pancakes.
It looks fancy, but it’s so easy to make! My mind is swirling with ideas to modify this recipe even more and even make mini ones. All 4 girls devoured the entire cake, I think I barely got a couple bites in. Most importantly, our birthday girl enjoyed her birthday cake as she had a berry stained face to prove it!
You give them roots to grow in love,
You give them wings to reach for the stars,
You set me free to be who I am,
Just by being who you are.
These lyrics are from a song called “Roots and Wings” that my mom would play for us when we were younger. Sometimes who I am is crazy (and I remember my mom being a bit of the same, while lovely at the same time… hi mom!), but I’m praying that my every day spent molding my girls really lets them have fun with childhood and explore what it is they love. It’s an honor to be their mother and an honor to see them grow (even filled with the crazy parenting moments). Just like my mom helped mold my own roots and wings, I’m hoping I’m doing the same for my girls. I’m thankful that my parents gave me wonderful memories of childhood.
p.s. if you love vintage children clothes (or vintage things!) like me, fuzzymama vintage has some good pieces right now. i’m loving this vintage jacket, this calico top, and this vintage bird hanging!
It’s a homeschooling post that some of you have been patiently waiting for. Sorry for being so late in it! We’re in year 3. Year 3! Sometimes I thought I would never survive pass day 1. When we’re in the daily grind of schooling, it can feel overwhelming and then there are other times and I’m like, “Oh, I’m so glad I get to be here for this!” I get to see it all connect and click together, and watch as their curiosity continues. I’d be lying though if I didn’t mention that sometimes I want to throw in the towel and send them off to traditional school.
We have many whys of why we homeschool, but the main thing is this is what we feel is best for our family right now. Just like you will have some good and bad teachers at a traditional school, same with homeschooling, you will get some who are doing it right and some who might be better off sending their kids to traditional school. I’d like to think we’re mostly doing it right. I love having charge over what my kids learn and how they learn it. I have the time and flexibility to cater their learning to what best suits them. Also, we have the time and flexibility to explore subjects deeper because I don’t have to cater to the needs of 28 other students in the room. It’s just True and Brave. Besides homeschooling to build their knowledge and desire for learning, I love that it also gives us additional opportunities to build their character. Frankly, it builds mine as well. Homeschooling is also our way of holding (and shaping) their hearts a little bit longer.
Though I learn more about homeschooling every year we do it, I’ve had a lot of exposure to it in my past. I’ve seen my mom homeschool my younger siblings in their early elementary years and I was homeschooled part of my high school years. Not only that, I studied Child & Adolecent Development at a local state university and went on to receive my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and taught at a public school, so being a teacher is kind of my cup of tea.
I like that I’m able to utilize the skills and techniques I learned in college to help making learning fun and interesting for my girls. We are in a good school district, but our choice to homeschool is more of a calling for us. It is what we feel is best in how we want to shape the character, knowledge, and love for learning in our children. It’s the best choice for us right now, but it may change later. We’re not opposed to that possibility either.
I’d like to document more of what we do in our homeschooling, but when we’re in schooling mode, there isn’t time to snap pictures… I’m teaching, the girls are listening, we’re discussing, we’re writing, drawing, or doing things to help drive our learning home that I don’t really think about taking pictures. You will catch a few snapshots on instagram here or there when they’re doing some quiet work, but that’s been it so far.
We mainly follow the Classical Education model of learning and teaching (read about it here). That philosophy resonates well with me and the learning styles of my children. I recommend this book if you’re interested in learning about this particular method of homeschooling, as it has really helped shape our curriculum and our schooling. This one is a good one too. I also like to integrate a lot of books and literature into our learning and we base projects off of that. I think books are a really good way to connect subject areas together. I was totally all about that when I was in the classroom and I’m still loving it in our homeschooling.
How do my girls get social interaction? They go to swim classes, dance classes, we have a group of kids in our church family, and they go to enrichment classes for a full day (9-3:30pm) once a week with other homeschooling kids, so they get plenty of interaction with peers and other adults.
Through the program we are part of, we have a credentialed teacher meet with us monthly to make sure that we’re meeting our goals and to give support, we also have to turn in attendance. Though we homeschool, the girls are required to participate in the California standardized testing, and since True is now in second grade, this is the first year she will do it. Schooling is serious stuff, so the regular business side of it that is done at a traditional is also done in our homeschooling.
True and Brave are technically in different grades, True’s in second and Brave in first, but I do the same lessons with both of them, and I adjust things for their particular levels. The main difference between the two is that True has a bit more coordination in her writing and slightly ahead in reading levels, but Brave isn’t far behind. It’s great seeing them work together and help each other. They really bounce a lot of learning off each other and I love seeing them engaged and excited about a subject together.
We’re thankful for homeschooling. It isn’t for everyone, but it is for us (at least right now). If you have any questions about it, I’d love to try and answer them for you. I’ll share what a typical homeschooling schedule looks like for us in another post soon.
What are your thoughts on homeschooling? I’ve seen it done well and not so well, and I’m sure you have too, so people usually have a lot of commentary about it based on what they’ve seen in real life and in the blog world.
The girls and I were itching to do some baking, okay, it was probably more like itching for some sugar. No matter though, however we got there, the results were good. I pin a lot of recipes (well, a lot of things in general) and this was one that was calling our name, so we made it. The girls helped mixed, but we were in kind of a hurry that I was the one who threw all the ingredients in. I told them next time I’d let them do it, so we’re probably going to be making this again this week.
Funny though, the recipe is from Half Baked Harvest called Healthy Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Bars, but it is definitely far from healthy. I think the creator meant it as funny joke to name it that. I told Ben the name of the recipe and what was in it and he just laughed. Apparently, 1 cup of canola oil is 1,927 calories and 216 grams of fat, and that’s only the oil! Throw in the chocolate chips, sugar, and the rest of the magic that makes this thing yummy, and these bars should have flashing lights over it saying, “Danger! Danger!” But life is short and I love living dangerously! Right, folks?!
We will try to make it again this week, but slightly healthier and we’ll cross our fingers that they still come out yummy. Or we will continue to live our life on the edge, either way, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I’m thankful for our homeschool program that allows these two to go to school once a week. It’s a great way to give them social interaction as well as expose them to other types of classes and teachers. This year they are in Earth science, theatre, Spanish, and music class. My girls are super shy (mostly True), but I’m hoping this exposure allows them to figure things out a bit more socially. I think True would be shy even if she did attend traditional school, it’s just her personality and she’s an introvert. When they’re home though, or around people they’re comfortable with, these girls are a whole other story. They are little performers at home!
Brave wore another handmade dress to school this week (made for her on this birthday). She says handmade dresses are her favorite. This weekend, True learned how to braid, so she’s wearing her first yarn braided necklace. I love seeing these girls appreciate handmade things.
on brave:dress, handmade here. short, misha lulu. on true: top, target. shorts, misha lulu. drawings, made in photoshop using my tablet by me!
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
I saw this pin and immediately repinned it to make on Glow’s birthday because I knew this stack of pancakes would make for a good breakfast (birthday cake) in bed! Breakfast in bed is tradition for birthday celebrants in our home, and while it usually is some sort of pancake or waffle, we knew we’d be out the entire day so we needed a breakfast dish that would also double as a birthday cake. This one fit the bill perfectly!
It looks fancy, but it’s so easy to make! My mind is swirling with ideas to modify this recipe even more and even make mini ones. All 4 girls devoured the entire cake, I think I barely got a couple bites in. Most importantly, our birthday girl enjoyed her birthday cake as she had a berry stained face to prove it!
