Off to the races!

Moving to Louisville, Kentucky definitely has some advantages and one of the biggest is the first weekend in May. DERBY WEEKEND. For weeks now the city has been full of great activities offered for locals and visitors. Last weekend we strolled through the wonderful art show hosted by 200-300  talented local artisans.(We walked away with an awesome print from Madpixel.com)  The city hosted a hot air balloon glow and a launch. They have their own parade with floats and balloons! Wine tastings, cocktail parties, dinner bashes, you name it and they have it for Derby week.

This is our first official Derby Weekend in Louisville. We are attending a house party today. Our lovely hostess for the day has worked her poor tail off during Derby week. Her job is in the Bourbon world it has been a constant mad dash since the Derby festivities started. She is a bit like wonder woman ... I am not sure how she is even standing, let alone hosting a party today.

So as good friends do - we ascended on her house last night. A few cocktails in tow ... a few dishes from our own house, and began chopping, boiling, grating, slicing, mixing and assembling. We played the never ending refrigerator shuffle to get everything in.

In honor of the Derby I made her two banners for her party today:

Banner #1: For the Horses!

Banner #2  for the ladies! Derby Hats & Mint Julep's



The food item I am most excited about is my Mint Julep Derby Cake! I found a few recipes on line and mixed and matched what I thought would work out best. This is going to be a close second to my Margarita Cake.

Cake:

• 1 box White Cake Mix
• 1 box Dry Vanilla Pudding Mix
• 5 whole Egg Whites
• ½ cups Cold Water
• ½ cups Canola Oil
• ½ teaspoons Mint Julep Mix (Mint Extract or Mint Liquor)
• ½ cups Bourbon

  Butter Sauce:

• 1-½ stick Butter
• ¼ cups Cold Water
• 1-½ cup White Sugar
• ¼ cups Bourbon
• Cup Coarsely Chopped Fresh Mint

  Frosting:

·         1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

·         1-2 tablespoon milk

·         1 tablespoon Mint Julep Mix

Preheat oven to 325.
Beat the first 7 ingredients (through 1st round of bourbon) in a bowl with an electric mixer. Pour into a tube pan that you sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for an hour.(40mins in a convection oven)
Sauce: melt the butter, water, mint, bourbon and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let roll for just a minute or two. Remove from heat - cover with lid and let sit for 20 mins. Strain Mint. Put back on stove on low prior to cake being pulled out if butter starts to harden.

Pull the cake out of the oven, and while it’s still hot, take a kabob skewer and poke it all over. Slowly pour all of the sauce over the top and around the sides. Allow the cake and sauce to cool completely in the pan. Invert on a pretty plate. Mix Frosting ingredients and pour over.

So off we go! My money is on Uncle Mo today. I am ready for an afternoon filled of good food, good friends, and great hats!