You know, of course, that they don't make the heads/hands for these dolls anymore. I finished mine about three years ago (I made them all, plus vintage Strawberry Shortcake series and the modern Strawberry Shortcake series) I spent almost 2 weeks on line looking for these heads/hands. I bought some from e-bay and did find some on a few private sites. Check to make sure you can get the heads/hands before you think about starting this project.

If you like it, Raspberry Cupcake (KORcarmsis), it has a probable sister, Carmen Wurth (KORjupvio) and its sport, Königin Marie (KORcarmut). The pattern in codenames is actually humorous and well done by Kordes this time. Violette Parfumee, New Zealand and Caramel Fairy Tale seem to be the likely parents. So, two HT sniffers and a "flori-gusa". I declined on these guys because it was never obvious what size they would be here. Every reference was different. Can't plan out the garden with random dimensions. But I was interested.

Well I forged ahead with the cupcakes made from the summer torte recipe. I macerated the peaches with sugar and lemon juice before topping the cupcakes. I didn't mind if the peaches didn't get cooked since they were perfectly ripe. I topped with a brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping because I had some left over from the aforementioned muffins. They turned out good, however I underestimated how much they would rise so the tops rose onto the flat part of the muffin tins and then baked up more like a cookie. So to take the cupcakes to the pot luck and serve I will have to trim the edges. I estimated eight servings for the torte so eight cupcakes but ten would have been better. Also instead of laying the peach slices on top of the muffins I inserted them standing up so they went down pretty far into the cake batter. The other change I made was to add 1/2 tsp. vanilla and dried lemon peel to the batter just to punch up the cake a little since peaches are less tart than plums or some other fruits. The cake tastes fab. Here's a photo of an untrimmed and trimmed cupcake, and the rest as they came out of the oven. Cake is sweet enough, no frosting necessary. I have to wait until I go to the store to get more butter to make another batch, this time I am going to try with ten or twelve cupcakes. For a potluck where there will be other desserts, a small cupcake is plenty. I could always serve with a side of whipped topping if someone wants to guild the lily. I found out I have the date wrong, the pot luck is not until Thursday so I may freeze these. That's another plus about the cupcakes, if you are the kind of person who needs one or two dessert servings only, having the cupcakes frozen in individual serving sizes makes it easy to pull out a couple if you are in the mood for desert for just the small family and don't want to have to try and finish off the whole cake. I think cupcakes are much easier to take to a potluck and folks don't have to futz with any serving issues. I don't have to cut ahead of time and try to meter out servings. If you make the cupcakes the right size folks can just pick one up with their own hands and don't have to touch anything else, or you can use tongs. So easier and slightly more hygienic overall. I'm a huge fan of muffins and now cupcakes! Plus any leftovers easily will pop into the freezer. Watching my weight as I do, I like to have deserts in the freezer for company but not sitting around on a regular basis.

Me too, Sunny! An ADR winner gives me a starting point about a rose's ability to survive winter and disease issues. It's kind of like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, or Better Business Bureau top rating. I do keep in mind that all the ADR test gardens are in Germany (to my knowledge), which only limits their winter hardiness to zone 7, but a clean bill of health regarding disease resistance, especially regarding black spot, is zone-less as long as the climate is hot and humid during the growing season as mine is.