An easy baby shower

I threw a baby shower for a close friend over the weekend and I’m so pleased with how the recipes turned out, I thought I’d share. It was a “Ladies Tea” theme, without the tea and without much more theme than simply that. But here’s what we had:

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches
Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches (the taragon made these special)
Smoked Salmon and Endive Tea Sandwiches
Goat Cheese and Watercress Tea Sandwiches
Fruit Salad with Ginger Syrup

For drinks I made a sparkling pink lemonade (frozen concentrate and seltzer, voila!) and served a sparkling rose wine.

But the highlight was dessert: a Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake. This was actually suggested by my son Ollie (not the flavor, the bundt idea) because he pointed out we wouldn’t need to use the mixer for frosting (though we did need it for the cake, much to his disappointment…). He sure was prescient because Sunday morning as I was scrambling to get everything prepared, I sure wouldn’t have enjoyed making a layer cake and whipping buttercream. And I didn’t have the time.

For flowers I used baby food jars with the labels removed and tied with some twine around the top. I filled them with dusty pink roses from the deli around the corner. They looked fancy though! All in all it was a beautiful, delicious afternoon. And when I get a chance, I’ll try and share a photo.

Oh! And I almost forgot: I made half pints of strawberry jam for all the ladies to take home as presents.