Waffle Eater

I made this last night for my family (I didn’t have to work and had nothing else to do). It was originally a crumb cake I found, but I had all this extra rhubarb and strawberries sitting around so I made the bottom dough (improvising a few ingredients I didn’t have on hand, such as yogurt for buttermilk), smushed all the strawberries and rhubarb into the dough (more than I anticipated), and piled the crumble on top. Despite a slightly gooey middle (not a bad thing in my opinion) it turned out wonderfully. Although, I kind of set myself up for disaster as this is my favorite fruit flavor combo and I’ve already eaten about a quarter of the pan. Time to break out Richard Simmons.

I made some of my famous* banana bread for my family and friends. My secret? No nuts and extra cinnamon.

*I use the word “famous” loosely, as it applies only to friends who think any sort of free food is the best kind of food.

So I made some lemon curd tarts for my co-workers today. Apparently they were especially ravenous because I’m missing three tart pans. Those hungry bastards.

Oh! Before I forget, I think it’s worth mentioning the Fressen* Bakery. It has the best bread I’ve ever eaten in my life. Eat it, love it, put a little pesto on it.

http://www.fressenartisanbakery.com/id2.html

*Fun fact: In German “fressen” means “to devour” (as if one were an animal).

So I made this angel food cake and yes it looks all pretty and delectable now, but it was not always clear it would turn out that way. I was testing this three-tiered cake pan for my job and thought “well angel food cake would be nice and light, which is perfect for such a massive cake.” What a fool I was. I pan said it could hold two packages of cake mix from a box so naturally I decided to make my own batter and just double it. BIG MISTAKE. The amount of egg whites was massive and I had scoop some out just to keep my tiny KitchenAid from overflowing. Not to mention I had to dig through all my bowls to find one big enough to fold everything together in; my puny spatula barley jostling the great mounds of stiff peaks. By the end of it I was covered in globs of batter and tears. But after all I did end up with a giant angel food cake so… yeah. Worth it.

Sorry I have not done much posting, but I have been doing school and work type things so my motivation for culinary creations has been lacking lately. Also, I’m on this huge eggs and toast kick and it’s literally all I can think about eating. I have to force fruits and veggies into my mouth. But can you blame me? Those warm, fluffy eggs nestled atop a crispy piece of sourdough… hmmmm… my tummy is growling just thinking about it. It is truly the breakfast of champions.

Vanlentine’s Day!

So yesterday was Valentine’s Day and I decided to make these amazing little cup things I found on “i am baker” (on of my favorite blogs). Anyway, the thing is I’ve never worked with fondant before in any capacity. Needless to say it was a bit of a challenge and a few tears were shed as I attempted to bargain with the dough to stop being so sticky and do what I want. It was a learning experience I won’t soon forget. Moral of the story, if I can make these I’m sure pretty much anyone else on the plant can (FYI they are sweet enough to give you diabetes just by looking at them).

I learned the hard way last night that when someone says they want a funfetti cake for their birthday, they do not mean a Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip. Boy did I hear an earful over that one, but we ate it anyway (Birthday girl was right, not as good as real funfetti). It was made better, however, by the fact that we also made brownies (also from a box because we are lazy, poor college kids who spend what little money we have on booze). Anyway, moral of the story is we didn’t burn anything. At all. Even the Rainbow Chip cake tasted okay insofar as it was baked to perfection and covered with legitimate funfetti frosting.

So I tried to make a cake last night for my friends birthday. Obviously my idea to compress the batter of the three-layer cake into one mondo cake was not very well thought out. It took twice as long to bake and was f***ing huge. But that was fine, right? We decorated it with chocolate chip frosting and used white for the “Happy Birthday” and embellishments. A few dots and an attempt at a four-leaf clover later it looked like some dude had jizzed all over the cake. Ew. But what was really important was taste. It was chocolate, so it had to be good. Wrong. It was so dense I could barely chew it, tasted like dirt, and felt like a rock in my stomach. I was about to take a picture of it for you all when my roommate, so disgusted with our creation, heaved it into the garbage. Instead I’ll give you a yummy picture of what I had hoped the cake to look like:

So I found out today that yams and sweet potatoes are somehow different. I do not understand the difference, but I understand that I love yams. I made them this evening, little slices with olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper. So good. Additionally, it makes me feel classy about eating french fries.