It's a girl!!!! Pink shower goodies and happy baby moments!

There's a certain warmth and happiness that accompanies the celebration of new life. Baby showers are filled with hope and delight at the emanate birth of a new baby boy or girl.

This particular baby shower and birth are especially heart warming to us because we are celebrating the birth of our first grandchild!

My oldest son Zach and his wife Emily are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl Amber Lynn. She was born March 24, 2011 at 4:18 pm and weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces...she's stunning and perfect and we're all goo goo eyed over her!

The shower was just a few days ago and now Amber is already home with her new parents and settling into their life together as a family.

During the shower Zach and Emily enjoyed opening their gifts and we enjoyed a simple and delicious luncheon.

Emily loves cheesecake and peeps so that's what I prepared for the shower menu. I off set the sweets with Chicken Salad Croissants, Chocolate covered strawberries and tangy Pink Sparkling Limeade.

So simple and so cute, I tucked these little peeps into flower cupcake holders and rested them on top of pastel dinner mints.

I was inspired to make this beautiful no-bake cheesecake by a fellow blogger, Ann Low. She writes Anncoo Journal where you can view her talented work in the kitchen and behind the camera. I had a few issues with the recipe because I had to convert grams to cups which was a royal disaster!

Finally, I used a conversion chart from the web that helped me figure out the difference in weight for solids and liquids. I must have missed that class in school because it made my brain hurt! Most of the ingredients were correct but I added two packets of gelatin when I should have added only one and my cheesecake became a bit lumpy and dense.

My saving grace was the chocolate fudge I made the same day that didn't set up correctly. Another failed dessert but a blessing in disguise. I melted the unset fudge and made a delicious Hot Fudge sauce and used it to decorate the cake.

Ann's version is impeccable and mine turned out a little more whimsical. The raspberry flavor was really intense and the cheese creamy but I would have preferred a smoother texture. You can see Ann's original recipe and do your own conversions if you don't trust mine..lol! I've adjusted the recipe below with my corrections.

Ann, thanks for the inspiration!

Crust

1 package or ⅔ cup Graham Crackers crushed fine
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon melted butter

Mix butter with graham cracker until well incorporated. Line the bottom of a spring-form pan with parchment and press graham cracker into bottom of pan pressing firmly, set aside

Filling

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1-½ cups Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons raspberry syrup
1 teaspoon raspberry extract
⅔ cup powdered sugar
1-½ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 drops red food coloring(optional)

Measure water into a medium bowl sprinkle with gelatin, stir once or twice with a wooden spoon then set aside for 10 minutes to allow gelatin grains to bloom/swell, place bowl over a simmering pot of hot water and stir until gelatin is melted, turn off heat and keep gelatin warm until ready to use. I let mine cool and it became very difficult to work with and made my cake lumpy.

Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar together until smooth, add gelatin solution and yogurt and beat till smooth

Divide filling into two separate bowls equally, flavor one with raspberry syrup and extract and add red food coloring, mixing to combine

Spoon mixtures into prepared spring-form pan, alternating flavored filling with white until all filling is used, refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.

Topping (optional)
1 package gelatin
½ cup water

mix and set aside for 10 minutes

add

1 cup raspberry syrup
¼ teaspoon raspberry extract
½ cup yogurt

mix thoroughly and pour over refrigerated cake, return to refrigerator for 2 hours or over night.

In a perfect world your cake will turn out smooth and the rings from the layers will be very noticeable. Gorgeous, like Ann's.

I decorated the top of my cake with the hot fudge sauce to cover up the uneven and lumpy mess I made...I was lucky that the fudge sauce added another layer of flavor and was a great success.

You can never go wrong with chocolate covered strawberries! Their absolutely gorgeous and they taste amazing.

Emily and Zach in the hospital just a few minutes before Amber was born...Emily displayed inspiring strength and composure during her labor...way to go girl!! Zach was a great labor coach and a doting new father.