Cake #2: Coffee & Walnut Ring

It has been one week and my husband and I set out to make our second cake, Coffee and Walnut Ring. Unfortunately, life got in the way and we had to change our game plan for this cake the very last minute. On Thursday we found out that our dog Shakespeare has a tumor. It was any other typical Thursday night, I was sitting in bed after a long day of school, we had just fed the baby and put her down to bed, and Shakespeare had eaten his dinner and been taken out, when Ted asked me, "Now, what are we going to eat for dinner?" After much deliberation (as food is almost always our number one topic of conversation), we decided to get Arby's. We were too tired to make something, and even though take- out and fast-food has been our dinner of choice too frequently as of late, we did not argue our poor choice. Ted left to get us dinner, and I stayed home propped up in bed, with Shakespeare on my lap, hoping for a peaceful and relaxing night. That was at 7:00 p.m.

I flicked on the T.V. and started to scratch behind Shakespeare's ears, he loves that. He was enjoying it so much that he leaned his head back and tried to lick me. I was horrified at what I saw. Shakespeare, is a Basset Hound, and he fills his role perfectly. He is a little chunky, has sad eyes, droopy ears that sweep our floors, crooked feet, and enormous lips that catch his never ending puddles of drool. I love this dog. In fact, Shakespeare is my first true pet, growing up I was not allowed to have any animals in the house minus a fish or a turtle we caught on the road.

When I was 11 I was attacked by a neighbor's dog, right in the ass. The dog bit me and would not let go. I had no idea how bad the bite was, I knew it hurt, but I could not see the damage. When my parents were called they rushed over, and the sound of my father yelling "Jesus Christ!" let me know how bad the bite was. They rushed me to the ER, where the doctors promptly asked if the dog had his rabies shot. My neighbors could not find the papers that proved their dog had had his shots, and the doctors warned that they might have to stick a huge needle in my stomach if the papers were not found in enough time. Fortunately, they found the papers right before the doctors needed to stab my belly. Ever since then I was terrified of dogs.

Then I met Ted. Ted had a sweet, gray miniature schnauzer, named Lady. She was the smallest dog and when she barked at me the first time I met her, I ran and hid behind their couch. Years later, Lady won my heart and rekindled my love for dogs, even though when you touched her, your hands would stink hours later, I loved that dog. It was getting to know Lady, that made me want a dog, and when Ted and I bought our home, we knew that a dog would be our next purchase.

Right away I knew I wanted a Basset Hound, how could anyone not love a creature as sad and as adorable as that? We found a place, paid for our dog, drove the two hours to get him, and picked up this scared little mite who tripped over his own skin. He was just four months old and it was love at first drool.

Here is Shakespeare as a baby:

So you can imagine, how terrified I was to be looking down at my dog's mouth and to see a big, pink, bubblegum - looking growth on his gums on top of his front teeth. I touched it thinking, "Shakespeare got into the trash again and got gum stuck to his mouth." But when the blob wouldn't move, I knew something was wrong. I called Ted in a panic told him to forget about dinner and to get home immediately. Two hours and eighty dollars later, we find out what I was dreading, he had a tumor and it needed to come out. We weren't overly worried though, because the ER vet said that Basset Hounds are notorious for tumors and most of the time they are benign.

Here is my poor puppy's tumor

 Here is my wonderfully sad puppy normally:

The cake we were going to make on Saturday morning called for coffee extract, and after much research and four grocery stores, we knew that we were going to have to make the trip Saturday morning to Wegman's to buy this speciality ingredient. However, those plans got changed when we spoke to the vet this morning who is going to remove Shakespeare's tumor. He said it did not look good, and that it needed to be taken out and biopsied immediately. By the time the phone call was finished, and I finished my blubbering it was too late to buy the coffee extract since the closest Wegman's is in Hunt Valley.

So we made our own!  This is the recipe we followed:

• Grind the beans medium-fine

• Boil water

• Put your ground coffee in the filter, make sure the grinds are packed firmly

• Put the filter on top of a pot

• When the water boils, take it off the heat... count slowly to 10 and pour about 2 -3table spoons of the water on the packed ground coffee; make sure the whole surface of the coffee is moistened....

• Wait until the the bubbling has stopped.

• Slowly pour about half the remaining water over the ground coffee.

• Put the kettle back on the fire.

• Wait until the extract has dripped from the grinds.

Other than the coffee extract, our cake called for the typical flour, baking powder, butter, and eggs. We also added chopped walnuts in the mixture. Then after the cake baked we drizzled maple syrup on top of the cake and decorated it with more chopped walnuts.

When I took the cake out of the oven, Shakespeare ran in the room and tried to eat it. Since Shakespeare will eat anything in sight, I know he is not an accurate judge on the cake's taste. So, after I put the cake on a plate, I ate some of the crumbles from the pan, and although I hate coffee, this cake tasted great! If I make this cake again, next time I think I will go to Starbucks and get a shot of espresso and put that into the cake, I think that would make the cake have even a stronger coffee flavor than the cake has now.

Tonight, we have another Birthday, Ted's cousin Donny, is turning 23. So, we are bringing the cake to the party, and I will update with how the cake was received. I cannot wait to taste the whole cake, especially with the maple syrup drizzle, it smells like breakfast in my house, and that is always a good smell. 

Here is my cake:

Here is the book's picture:

The one thing I have noticed about these recipes is that it does not make for a large cake. All of the recipes' serving sizes are 7-10 people. And even the pictures of the cakes in the book look small. But, with all of our fast-food eating, this might not be a bad thing.

Next week's cake is a Sticky Ginger Loaf and it includes another ingredient I have never used, Sunflower oil. Friday is also our 5 year wedding anniversary, so we will have a cake to celebrate!