Layered Chocolate Ganache Cake With Fresh Cream

I told Russell last Friday night that I’d be going to pick strawberries first thing Saturday morning. So, we get up on a rainy Saturday morning before we’d really like to, and we put on our boots and head out to the farm with Sally, my sweet golden retriever. Things look pretty dead around the farm, no other cars – but I insist there are strawberries because I’d seen a flyer announcing the picking season! The road was barely mowed. We quickly realized there were no strawberries, especially after going to their Facebook page to read, “late frost. no berries.” But, we were already out, so we continued on (in the complete opposite direction) to Branched Oak Farm.
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Just because I can’t eat dairy, does not mean I don’t like baking with it, especially just separated, fresh, raw cream. How could I not use that?? I got to thinking. What did I want to do with it? I needed to try something completely different. So, with a 1/2 gallon of cream and 1/2 gallon of raw milk (kills me that I can’t scoop off the cream line and drink it all!), I got started.
Two layers of blueberry cake, made with fresh and freeze dried blueberries, bittersweet chocolate ganache, a graham sablĂ©, and a thin layer of fresh whipped cream. The things (my) dreams are made of. To my surprise, the edible flower order I placed on Friday arrived Saturday afternoon! I’ve been using jasmine, fava, and borage blossoms on just about everything. What I love about the jasmine blossoms, is that their aroma sticks to the cream – so, even if you don’t eat the actual flower, the cream has been infused just from it sitting on top.
I woke up Sunday morning and the first thing I saw in my mind was corn cookies with fava blossoms tucked inside. So, of course those had to be made, too.

The rest of the weekend was spent preparing a giant tasting for an upcoming wedding, and taking slices of cake to my tribe. I barely stepped out of the kitchen the whole weekend. I went to bed on Sunday totally exhausted and completely fulfilled. The lesson: don’t ignore what you love. The exhaustion is worth it and doesn’t even seem like a struggle. For your passion, work isn’t work – it’s just love.