If anyone out there is listening… my birthday is just two months away… please make note that I would like my birthday cake to look a little something like this:

Holy modern design covered in chocolate. It looks like a Barcelona day bed, but no my friends, it’s something much better… it’s a cake!

via ApartmentTherapy

Malteser - 'sickly.'

By @sarahlay Sarah Lay

Do not try this at home. I am unclear how I got the idea that Buffalo Chicken Dip and Cheese Cake would be a good idea but I expressed it apparently. I walk into work today to a beautiful Buffalo Chicken Cheese Cake. It was surprisingly tasty, not that I will ever eat one again. Graham cracker crust, buffalo chicken dip layer and filled with cheese cake. Sweet and spicy.

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Now playing: New Order – Ceremony
via FoxyTunes

Today’s blog is celebratory (no, I’m NOT a priest)!

Tomorrow will be my 30th day eating ONLY raw food but today I’m feeling kinda…silly!

Over the past month I’ve had some doubts about my sanity…giving up booze, food as I knew it, and coffee SUCKED.

But…I’m feeling pretty damn good right now.  Super good actually.  Energy levels are off the energy level charts–and that’s according to these guys with clipboards who keep following me around.

Tomorrow I’ll weigh myself and post 30 day “before & after pics!”

But right now I want to celebrate my budding transformation and Annie’s Birthday by sharing some fun Birthday pics of her and some crazy cats opening her presents!

Annie’s “Birthday Cake” was delicious Gluten-Free “Black & White” cookies and these unbelievably tasty things called “Fudgies” that I had shipped as a surprise from her favorite Gluten Free restaurant–which sadly is all the way in NYC…the Risotteria.

What's this...?

THE NEW ADAM LAMBERT CD! I HAVE A HAIR THINGY JUST LIKE HIM!

I smell cardboard in the other room...

What the hell did WE get!?!

Sweet! A box! From Urban Outfitters!

Now look into the camera baby, and give me your best Kristen Stewart American Apparel kinda look...Yeah..That's it!

Fortunatley Annie's one leg is on the opposite side of her one arm so she can still do a BIRTHDAY DANCE!

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y    A N N I E !

YOU’RE A WOMAN NOW!

Samak finds food and politics don't mix

Former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej died yesterday. He succumbed to liver cancer in Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital, aged 74.

Samak was PM when I moved to Thailand in April last year. He was quite a character and his presence – along with the movements of his rivals and his interactions with the press – could at times be quite comic, if not downright farcical. Before Thai politics turned sour with mob protests, airports seiges and coups, it could even be quite fun to read about Samak’s exploits.

He was the first of three PMs in my time here (three leaders in 19 months in itself is an indictment of the state of Thai politics) and by far the most memorable. He was nowhere near as photogenic as current PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, nor was he anything like as polite as his successor, Somchai Wongsawat, but that is precisely why he made his mark. He behaved aggressively, he was beligerent to the media, he sulked in public, he was unafraid to belittle people if he felt they deserved it, he was stoic in the face of political pressure – and his hardened appearance matched these, ahem, qualities.

In deeply-divided Thailand, he certainly had his critics and enemies. It was his very presence as PM – and the fact that he was an open supporter of Thaksin Shinawatra and his ideology – that sparked the “yellow shirt” protests of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who laid seige to the grounds of Government House for weeks while Samak was in charge, and which ultimately – under Somchai’s premiership – led to deaths and the one-week closure of Bangkok’s two airports, causing untold damage to the nation’s economy and reputation.

But I respected Samak’s single-mindedness in the face of such pressure, with not only the PAD but also significant political commentators calling for his head. Not for him the weak attempts to appease all of successor Somchai, whose two and a half months in office were among the more forgettable even in a country known for the transciency of its leaders. Nor for him the squeaky clean, ever-smiling PR profile of Abhisit, who was surely appointed (notice I didn’t say elected) more for his appearance and undoubted charisma than for any heavyweight political credentials.

No, Samak told it the way he saw it, and while that of course didn’t mean he was always right, it did at least show he had the courage of his convictions, and to express himself publicly without first needing a spin doctor to polish his words.

Now, as stated before, I’m not a political analyst. This is not my area of strength, although like most people I have my own political opinions. But the news of Samak’s passing gave me cause to remember some of his more colourful moments.

Cake-eating cat

First of all, before the squabbling erupted into violent demonstrations, there was the usual tit-for-tat name-calling in Government House, with one opposition politician (I forget her name) bringing Samak to task for his choice of cafeteria food. As a man in his seventies, she said it was inappropriate for him to choose a piece of cake for lunch, washed down with a glass of bright red soft drink. She suggested Samak seek psychological help, because Adolf Hitler was known to have similarly immature tastes.

Now, even within the realms of political cat-calling, which often amounts to no more than childish spats along the lines of “You smell!” “Yeah? Well, you smell worse!”, this was adorably convoluted. Never mind education, employment and crime – “Prime Minister, would you care to justify buying that cake? Because I’m rather worried it is a sign you may be a tyrant in the making, capable of ordering the slaughter of millions.”

Samak, as was his wont, barely dignified the comment, choosing instead to fix her with a customary silent staredown.

But Samak’s finest hour would not have looked out of place in an episode of Fawlty Towers, such was the level of high farce.

Pursued on motorbikes by a press pack from Government House to Chatuchak Market, Samak sought refuge in a public toilet. Not wishing to speak to the media, he remained in a cubicle, but unfortunately for him the journalists proved even more stubborn than he. More than an hour later, Samak could no longer stand the heat, moisture, smell and mosquitoes (I have been to the toilets at Chatuchak Market and they’re no place for a dignitary, let me tell you), and emerged, furious and doused with sweat.

He ignored the reporters’ questions (surely the fact he spent an hour inside a toilet cubicle would have told them he was in no mood to speak?), instead bearing down on them with a fuming glare of which Charles Bronson would have been proud. After staring them into silence, he set about berating them and their conduct, and labelling them “disgusting” no less than a dozen times.

Reaction to this incident depended, of course, on which side you were on – either Samak was rightly defending himself against media intrusion, or he showed an arrogant disrespect towards the free press, who were just doing their job in the public interest.

There’s a bit of truth to both sides, but the bigger picture for me at the time was the fun factor of living in a country where the PM is forced to flee halfway across a city as hungry hacks literally chase him into a stinking, mosquito-blown long-drop. Add to that the picture of the nation’s leader stewing there for over an hour, followed by his ultimate outburst, and clearly you can see Samak Sundaravej was not your average politican.

And his eventual dismissal from office in September 2008, after just eight and a half months, was also unorthodox, if not comic for its irony. While the country’s leading industries of tourism, exports and foreign investment were taking near-death blows from the effects of the protracted demonstrations, and while the spectre of corruption hung over everything Thaksin and his allies did, it was none of these concerns which spelled the end for Samak. No, he was booted out because he had twice appeared on a TV cooking show. Innocent enough, except politicians are not allowed to accept money for working with private enterprises. Samak’s fee was nominal and his appearance of no bearing whatsoever to his political standing, but this was a conflict of interest. Not quite along the lines of Thaksin using his position to allow his then-wife Potjaman na Pombejra to purchase multi-million-baht swathes of land, but still, rules are rules…

Ultimately, it may have been a face-saving move. As pathetic a reason it may have seemed for removing a democratically elected PM, Thailand was at the time being virtually held hostage by protesters, with the international news coverage doing the country no favours. There were far bigger concerns than the PM’s appearance on a cookery show, but Samak was steadfast in his refusal to stand down or dissolve the cabinet, the two main demands of the PAD, despite the presence of 30,000 protesters camping out on the lawns of his workplace.

So while the cookery show controversy was of negligible importance, by following the law to the letter, the courts could remove him from office legitimately. And with that removal came a lull – as temporary was it was – in the tensions. The PAD had not been placated, as the Thaksin-backed People Power Party was still in charge, but tempers were nevertheless calmed, and at a critical time.

It also proved timely for Samak himself. Despite being disqualified from the premiership, he had the opportunity to return to power if voted back in, but instead he accepted the judgement and retreated from politics. It seemed strange for such a combative man to slip away from the spotlight so quickly and readily.

But then news came less than a month later that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer, and it all made sense. It’s unknown how long he’d been sick. Indeed, it’s likely he was running the country while ill. Considering how stressful a task that must have been in the late summer of 2008, that shows either remarkable devotion or unwavering stubborness. In Samak’s case, it was probably a bit of both.

He flew to the US for treatment in the new year, returning to Bangkok and continuing to be treated at Bumrungrad, one of the country’s best hospitals. After roughly a year battling the disease, he passed away at 8:48am yesterday morning.

So I went back to review the history of the cupcake (pls see below..you’re welcome) really wanting to understand if the Mini.  My first thought was some skinny person decided they would create the Mini to limit themselves – shorely they haven’t had a Naticake, downtown Franklin, TN.. today I discovered the Mini Nati. 

NOW WAS THE TIME –  I HAD to figure this Mini out…drum roll please….the Mini was created so you can have a selection of MANY cupcakes all at once!  NOW THATS GENIUS..now you aren’t limited to 1 cupcake or the cupcake split (I will neva understand this one) the Mini allows everyone to have many cupcakes and nobody has to share!  YIPPPPIEEEEEEE!!

Eat on my little cupcake friends! 

A Little CupCakE HiStOry!

The term ‘cupcake’ is first mentioned in E. Leslie’s ‘Receipts’ of 1828. Breaking with tradition of weighing ingredients at this time they ingredients began to be measured in cups. According to “Baking in America” by Greg Patent, this was revolutionary because of the tremendous time it saved in the kitchen. “The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.” explains that the cup name had a double meaning because of the practice of baking in small containers — including tea cups.

Cups were convenient because hearth ovens took a long time to bake large cakes. Gem pans, early muffin tins, were common in households around the turn of the 20th Century and cupcakes were baked directly in these. Throughout the 1900’s cupcakes became popular kids treats partly due to their ease in baking. In the early 1900’s Hostess introduced the snack cupcake, but it didn’t become the Hostess Cupcake we know today until the 1950’s.

Many people associate cupcakes with the popularity of homemaking of the 1950’s and 60’s although this is an myth. Cupcakes were no more popular during that time period then they are today. More likely is that adults associate cupcakes with memories from their childhood. What is different today is that cupcakes have gone crazy. Traditionally they have been made for children in basic flavors. Today the cupcake has gone gourmet and is playful, hip and glamorous.  This craze is here to stay.

Bulan ini memang bulannya Black Forest….

Repeat Order from Mbak Yetti.

Hiihii.. niatnya mau di topping buah, soale lagi seneng banget ama warna2 buah yang men-clang. Tapi mbak Yetti kemarin telpon minta pakai coklat aja, karena celebration-nya mo diadain pagi2… kayaknya memang kurang pas kalo pagi dah disuguhin buah2an ya..

Inget-inget bahan dirumah..  walah black cherry nya pun tak ada.. pulang kantor musti ke pasar nih… Cuaca rawasari dan sekitarnya di sore hari hujaan… mana gak bawa payung… Alhamdulillah ada yang nawarin tumpangan sampai depan Arion Plaza Rawamangun, nyambung naik metro mini 03 sampai terminal. Posisi Pasar di depan terminal. Wussshhh… harus cepat…. yah..ternyata dugaanku benar… karena hujan dan sepi pengunjung.. pasar dah pada tutup..

Ya Allah… nyari kemana nih… muka udah ke-set bingung en clingak-clinguk.. banyak abang2 tukang buah.. ada yg ngegodain lah… (.. bete..) ada juga yg ngasih tau.. ada toko di belakang pasar.

Hujan2an…sambil lari2 kecil… kiclik..kiclik… wah pintunya dah setengah tertutup… dari jauh teriak-teriak… Koo..ko.. (yg jual chinese).. jgn tutup dulu…

Eh dia malah bilang.. siapa yang mau tutup neng… orang ini biar tikus gak masuk… Walaaahh.. dah teriak2, diliatin orang pula.. hehehe.. (sambil nyengir masuk ke toko).

Toko ini bakalan jadi andalan nih.. tokonya besar..  cukup komplit (tapi gak ada fondant), harga bisa digoyang dikit… (koko-nya gampang dirayu.. hihi..) dan yang paling penting dia buka jam setengah 6 pagi, tutup jam 8 malam. Eh lupa ongkos dari kantor cuma Rp. 2000 lho.. (kan ongkos juga harus diperhitungkan…). Ongkos pulang… gratis… merayu minta jemput pak Aryo hehehe…

Sampai rumah belum kebayang mo dihias gimana kuenya… Kriwel2 coklat aja lah… sambil ngelonin Adi, serut2 coklat dikamar… (Ini kamar dah jadi dapur ke-dua). Pakai Dark & White Chocolate. Tapi tanpa sentuhan buah kayaknya gak segeerr deh.. nah better deh ditambah cherry merah dan hijau…

Full Chocolate

Pagi harinya… ya Allah… ujan lagiii…

Harus pagi2 berangkatnya… dari rumah jam 6 lewat 10, depan komplek aja udah macet.. berangkat dengan jas ujan motor Revo nyelip-nyelip nyampe kantormelihat keadaan kue… alhamdulillah baik2 saja.. langsung disimpan di kulkas ruangan mbak Yetti.

Happy Birthday ya mbakku… Semoga kuenya berkenan.. (eh kok kue duluan..). Semoga panjang umur, sehat selalu dan tetap menjadi ibu & istri sholehah… amin..

Here is my favorite recipe for “homemade” coconut cake:

1 box white cake mix (any brand – I like Pillsbury)

* Follow directions on box for a 9×13 cake. Mine calls for 3 eggs, 1/3 cup cooking oil (I use canola oil) , and 1 cup water added to the mix. Blend ingredients together, then mix for 2 minutes. Pour into baking pan, and bake @ 350 degrees for around 34 minutes.

1 can coconut cream (I use 1/2 small bottle of pina colada-type coconut cream from the drink “mixers” section of the grocery store)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

* Stir these together in a bowl while the cake is baking. AS SOON as the cake comes out of the oven, leave it in the baking pan, and poke holes all over the top of the cake. Slowly spoon the coconut/milk mixture over the whole cake. After cooling on the counter for a bit, transfer the cake (in pan) to the refrigerator to cool completely.

1 small container whipping cream plus 1 Tablespoon sugar OR 1 tub of Cool Whip OR 1 can of whipped cream such as Redi-Whip

* If you are making your own whipped cream, combine the whipping cream (heavy or regular) and sugar in a deep bowl. Beat with a hand mixer OR by hand with a whisk until fluffy. Spread whipped cream/Cool Whip over entire top of cooled cake in pan.

1 small bag shredded sweetened coconut

* Lightly sprinkle a couple of handfuls of coconut flakes on top of the whipped cream. You can now eat the cake, or chill for several more hours – then, DEVOUR! Enjoy!

Other than my grandmother, my friend Kiley is the only person I know who 1) feels as strongly as I do about not wasting food and 2) does not believe in expiration dates on canned food.

While my parents shed the contents of their pantry once every six months, I can hardly find room to put the groceries away. Our shelves sag with ginseng-echinacea tea, quinoa flour, and asofoetida, plus my parents cast-offs, like ‘lite’ soy sauce, which I will probably never use, and sesame oil, which I can’t use as fast as they shed it. I accept these bags of cans and bottles like baskets of kittens deposited on my doorstep, keeping every one for which I can’t find a good home.

When the pantry is bursting at the seams, I toy with the idea of sneaking sorghum flour into the collection bins of the local food drive, but reject the idea, knowing that such an item would more likely end up in the food bank dumpster than in somebody’s gluten-free pie crust.

A couple of years ago, Kiley took a year off from work to travel. She cleaned out her house for a renter, giving away things that she could not store. Out of that transition I inherited a dozen types of tea, a large bottle of rancid almond oil, and a dozen cans of organic pumpkin. Rancid oils are the one category of thing that I can easily dispose of, but the tea stuck around. Thanksgiving got me through two cans of pumpkin.

By the time Kiley was coming back from her travels, Kath & I were emptying our house for our own year of travel. I divided the contents of the cabinets into three piles: for the food bank (canned soup, ‘lite’ soy sauce), for the garage (long-lived things like unopened bottles of vinegar) and for Kiley. She would receive the lion’s share, including a five-year accumulation of condiments from the fridge, a pharmacy of medicinal tea, an obscurity of flours and grains, and a general miscellany, from arrowroot to xanthan gum.

In seven Frida Kahlo shopping bags, I dragged all this to Kiley’s empty kitchen, filling her refrigerator with cornichons, an octet of mustards, curry paste, sriracha, pickled ginger. I lined her empty cupboards with bags of sorghum flour, towers of canned black beans, and various shapes of tinkyada pasta-joy. And eight cans of solid pack pumpkin, from the same stock she’d given me a year earlier.

By the time Kiley arrived home to see her fridge converted into an asian mini-mart, I would be deep in Mexico.

The next time we saw each other, she was ready for me. With nettle leaf tea and teff flour, Breathe Deep and quinoa pasta. NO, I protested, pressing a box of Peach Detox back into her arms. I don’t want them back! YOU throw them away!

I noticed she didn’t try to return any of the pumpkin. Good thing I set aside a couple of cans in the garage. Vintage 2006 was a really good year.

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Icing

I’m not sure whether this a bread or a cake. Take away the icing and add walnuts or raisins and it leans toward bread. With the caramel icing, it is most definitely a cake. Pre-ground spices will do, but fresh will make it sing. I used canned pumpkin, but if you choose to make your own puree, be certain that it is well-drained. Watery pumpkin will make too wet a batter.

I used leftover caramel icing from Shuna Fish Lydon’s Caramel Cake, thinned down with heavy cream to a pourable consistency. The icing isn’t necessary, but will elevate the cake from simple tea cake to luxurious thing, its deep caramel notes harmonizing with the bright heat of fresh spices.

2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely grated
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves, freshly ground
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Caramel Icing, thinned to a pourable consistency with several tablespoons of heavy cream (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a bundt pan.

2. Beat the brown sugar and oil in large bowl until blended, then mix in eggs, grated ginger and pumpkin.

3. Sift flour with the dry spices, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another bowl.

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture in two additions until blended. Do not overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven until a tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes.

6. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 15 minutes. Before turning the cake out, shake the pan from side to side a few times. This should loosen the cake from the pan without using a knife. Turn cake out onto a rack and allow to cool completely before drizzling with icing. Grate a little nutmeg over top, if you like.

Makes 1 cake.

If your having a christmas wedding why not incorporate some christmas ideas

Winter Wedding Chapel – http://www.cookiesandcake.co.uk

Winter Wedding Chapel

Some more ideas – http://www.foodandhome.com/blog/2008/12/12/gingerbread_house_goes_2 

Plus you can have matching Bride and Groom

Adorable Gingerbread Bride & Groom

Crap, crap, crap day!!  Nightmare day where nothing went right and barely enough time to breath never mind think!!! 

But hey ho – it’s just another day that makes me think that I should really give this cupcake idea a serious go.  I’m just itching to get started but am totally scuppered till I can get an oven that works properly – grrrrrrrr!!!!

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I started this blog and figured that perhaps I should tell you where it all began.  My first memory of baking has to be in my gran’s kitchen – I probably wasn’t even 5 years old because I remember spending a lot of time with my grandparents when I was really small because both my parents worked.  Gran has always baked – she’s of a generation that made every bit of food last, and quite often that meant leftovers would go in a pie – corned beef and potato, chicken and leek, minced beef and onion (to this day I will sell my soul for a slice of corned beef & potato pie that’s still a little bit warm in the middle!!). The leftover pastry from the pies would be used to make jam or lemon curd tarts – nothing was wasted!   Normally when she baked, she’d also knock up a victoria sandwich or a batch of fairy cakes – and of course, yours truly got to lick the spoon afterwards as a treat.  It wasn’t long after being a spectator at a number of these ritual baking days that I asked to help – so Gran started me off on my route to baking heaven by letting me spoon the jam into the tart cases and when I’d mastered that I was allowed to try using the pastry cutter on some of the leftovers – I was hooked!  My first really triumphant moment was the day I produced a tea-plate sized jam tart with a twisted lattice top – I was so chuffed to present it to Grandad when he came home from work – he thought it was the best jam tart in the world (well I was only about 5 so of course he was going to say that to me!).  From that point, the only way was up – and I was soon helping to mix the pie fillings and whisk the cake mix and by the time I was 10 I was pretty proficient at decorating a fairy cake.  I only ever remember Gran using 2 cookery books – The Dairy Cookbook and what was to become my own baking bible as I started to make things myself – The Bero Recipe Book (which I think Gran got free with some flour).  The pic below is the copy that I remember gran having, and years later when I went to university my auntie bought me the newer version for me to take with me.

My baking did take a minor hiatus of sorts when I hit my teens – a developing social life and a mother who seemed to want to keep me out of the kitchen made it a recipe for disaster, but there would be occasional baking fests with Gran like my brother’s birthday each year when we would deliberately try to top the previous years cake – the best of which was a rocket ship and mini space invader cakes from The Cadbury Cake Book, and for good measure we also made a frog pond jelly complete with a creme egg frog sitting on a sponge cake rock with butter cream flowers and lilly pads – it was gone midnight when we finished, but by god we were pleased with the result and so was my brother when he saw it!! 

Since I went to uni, the thing I’ve loved making has been sponge cake – it’s a relatively quick thing to produce and decorate, and you can get really creative with the flavour combinations and the decorations that you use.  I churn out mountains of them for work when it’s someone’s birthday or there’s a reason to celebrate (like we need a reason to eat cake!!).  The real killer though, is the fact that I married a bloke that doesn’t like sponge cake – hence work seem to benefit more from my baking than anybody else!!

So you see in a wierd kind of way, I believe that I’ve got sugar in my soul and vanilla in my veins – because nothing makes me happier than when I’m baking.

Even as I get older and wiser (?), life continues to be full of firsts. This recipe, for instance, was the first TWD entry in my brief TWD career baked entirely by King H, my first love (discounting the likes of Taylor Hanson and Jordan Catalano, who may have come earlier, but certainly weren’t as…real), during his first foray into baking in our first kitchen. As you might imagine, I am usually the one doing the baking in our relationship. King H, on the other hand, makes a fitting sous chef (he’s often found cleaning up the wake of baking products I leave behind), a mean Chicago deep-dish pizza, and the perfect choice of music to muck around in the kitchen to. He’s also very often left to eat half a batch of muffins or 25 cookies, all in the name of feeding my baking habit. And for that I’m grateful.

Imagine my surprise, then, when he came home from work one night and mentioned he was involved in a bake-off at work. Another first: our roles had suddenly been reversed. We got into the spirit last week, when our friend B stopped over to use the kitchen and prepare her entry, these stunning Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (incidentally, this will now be my go-to Autumn carrot cake recipe, and is a perfectly fall-spiced compliment to my more spring-y version previously posted here), but this week it was finally King H’s turn to shine. Initially inspired to bring in sweet potatoes with marshmallows, a Thanksgiving staple which is all but lost on anyone outside of the US (believe me, I’ve begged more than one English chef to make this for the holiday, only to be met with complete and utter shock and disgust, which is a big part of the reason I’ll be finally be hosting Thanksgiving at home this year), his excitement was tempered by the fact that he’d be assisting in making six pounds worth of candied yams (yams? Sweet potatoes? I’m going rogue and calling them both*) a mere four days later. And so King H had a momentary lapse in bright ideas on Sunday afternoon, as he was dragging a 14 pound frozen turkey and 12 pounds of potatoes home from Waitrose. Suddenly, all he saw before him was days of mashing, basting and mixing. It was enough to put him off baking entirely and he was suitably forlorn.

Enter me and my desire to get back on track in my quest to complete Tuesdays with Dorie and…problem quickly solved (at least the pot-luck part – he’s still got lots of mashing to do in the days ahead). I gave King H a choice of all four recipes this month (the folks at TWD have graciously done away with the one set recipe per week rule during November) and this one jumped right out at both of us, courtesy of The Nitty Britty. If he couldn’t make his candied yams, this Bundt cake, it appeared, would be a fitting substitute, as Dorie herself noted you could “name your favorite it-tastes-like-Thanksgiving flavor, and you’ll find it here”. And, as usual, right she was. I left King H to his own devices (one of the rules strictly enforced by his co-workers was that I would not produce this for him) and, aside from chopping a few unruly cranberries (why, oh why must cranberries pop all over the place?!) and answering a few questions about the KitchenAid stand mixer creaming/mixing process, I didn’t reappear again until he was pouring the batter in the well-buttered Bundt pan. And was I ever glad I had the foresight to appear at such a crucial moment, because this was the first time I was the one who got to lick the batter bowl clean, an honour I usually bestow on whoever pops down to the kitchen while I’m baking and tasting in my own time.  If the batter was any indication, this cake was going to be a hit at work. King H drizzled it with a maple syrup glaze and I watched it head out the door with him on his way to work this morning, feeling more than a bit despondent at the fact that I wouldn’t be tasting the cake that filled my whole house with the smells of Thanksgiving a mere twelve hours earlier. I may have to wait until Thursday to smell anything quite as good again, but I have it on good authority that King H’s compatriots were thrilled with this cake. And I’m thrilled with it, too, even though I never had a bite, because he baked something! And it was beautiful! And it smelled like heaven! And he’s so precise! And he told me I keep him, even when he wins the contest and becomes an international Bundt superstar! And, perhaps most importantly, now…now that he’s given these foreigners a taste of the cranberries, pumpkin, apples and pecans that help make this time of year so special, thanks to King H perhaps we just may have another first to look forward to: winning them over with those marshmallow-topped yams on Thursday…

All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
(from Baking: From My Home To Yours)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 cup cranberries, halved or coarsely chopped
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting or maple syrup icing (see note)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9- to 10- inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet-you want the oven’s heat to circulate freely through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ground ginger, if you’re using it (not the grated ginger).

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin, chopped apple and grated ginger, if you’re using it-don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temperature on the rack.

Note: just before bringing the cake to the table, dust it with confectioners’ sugar or drizzle it with maple syrup icing, which Dorie introduces in her “playing around” section and which King H used to much praise in his version. Simply sift 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Add more maple syrup little by little, until you have an icing that runs nicely off the tip of the spoon — you might need another 1/2 tablespoon syrup to get the right consistency. Put the cooled cake on a sheet of wax paper and drizzle the icing from the tip of the spoon over it. Let the icing set for a few minutes before serving.

*Edited to add this link, aptly found by King H a mere day after my great yam/sweet potato debate.

The gamer in me adores these little Mario truffles by Ana Fuji. And the fat girl in me adores them even more….

As stated previously, I have the bad habit of picking out really expensive things and wanting them with a passion.  First it was all of the dresses I picked out of magazines, then the shoes (Manolo Blahniks in Something Blue… yum!), then the idea of having a photo booth at the reception.  When it came time for the cake design, why break the chain?

Thankfully, I was blessed enough to stumble upon a listing for a fabulous baker.  I believe that her sister is Sarah @ Parrott Design Studio on WeddingBee Pro.  I don’t exactly remember how or when I came across her cake website, but it was early in the process and I knew nothing about what our cake should look like or how expensive it would be.  I mean, come on, how expensive could one slice of cake be?!

Expensive.  Period.  The local bakers in Bethel, near our reception and ceremony locales, were asking nearly $4.50 a slice.  Would their cakes be works of art?  Probably.  Would we go broke paying for that work of art?  Absolutely.  Hoping for some sort of miracle, I branched out and started looking at bakers outside of our area.  It would be more of a hassle to get the cake to the reception, but if it would save a few hundred dollars, it was worth it.  Mr. Library and I can be creative problem solvers when we want to.

After coming across our baker’s website and scheduling a tasting with her (I have never seen Mr. Library so excited about a wedding errand before!), I received my copy of Modern Bride in the mail.  This became my ultimate inspiration:

Wedding Cake Inspiration

Mr. Library and I wanted to have a topper instead of flowers, but how gorgeous is this design?!  I took the idea with me to the tasting, and Jessica, Mr. Library and I worked together to come up with a variation on the picture.  I’m not really one to just copy someone else’s idea.  I need to have it be something original.

Flavor options were up next.  Mr. Library and I had agreed that it wasn’t likely we would totally agree on one wedding cake flavor.  He is very plain (chocolate cake with white frosting) and I am more along the lines of fruity flavors with exciting add-ins.  We landed on a decision to take turns determining the layers and we would agree on the top.  It turned out not to be a problem at all.  The cake was soooooo delicious (I have never eaten so many cupcakes in my life) and seemed to go with every filling we tried.  In the end, we came out with the top and the bottom layer being red velvet with buttercreme and raspberry filling, the next layer being strawberry cake with lemon buttercreme filling, the third layer being German chocolate cake with the appropriate filling, and the top being lemon cake with raspberry filling. We were stuffed, and we were happy.

Unfortunately, FMIL Library decided that her side of the family would whine and potentially fight over who got which kind of cake (what kinds of family members are we inviting to this occassion?!), so she wanted to go with one flavor of cake.  While I try my hardest not to be a bridezilla, I had to say “Oh heck no” to that verdict.  This was our wedding cake, not hers, and if people were going to be picky, they should hurry to the cake table before everything is gone.  We decided not to add a new flavor to the top layer since it only fed six people (our baker makes us a new cake for our anniversary so it still tastes good), so lemon with raspberry went.

How did you pick out your cake?

The students have all closed their novels and packed up their supplies for Thanksgiving Break, so it’s time for me to take a deep breath and relax — until the baking begins tomorrow, of course! Because I enjoyed reading Jillicious’s list of things she’s thankful for this year, here are a few of my own:

1. Jesus, who made the greatest sacrifice for me.
2. My family — they’re crazy, wonderful, and so supportive.
3. Mike, who has never disliked anything I’ve ever cooked, whether overseasoned, underseasoned, burnt, or weird.
4. Cake.
5. Friends, for joining me in ridiculous escapades.
6. My students, who make me laugh every day and (usually) make me feel like I’m making a difference through my teaching.
7. Writing.
8. Byrd and Squirt, my poodle and red-eared slider. One is fluffy and hyper, the other is scaly and . . . frowny; nevertheless, they’re both the sweetest pets anyone could ask for, and have made my little apartment a home.
9. My snuggie. Shut up; it’s comfortable!
10. Food, which is one language through which history, family, culture, and emotion has been communicated to me. I love joining the conversation.

On that note, here are some dishes that have warmed the pages of Willow Bird Baking in the past months that would be lovely on your Thanksgiving dinner table. May you enjoy the sharing of mirth, love, and calories with your family this year!

Mini-Pies: Pumpkin, Peach Crisp, and Sour Cream Apple — Add some variety to your Thanksgiving pie choices! Everyone gets to choose their own flavor. The pumpkin and peach pies are especially scrumptious.





Jack-O’-Lantern Whoopie Pies — These cakey cookies are hearty, moist, spicy, and addictive. Whoopie pies should be part of every family’s Thanksgiving tradition.







Peach Crisp Pie — Delicious, gooey peaches and crispy oats fill a tender, flaky crust. This is my favorite pie of all time!





Best Ever Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Easy Caramel Frosting and Spiced Apples — This moist, dense, finely-crumbed cake is heavenly with or without some spicy cinnamon apples on the side. “Best Ever” is not an exaggeration!



Chocolate Tart — Tired of pumpkin? If you’re a chocolate lover, this tart is a must-eat. Rich, indulgent chocolate fills the buttery tart crust, and a pile of freshly whipped cream accompanies each bite. This post also includes a bright and tangy Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart.


Overnight Yeast Rolls — These fluffy, delicious, buttery yeast rolls are part of my family’s annual Thanksgiving tradition. When I realized I was old enough to make them myself (and at any time of year, too), it was one ecstatic day in the kitchen!


Cardamom Pumpkin Macarons — Having an elegant Thanksgiving? These gluten-free cookies combine cardamom with traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin. Macarons are the perfect bite: crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.





Barefoot Contessa’s Carrot Pineapple Cake — Looking for a big, beautiful cake to adorn your Thanksgiving table? Barefoot Contessa’s Carrot Pineapple Cake is brimming with hunks of pineapple, carrot, walnut, and raisin. With cream cheese frosting slathered on in a thick layer, it’s an elegant and decadent Thanksgiving dessert.

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I love baking. Not in some 1950s retro throwback, “I’ll just whip up a soufflé whilst my husband has an affair with his secretary, but it doesn’t matter when you’ve got such amazing pastel coloured bakeware” kind of way. But in a passionate, once I start I can’t stop kind of way.

Cupcakes, cookies, macaroons – the mere sight of a laden cake stand is enough to send me into raptures.

I’m not sure quite how it happened. My Nan always…how can I put this…tried hard, it is just a shame her outcomes never matched up to the effort. Whilst my Mother is the only person I know who can make a chocolate pudding less appetising than a bowl of arsenic soup with razor blade croutons.

I’ll never forget the day my sister came home with a copy of Nigella Lawson’s ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’. It was baking, but not as I knew it. It wasn’t baking of the ‘jam and Jerusalem’ kind. It was chic and (apologies for slipping into Nigel Slater food pornese here) sexy. The front cover was the epitome of understated glamour, matte black with gold embossed lettering and single ivory cupcake taking pride of place. Inside it got even better: sponge cakes with rich chocolate icing drizzling down the sides, delicate pastel coloured biscuits dusted with icing sugar, crème brulees glistening with gold leaf…I was in love.

I soon learnt that a love affair with baking was by no means cheap. I needed exotic extracts and unusual tins. In this new and glamorous kitchen a tub of Stork margarine didn’t pass muster – you needed pale unsalted butter. My little bottle of supercook vanilla essence was looked upon with scorn, it had to be pure Madagascan vanilla extract all the way.

At this point you may well be thinking it was all a shameless waste of money, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Unsalted butter gives cakes and biscuits a beautiful melting richness and the vanilla – it needs to be smelled to be believed, it has an almost alcoholic tang and a deep brown tinge, not to mention to deep, warm vanilla flavour.

Baking even became an integral part of my travels – macaroons from Ladurée in Paris, c’est parfait! Churros from a street vendor in Barcelona, olé! Chocolate and peanut butter cream pie in a New York diner, awesome!

Years have passed and my passion for baking is still going strong. In the back of my mind I harbour a desire to open my own French style patisserie, where I serve my customers with the easy Gallic charm of Amélie Poulain (actually, in my daydream I am Amélie Poulain and have an amazing collection of vintage tea dresses). A frivolous daydream it may be but it really helps get me through my darkest days in the office.

When I began my blog I set myself a challenge to find a hobby. I thought that hobbies had to be unusual, adrenalin filled or extreme, or at least involve leaving the house. In fact, a hobby can be something as simple as piling some flour, sugar, butter and eggs into a bowl and mixing them together (I’d also recommend putting them in the oven as a bowl full of raw cake mix is a challenge for even the sweetest tooth – I know because I’ve tried).

Baking can be extreme, as anyone who has ever attempted to make puff pastry from scratch will confirm. To get good at it takes time, effort and practice.

A lot of hobbies are solitary pursuits where only one person derives satisfaction. Baking is all about sharing the love. You get to watch someone’s eyes light up as you offer them a small treat then see the look of pleasure as they take the first bite.

It feels good to make things for other people.

For my 20th birthday I spent time trying to think what I could do that was silly and fun to commemorate the fact that I was growing up, leaving teenage/childhood years behind and moving to the adult woman phase.

photo found on google

After being inspired by the above cake, I decided that I wanted one just like it for my 20th birthday. It was colourful and fun. I haven’t baked a cake in a long time, especially one from scratch and since I knew making all the layers and colouring it would take a long time, I didn’t want to add in my own hassles of trying to make it from scratch hence the help of boxed mixes

I bought french vanilla mix because it was the only white cake boxed mix I could find, the food colouring I had on hand, french vanilla frosting and vanilla frosting with rainbow sprinkles. And although it turned out very tasty, I want to attempt making it from scratch next time (and trust me there will be a next time).  For the boxed mix all you do is add eggs, milk and oil and colour it according the colouring instructions on the back of the food colour box although I multiplied the amounts of drops to intensify the colours.

I only had 1 baking pan and 2 bowls so I was forced to make one batch, colour it one portion at a time and bake it before moving on to the next colour. Hence, it took me and A literally ALL day to make. I will definitely have more supplies next time around. We took one box and split it into 3. We had originally only wanted to split it into two but I was determined to have as many colours/layers as in the inspiration photo. The colours were (bottom layer to top): pale purple, baby blue, neon green, vibrant yellow, warm orange and super bright red.

!!!

I then frosted each top layer with the vanilla frosting and the top and sides with the rainbow sprinkles frosting. I had thought while I was spreading it that it wouldn’t be enough (I was under the impression that it should look something like a full buttercream frosting) but it ended being just right since it would have been sweetness overkill.

I took the above photo to try and help give a better sense of how incredibly tall this cake was. But that’s expected with 6 layers. We finally finished the cake at around midnight. A ate the first slice at 3 am because although he tried to wait for a more appropriate time, he just couldn’t wait any longer. And since he was kind enough to make it with me, I figured he deserved it. The next day I took a photoshoot of it before any more got eaten. I ended up saving a huge slice for my father who begged for me to send it to him which I did. He hogged it to himself and no one else at home got it and now I’ve been requested to make it again.

Final product:

!!!

Review:

It was lots of fun to make and although there are lots of steps, they are simple and easy to follow. It’s very appealing to the eye and makes for a great birthday cake. It is a tad sweet so be sure not to eat too much. I’m hoping to make it again in the near future. I love the idea of coloured cakes. I think it’s really exciting to cut into it and see the designs. I also heard about the checkered cake effect that I want to try out in the future. The cake didn’t turn out the same as the photo but I know how to cook it to make it look just like that. In the end, the browning of the outsides didn’t really matter since it was all covered in icing and it helped to define the layers better. This cake was certainly one of the main highlights of my birthday!

2 cups flour
2 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup milk
1 cup boiling water

Mix all ingredients, except water, in mixing bowl; mix until smooth.

Carefully mix in hot water on low mix.

Pour into greased and floured tube, cake mold or Bundt cake pan.

Bake at 325º for 1 hour.

This is real thin and watery before it goes in the oven. The best way to add chips or nuts to this is to take it out of the oven after about 20 minutes and then mix in what you want to the cake at the point that it is starting to stiffen. If you put them in at the beginning, they will fall to the bottom of the pan.

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My father doesn’t like chocolate, so I will make this one for him topped with an orange glaze.

If you have seen the last post, you should catch that this is almost the same cake. My family likes Mike’s Chocolate Cake so much that I decided to take that receipe and see what else I could do with it, so not to be making the same thing too often. The one above was an experament that, suggest by my father, worked out so well that I make it more often than the chocalate cake.

TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off is one of my favorite shows.  There’s just something so entertaining about watching people craft edible masterpieces. Plus, cake happens to just be one of my general interests. The other day, as I watched the bakers manifest their creations from mere sketches, I got to thinking: Wouldn’t it be great if brides everywhere could design their own wedding cake and bring their renderings to a local bakery for production?  It would eliminate a lot of that “lost in translation” nonsense that goes on when trying to properly convey one’s artistic vision through color adjectives and sweeping hand gestures.

Turns out, I wasn’t the first one to think this. Brides.com allows you to digitally create a wedding cake, as does the software program by WeddingCakeDesignPro.com.  These digital programs are perfect for those of us whose freehand drawing abilities stopped progressing at age of seven.

Check out some of the Ultimate Cake Off’s creations come true and tell us what your dream cake would would look like in the comment section below!

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cups dry cocoa
1 cup milk
1 cup boiling water

Mix all ingredients, except water, in mixing bowl; mix until smooth.

Carefully mix in hot water on low mix.

Pour into greased and floured tube, cake mold or Bundt cake pan.

Bake at 325º for 1 hour.

This is real thin and watery before it goes in the oven. The best way to add chips or nuts to this is to take it out of the oven after about 20 minutes and then mix in what you want to the cake at the point that it is starting to stiffen. If you put them in at the beginning, they will fall to the bottom of the pan.

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This is a cake recipe that I got from a coworker. It is a great tasting, and cheap, cake that my kids really like. It is also REALLY easy to make. There is no sifting or folding involved. The ingredients are pretty straight forward and it has always turned out great for me.

Other than being really easy to make, this cake is stiff and spongy enough to work well in most molds and can be handled real well after it has completely cooled.

Kabocha Walnutella Cake

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/2009/11/kabocha-walnutella-cake.html

We went to a dinner party on Friday and I needed a quick dessert to take.  I looked through my Splendid Table cookbook, and this popped out at me because it was a) chocolate, b) looked rich and c) looked pretty quick and I had most of the ingredients.  This is one of those great last minute desserts you can whip up with things you already have, in very little time.  And no fancy pans or equipment is needed.  While I went bare bones and just made the cakes, you could fancy it up with some whipped cream and raspberry or caramel sauce.  This recipe makes 6 cakes and can be made ahead if necessary, then gently warmed in the microwave.

Ingredients:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, such as Ghiradelli’s 70% cacao, chopped and divided

1 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

5 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 t ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 c plus 2 T sugar

1/8 t salt

3 T flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 6 cup muffin pan.  In a medium bowl, place 4 ounces of the bittersweet chocolate and all of the unsweetened chocolate, plus the butter.  Melt over a double boiler, or melt in the microwave on half power in 1 minute increments, stirring after each minute.  Repeat until melted.

Meanwhile, which together cinnamon, eggs and yolk, vanilla, sugar and salt until combined.  Whisk in flour.  Whisk in melted chocolate mixture and stir until well combined.  Stir in chocolate pieces.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake for 18 minutes, until top is firm, but insides are still soft.  Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then serve.

It’s been only 3 weeks since my latest EP Fourteen Dreams of Life was published on Jamendo, and yesterday I got the 4th review, this time written by fellow musician János Novák, who also participated in one of the songs (Any Tale the World Tells) playing classical guitar beautifully. It says: “…a very relaxed, introspective, hauntingly melodic piece of work.”

So I take the courage and recommend listening to the music meanwhile making this delicious chocolate-banana cake in your microwave oven.

I mix 10 dkg of melted butter, 10 dkg flour, 6 g baking powder and 10 dkg cane sugar with 3 tablespoons of milk and 2 whole eggs. Thoroughly. Then I gently mix it with 2 bananas that I sliced up before. Now I grease a bowl with some butter and pour the yummy mix in it. Wait, there’s more! Now I put a 3rd banana (yes, already sliced) on top of it and a nice high-quality chocolate bar torn into small pieces (and I mean like an 80% extra dark chocolate bar). Then, a fine layer of pounded sugar on top of it.

Now, into the microwave oven! 12 minutes at 900W. When it’s done, leave it in the oven for 5 minutes without opening the door. It’s hard. I know.

I truly hope you enjoyed Fourteen Dreams of Life. Please don’t hold yourself back from reviewing it!

Cheers!