Tis' the season to give thanks for all we have and I have a
number of things to be thankful for. I have two of the most wonderful (and at
times crazy) children a mother could ask for; see any picture or movie file uploaded
on facebook over the past six months, and you too will agree that my children
are the cutest you have ever seen. Along these lines, I am also thankful that
this year, Evie is old enough to actually understand (at least to some degree)
Christmas. She does not really understand the entire back story for the
holiday, religious and commercial, and doesn't even comprehend that it has been
a year since last Christmas, but she does know that something is happening. If
you mention Christmas to her, she will scream something about Santa and how he
is bringing her a princess castle. I cannot wait for Christmas morning when she
opens that castle and truly buys into the magic that is Santa and Christmas
morning.
Finally, this year I am thankful that this damn blog is
almost over. After two years of making cakes every week, shopping for
ingredients, driving around the Baltimore metropolitan area looking for obscure
ingredients not found on previous trips, delicately shaping each aspect of the
cake to resemble the picture in the book, and then struggling to say something
impactful about the experience in the blog, I am just done. This blog started
in January of 2011, when Evie was just a little nine-month old infant who had
just started eating solid foods and could not yet walk on her own; now, she is
almost three, partially potty trained, and able to hold entire conversations
and sing along to top 40 radio. Liam was a remote possibility in the future
when this blog started, and now he is five month old reality, starting to eat
solid foods and crawl. That being said, these amazing testaments to the passage
of times have also made free time a
scarce commodity in the Childs' household. Because of this, I bring to you
today, the story of five cakes that have been made, none of them I think on the
previously accustomed to Saturday afternoon.
#94 Prune and Port Cake
This cake was an easy cake that more importantly called for
me to use Ted's favorite wine based spirit, Port, in the mix. A fortified red
wine, port is super sweet and often served as a desert wine. He loves it and
was tantalized by the prospect of including it in the cake. The cake itself
called for flour, baking powder, butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla
extract, and had dried prunes, which had been boiled in a port/apple juice combination
mixed into the batter. Once the cake was done, the port and apple juice
reduction was then served over the cake, allowing that warm sweetness to works
its way through the entire cake! Finally, because it just wasn't sweet enough,
raw sugar was sprinkled on top of the cake as it came out of the oven, ensuring
that this cake is a diabetic's worst nightmare.
#95 Silver Wedding Cake
A cake that we had been eyeing for quite a while, we made this
the weekend before our twelve year dating anniversary on Halloween. It is hard
to believe that we have actually been together for twelve years, and when I
think back to what life was like then as opposed to now it is really quite
amazing what can change in just a bit over a decade. This cake called for
flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and milk. Once finished,
the cake was then sprinkled with just a small amount of sherry to give it a
sophisticated flavor, before being coated in cream cheese icing. The hardest
part of this cake was making it two layered, but different sizes. Not having
the correct pans, I tried to cut the second cake into shape, but after pouring
the sherry on: the sherry ruined the integrity of the cake structure however, and
the smaller top cake ended up deformed. No effect on taste, just looks.
#96 Almond and Coconut Chocolate Ring
This cake was supposed to have a cranberry flavoring to it,
and no chocolate was called for, but the thought of putting something looking strangely
like cranberry relish on top of a cake looked hideous. As Ted would be the only
one eating the cake, Ted convinced me to substitute Chocolate and slivered
almonds for cranberries, and make a modified "Almond Joy" style cake.
Much different in taste but still capturing the basic spirit of the original
cake. The cake called for flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, almond
extract, and chopped almonds. Once the cake was cooked, I then added melted
chocolate chips, slivered almonds, and shredded coconut on top. Ted said that while the cake did not quite
taste as much like an almond joy as he had hoped, it was still a good cake.
#97 Chocolate Chip and Ginger Cake
Like our previous cake, this cake too called for ingredients
that we did not put into the cake; unlike before however, this was not due to
our own personal tastes, but on the supply of Rhubarb at our local Safeway:
they did not have any. Not having rhubarb for the top crunch layer of this
cake, we decided to once again improvise, adding chocolate chunks into the cake
instead. Furthermore, as the rhubarb was supposed to add crunch to the top of
the cake, we added sugar and butter onto the top before baking. The cake called
for flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, ground ginger, and milk;
as previously stated, once mixed, chocolate chunks were added to the mix, and
butter and sugar placed on top. The icing was then homemade from vanilla,
ginger, and powdered sugar. Ted ate
almost the entire cake in a weekend and admitted that this was his favorite
cake since the first few cakes we made, almost two years ago.
#98 Cherry Puff Desert
Finally, last week we made a cake that no one in the house
will even touch - a cherry based puff desert. As neither I nor Ted like
cherries, this cake has sat untouched so far and will probably be given to
others who share a greater sympathy for cherries. The cake itself was simple,
calling for flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, almond extract, and butter. Once
mixed, egg whites had to beaten into a firm froth, and then folded into the desert
before being placed in the pan. Finally, cherries were mixed into the top
before baking. Once completed, the cake was sprinkled with more cherries, almond
slivers, and powdered sugar. If this sounds good to anyone, please come pick up
this orphan of a cake, because otherwise, it will be traded to a trash can near
you!
And with that, there remain only two cakes to go: a
bumblebee cake that is easy in baking but ridiculously hard in decorating (can
anyone say three-dimensional fondant sculpting) and a marble pastel cake that
we actually attempted last year but failed so miserably that we gave up and
moved on. This means, with way our life has been lately, that we will combine
this all into one blog and post at the end of the next week. For the remainder
of this holiday we will be stringing lights, buying a Christmas Tree, wrapping
presents, and trying not obsess over the passing of time and our children's
milestones. If anyone is looking for me, I will be the person crouched in the
corner of the bedroom, crying into a photo album of my kids when they were
little. Until next time, the last next time actually, bye!
