Cake hog

me: (link to autumn cake on Society Fair's eStore)
Mark Levy: I'm going to order that. and I am going to tell everyone that I am bringing it as dessert for a dinner party. but I wont. It will be all for me.

(I can't judge, I just blogged about doing unspeakable things with that buttercream.)

Tuesday

1. A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart and a Dutch caramel cookie over my morning coffee. 

2. Baker Bri's latest cake experiment: zucchini cake w/lemon & rosemary buttercream. Sexy. 

3. Todd Thrasher's test run for tomorrow's Pop Up Paella to benefit Fit for Hope. 

4. Vinyl and pasta with Steph after a long day of identifying food shots for Chef's cookbook. She fed me bocconcini and German chocolate pie. It was most enjoyable. 

Stephanie: My friend just emailed offtopic because he doesn't know who left cake on his desk lolllll.

Foodgasms

[meanwhile at Society Fair..]
Older gent in blue plaid shirt: (sits down next to me with a slice of coconut cake. takes bite.) mmmmmmmm.
me: Isn't it good?
Older gent in blue plaid shirt: Don't you know better to interrupt a man when he's making love to cake?

We put the fun in funfetti

happy birthday, dad!

early bird apple cake

I woke up at six in the morning, on my own accord, and laid in bed until I decided to a) walk/run to the gym (eight miles total, heyyy) and then b) come home and bake an apple cake (womp womp). 

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

6 apples, I used a mixture of Golden Delicious, one Red Delicious, and a Granny Smith apple that were too old to be eaten plain. It was this or apple butter. 

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

5 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups light brown sugar

1/4 cup milk. (SK calls for orange juice but I didn't have any. Ooh! Next time I'll use Cointreau.)

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt (Bundkt budkt. Oh! It's a cake!) pan. 

- Chop apples into chunks (you can peel them if you like. I'm lazy.), toss with cinnamon and sugar. 

- Stir together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a bowl. 

- In another bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, milk (or orange juice or Cointreau), and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients with dry mixture, then add eggs one at a time. 

- In bundt pan, alternate layers of apple and batter. I did apples first, then batter, then more apples. I do believe Smitten Kitchen started with batter but I wanted a tarte tatin feel to it. 

- Bake until a tester comes out clean, about an hour and a half. 

* I had extra batter and apples and decided to bake them in a bread pan, which I then gave to the tall one. He calls it the apple brick. I didn't think the term brick was that appetizing, though it was very accurate. 

*I hummed this song the entire time I was writing this post. 

some days it feels like summer strawberry cake

 

I was going to bake this cake yesterday when it was all warm and sunny. That didn't happen (hey, there was a new episode of Community!) so I baked it this morning for breakfast. Turns out that a summery strawberry cake is just as delightful on a chilly and overcast morning.

6 Tbsp. butter at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup of raw cane sugar (next time I'll try brown sugar)
1 large egg
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and halved (hulled and halved! that would be a good tumblr name. I'm on it)

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan or a deep dish pie plate. 

- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Mix in egg, milk, and vanilla. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth. 

- Pour in pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter in a single layer. (I stopped reading the recipe once I made the batter so I put the strawberries down first and then the batter, generally making an upside down strawberry cake which was still good.)

- Bake for ten minutes and then reduce heat to 325. Bake until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about fifty minutes. 

- Let cool in pan, dust with powdered sugar, and serve with whipped cream. I didn't have any whipped cream so I ate it with a cold glass of milk which is almost as good. Almost. 

recipe adapted very slightly (all I did was use raw cane sugar in lieu of granulated sugar) from Smitten Kitchen

aw, nuts.

me: oh what the fuck, there are walnuts in this cake!

Lisa: What's banana bread/cake without walnuts? Bah!

me: GOOD BANANA BREAD! I don't like walnuts in my banana bread because it's like soft soft soft ow wtf.

(aside from the impending broken tooth, this banana cake with whipped chocolate frosting is on point)

We love cake.

[via text]
Justin: Did anyone take home that cake from yesterday?
me: I think Kelli did. You want some, don't you.
Justin: Bitch! Yes, I do. My heart is saying "no" but my body is saying "let's go."

Channeling that kid from Matilda

 

 

 

 

 

1. Justin finds a cake.
2. Do we eat the cake?
3. No, let's photoshoot with the cake for vain vina!
4. Lindsay knocks on the door.
5. Photoshoot with cake AND Lindsay!
6. OD on sugar.

Side note, I don't even like chocolate cake. Well, usually.

Salted caramel apple cake

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients: 
five apples, peeled/cored/diced. I used a large Granny Smith, two Golden Delicious, and two McIntosh
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg (I love nutmeg!)
5 Tbsp. sugar

2 3/4 c. flour, sifted
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
1 c. salted caramel, melted (recipe for that soon. I'm working backwards, I know. Sorry.)
1/4 c. orange juice
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube/bundt pan. Toss apple chunks with cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.
- Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. In separate bowl, whisk together sugar, orange juice, oil, vanilla and caramel. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then add eggs one at a time.
- Pour half of batter into pan. Scatter half of the apples into batter. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and sprinkle remaining apples on top. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tester comes out clean. No, really. It takes that long. Your house will smell amazing. AMAZING.

Two and Sixty: the food

“They say it's your birthday. We're going to have a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday. Happy birthday to you.”

Birthday | The Beatles

“There were three or four cakes at your baby shower back in New Zealand. That's probably why you like cake.”

Damn, called out.

I do like a nice cake.

I just read

“I don't remember the art on her wall, the color of her dishtowels or the quality of her table, but I do remember that first bite of fluffy cake and the look of pride on my grandmother's face as she witnessed our pleasure.”

 and now I want cake. 

via little brown pen 
photo via the thinking tank

There's been a lot of cake/Taboo and Tenderloin

I went from never baking cakes to baking three in the span of two weeks. It's been interesting. I have a newfound respect for cake frosters. That shit is not easy. Crumbs are the enemy. Thank goodness for Alton Brown.

To recap:

1. The first banana L4yercake.

2. Butter cake, brandied strawberries and whipped chocolate frosting.

3. Banana cake remix- the addition of coconut milk, coconut flakes and more Kahlúa.

---

Yesterday I trekked to Warrenton, aka the middle of nowhere, for a potluck at Bates's house. I arrived about an hour earlier than everyone else which gave us the opportunity to walk to a field and snap some photos. I discovered that tall grass can be on the invasive side when you're wearing a dress. Bates was an incredibly good sport while my drunk on power ass ordered her about on the field. Stand there! Walk over there! Lay down in the tall grass! It was a beautiful field, complete with blue skies, green grass and the not-so-common warbling of a nearby turkey farm.

When we walked back we noticed that there was a car behind mine that hadn't been there before. It was Arien's car and Arien was nowhere to be found. As Bates went up to her front door, I noticed an Arienesque figure talking to a neighbor a few houses down. Turns out that Arien had lost her cell phone a few days back and had borrowed a neighbor's phone to call Laura (the only number she remembered) to call Bates. Womp, womp. It worked out in the end.

Dinner consisted of: Bates's pork tenderloin, Christie's salad, Arien's chicken sausage noodle casserole (sorry, Bates), TJ's rugelach, Keith's chips/dip, Laura's spinach & artichoke dip, Sara's potato salad, Zack's pistachio/cream situation and my cake. We watched Yes Man and played some Taboo. Bates called out "Back to the Future" to the clue of "I'll be back." *snort. TJ made Bates's baby sister cry when he told her to put on pants. It's not as pedophilic as it sounds. Asia the dog makes for good cuddling. Flynn the dog reminds me of Garth's dog in Wayne's World. What's that, girl? Aliens have kidnapped Wayne?! Oh, Wayne's outside. Tall people make for good hugging. Jumping barefoot takes its toll after two minutes. My water was that evening's peace pipe. Yeah you like that mint and rosemary, don't you? Iron Shannon tagged it as Minty McWaterson on the face, haha.

I stayed behind after everyone left and helped Bates clean up the dinner party aftermath. It was about one in the morning at this point. Halfway home, right when I turned onto 66, I realized that I had forgotten my water bottle. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT I'VE LEFT IT ANYWHERE! The last forty minutes of the ride home was spent singing loudly/soulfully (and I'm sure tone-deaf) in an effort to forget how thirsty I was and how refreshing that mint & rosemary water would taste on my oh-so parched tongue.

Banana L4yerCake

Ingredients

Cake:
1 box of yellow cake mix (I cheated this time, sorry. If you'd like to scratch it up, go here)
lime zest
milk
eggs
vegetable oil
nutmeg

Filling/Topping:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
Kalua
4-5 ripe bananas
caramel fruit dip
walnuts or pecans
honey

-Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with a nonstick spray and flour lightly. Set aside.

- Make cake batter. I deviated a bit from the package and used milk instead of water as well as adding freshly-grated lime zest and nutmeg. Buttermilk works too.

- Pour cake batter into cake pans and bake for about half an hour or until inserted toothpick emerges clean. Cool in pans on wire rack.

- Toast nuts under broiler for a minute or so until browned. Add a tsp. of honey and toss to coat.

- Whip cream until soft peaks form. Fold in caramel to taste until thoroughly incorporated.


- Cut both layers of cake horizontally. Put first layer down, cut side up onto cake plate. Lightly drizzle with Kalua. Add a dollop of the cream, spread to cover. Layer with banana slices. Repeat until you've run out of cake. On the last layer put the cut side down. Cover with remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle with nuts or toasted coconut flakes.