Ginger Peach Teacakes

Peach Teacakes with a Ginger Liqueur Glaze, Ol' Sport!

Which potluck item would be appropriate for a Great Gatsby themed 20's housewarming party?!  I racked my brain...  I knew I wanted to make sweets, and of course, cupcakes are always on the top of my mind.  I even went shopping for cupcake liners to get some inspiration.  Well, I did manage to find the cutest cupcake liners that were grey, black and yellow and super elegant. I thought I would be using those, but I made a last minute change and wanted to do something smaller and more bite sized for the party. So I landed on mini cakes, tiny, cute, teacakes. 

Now, I may be taking some liberties in calling them teacakes, because what really makes a teacake a teacake?  I typed that exact question into my search engine.  I got results for traditional English teacakes, which aren't very cute at all, more like a yeast-based bun with dried fruit.  The South will refer to a large, dense, cookie-like treat made with butter, flour, eggs, milk and sugar as a teacake. BUT, in the rest of the United States a teacake is usually a single-layered, lightly spiced cake, often made with buttermilk, topped with a glaze and sometimes they contain fruit.  Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner.  And by just doing a glaze on top, instead of frosting, gave me a chance to play around with my royal icing and piping techniques that I so rarely use outside of work. 

Handmade Gifts- Body Scrub

Lavender and Rose Salt Scrub and Orange Dreamsicle Sugar Scrub.

Lots of new things going on around here lately! Mother's Day weekend was over 100 degrees and what did we decide to do?  Sod our front yard and go on a walking tour of old homes in Monrovia, of course!  We survived and as you can see from my photo I just HAD to use our new grass as a backdrop for my homemade body scrubs, which were my gift to my Momma on her special day. 

Each Mother's Day, the town I live in has a tour of old or historical homes.  It was something we used to do with my Grandma many, many years ago we decided to go again this year.  It's really amazing how much pocket windows, crown moulding, roll-up screens, built-in cabinets and picture rails can get me excited.  I guess I was destined to own an older home, and I was excited to see the potential beauty my 1917 Craftsman style house can have in a few years. 

As far as the body scrubs are concerned, they make one of the easiest homemade gifts and most of the ingredients some straight from your pantry at home.  I've made body scrubs with salt, sugar, or coffee.  I've heard that the coffee is good for cellulite, but I cannot atest to any such claims 1 ;) I've made scrubs with coconut oil, almond oil, and olive oil.  Use mild smelling oils and try to avoid mineral oil, as it is not good for your skin and can clog your pores.  When it comes to the scents, one of the easiest ways to get great smelling, good for you scrubs is with essential oils.  Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores carry essential oils, I especially like peppermint essential oil.  I even grabbed some lavender from the spice and tea man at the Farmer's Market and picked some rose petals from my bush outside to create this salt scrub.