Cake test results #1

The White Cake

Last night I filled and frosted the white cake as an experiment for Mia/Abu's wedding. My goals were to:

1. See how the white cake tasted
2. Determine if the white cake had good texture
3. Make homemade buttercream for the first time
4. See how the buttercream tasted
5. See if the buttercream-frosted cake could withstand sitting out for an extended period of time

I began making the frosting at 11:00 (kind of late, I know, but I didn't get home until 8:30 and I was tired). It was really fun to make - first I whisked together 4 eggs and 1 cup of sugar in a heatproof (glass) mixing bowl. Then I set the bowl in a pan of simmering water, stuck in my candy thermometer, and whisked gently but constantly until the mixture reached 160 degrees (to cook the eggs). I removed it from the water, added some vanilla and salt, then began mixing the heck out of it with my hand mixer. Soon the mixture became very creamy and uniform. Then I added a pound of butter, bit by bit, and mixed the heck out of it until it thickened. Viola - I had my buttercream frosting.

I iced the cake...


And let it sit out all night to see if the frosting would slide off or anything. Fortunately, the cake looked exactly the same this morning.

I brought it to work and gave it the guys in the shops (carpenter shop, metal shop, forklift operator, etc.). They had once mentioned they'd be my guinea pigs and would eat anything... and I totally believe them. Of course, I had to take a slice for myself so I could do some taste testing!

The frosting rocked. It was light and fluffy and buttery and not too sweet. The cake had really great texture - nice, light crumb, airy and soft. However, I had forgotten to add vanilla to the batter, so it tasted a wee bit eggy. Oops.


My only complaint about the homemade buttercream frosting (as opposed to the overly-sweet, kind-of-gross Wilton recipe) is that it has a yellow color to it, most likely from the egg yolks. However, Wilton makes white dye that actually whitens icing, so I may give it a try some day. But Mia is having a fall wedding and wants her cake decorated with fall flowers (made with icing, yay!), so I think a yellowish icing base would look nice with that.

Patriot Day

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2007, as Patriot Day. I call upon the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on Patriot Day. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe Patriot Day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and remembrance services, to display the flag at half-staff from their homes on that day, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m., eastern daylight time to honor the innocent Americans and people from around the world who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."

C'mon, Dubya.. just bite the bullet and make it a federal holiday!

Patriot Day

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2007, as Patriot Day. I call upon the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on Patriot Day. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe Patriot Day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and remembrance services, to display the flag at half-staff from their homes on that day, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m., eastern daylight time to honor the innocent Americans and people from around the world who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001."

C'mon, Dubya.. how 'bout making it a federal holiday??

Grrr...

Thursday I was driving back from Janesville when a rock was sprayed at me by a farm truck in the other lane. It made a loud "thunk," but I didn't see any damage on my windshield so I thought it just hit the hood or something.

Friday a little crack had appeared at the bottom of my windshield. It has increased in size each day, and now it's about 8" long. I called my insurance company, and I'll probably have to shell out the $250 deductible to get the windshield replaced. However, I'm having a company look at it tomorrow to see if it can be repaired. Just in case.

Also, Kevin left friday for a trip to California and won't be back until wednesday. I miss him!

Oh, and I ran into the creepy ex-landlord at the credit union saturday. I asked him how things were going (trying to be nice) and he said something like, "the FBI is after you because of the painting," to which I denied taking his painting. Then he started spewing a bunch of crap about my boyfriend stealing it and I was the accomplice. I just walked away.

Then, today, I received this email from my former landlord (okay, 3 landlords ago, but the most recent "real" one I've had (Buddy's parents)):

A guy stopped by this weekend and was asking about you- Annie talked with him. He said you applied to live at his apartment and was wondering if we had any complaints or police reports about you. Obviously it was the yahoo who threw you out on your backside a few weeks ago. What is he up to now? Anyway, we we told him how wonderful you were.

I love Mr. T (that's what I call him). He and Annie were the best landlords EVER.

Oh, and maybe this will help offset my whining (this cat looks just like Kitty):

Mouth is watering

I read last week's Isthmus and there was an article about a family who is only eating foods grown within 100 miles of Madison. They mentioned Willow Creek bacon, saying they "literally moan" every time they eat it. I am obsessed with trying this bacon! I am planning on getting my hands on some of it tonight. I'll let you know how that goes.

Speaking of food, my latest yummy treat is Camenzola cheese. I believe it's a cross between Camembert, a soft French cheese, and gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese. It's yummy on crackers but I think I will make it into a sauce with tomatoes and basil and salt and pepper and toss it with pasta.

Also, I finally had some late-summer vegetables this week - cucumbers, tomatoes, and corn on the cob. I hadn't purchased anything local and in-season for a long time. The corn totally rocked my world and I'm planning on buying more. Even better, you can wrap raw corn on the cob in wax paper and nuke it for 2 minutes per ear. That makes it sooo easy to prepare.

Weekend

Friday night I relaxed at home and watched Shopgirl. I was really impressed with that movie! I could totally relate to the main character (Mirabelle) with her feelings of loneliness as a young person losing the protective blanket of college and family and entering the working world. There aren't a lot of movies that hold my undivided attention, but this was one of them.

Saturday I worked at a local event, the SoCo Music Experience. I originally wanted to attend because The Flaming Lips were playing, but then they needed people to work at it and the pay was $14/hour, so I went for it. Here's what I did: you had to be 21 to get in, so there were security people checking IDs at the door. After going through the security check, patrons would walk past my table, where I would ask for their ID and scan it through a little machine that took down information about them - name, address, birthdate, gender. The information was gathered on Southern Comfort's behalf for "marketing research." Then we were supposed to ask for the person's email address so they could receive junk email from SoCo.

I probably won't be asked to do any future event promotion work by this company because I kind of had a negative attitude about digging for people's information. The other workers would say, "I need to scan your ID," and the patron thought we were checking it to make sure it wasn't fake, so they'd hand it over. Then they'd say, "could I get your email address?" The lines were SOOO long and it took forever to punch in the email addresses on the little computer things, so I only asked for them when I felt like it. Plus, they were just going to receive SoCo spam, anyway, and who wants that? I didn't like the idea of misleading people in order to get their information, so I said, "could I scan your ID?" and if they asked why, I told them the truth - that it was for marketing research purposes by SoCo. Then I would say, "and if you want you can give me your email address but you don't have to." And usually they didn't.

When I finished working it was 8:30 (7-1/2 hours tax-free, not bad) and The Flaming Lips began playing. My favorite part of the show was hearing "Race for the Prize," the only song I recognized (I only own one of their CDs, The Soft Bulletin). It was fabulous. They had some really crazy videos playing on a large screen behind them, which were entertaining to watch. The lead singer had a little video camera attached to his microphone stand, which showed his face at a strange angle. And the onstage dancers were dressed like Santa Claus and fairies. All these things together made the concert very entertaining.

Sunday I baked. I made two practice cakes - a white cake (for Mia/Abu), and a genoise (for Joseph/Mary). The genoise was kind of involved, which made it really fun to bake. It involves beating together eggs and sugar over a pan of simmering water, then removing from heat and beating until they triple in volume (it was really cool). Then flour is folded in, then clarified butter is folded in. I had never clarified butter so that was an interesting experience. The recipe contains no leavening, which makes it kind of tricky- the cakes turned out a little flat, but that could just be the nature of the recipe... or I could have done it wrong. I guess I'll find out when I frost it and cut it tonight!

Kitty seems to like the new apartment. Whenever I leave the room and sit somewhere else, she'll come and join me (but still keeping her distance a few feet away). Oh, and I got a microwave, toaster, and table last week for $31. Now I just need a couch. I've been laying on the living room floor to watch TV and it isn't the greatest.

Today's Lunch:
Don't know yet! Need groceries, so will probably just grab something

P.S.

I'm running to the complete opposite side of town to look at an estate sale. According to the ad on craigslist, they will have household items like a toaster and microwave - things I need. I hope the drive will be worth it. Wish me luck!

Also.. for work, we were asked to provide some information to include on the webpage. They wanted things like our name, title, phone number, email address, and a few bullets describing the research we take part in. We could include a photo of ourselves, too. I don't really have a "posed office photo" so I sent a few of my favorites and said the website people could pick the one they like. Here are the photos I sent:









I couldn't resist sending this last one. :)

2%

My latest food obsession is my discovery of non-skim milk, particularly 2% milk.

When I lived with Dante he received a free half gallon of milk for getting a rewards card at a gas station. He said he never drinks milk and he doesn't like the cereal he has anyway, so I could go ahead and use the milk if I wanted to.

I was a little wary of using 2% milk in my cereal. "It's so fattening, do I really need to drink it?" I've always been a skim milk person (excluding my childhood but I can't remember what my parents bought). Skim milk is healthy, it's good in cereal, I can use it for baking, whatever. But all we had was the 2% stuff so I used it... and I was immediately hooked.

I loved how it was so white and thick. When I pour it on my cereal it actually sticks to the cereal rather than just settling in a pool in the bottom of my bowl. So this is how people get milk mustaches! Now when I think of skim milk, I think of its gray color, its watery texture, its boring flavor.

In my opinion, 2% is what milk should taste and look like. And since I hardly use it (only for my cereal), it's not like I'm getting that much more fat and calories into my diet by switching over to it. To me it's worth it.

Today's Lunch:
No food in the house. Will have to grab something while running errands.

Okay, fine

The dish on Kevin:

We broke up for a while after the big fiasco in July, but have since gotten back together. We are working through some of the issues we faced earlier and it helps to have heard his side of the story. Overall he's a great guy - a good communicator, romantic, adventurous, handsome. We could do anything and have a great time together. He understands that I'm leaving for the Peace Corps in a few months, so we are trying to appreciate each other as much as possible before I leave.

We were kind of keeping things on the downlow because I'm afraid his crazy ex-girlfriend will read my blog and start harassing us again. But I haven't heard anything from her yet, so I'm just gonna go with it.

Here's a picture for your viewing enjoyment (back off, ladies - he's taken!):


Today's Lunch:
Last of the Jamaican chicken foot soup
Baby carrots
Grape tomatoes

Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!

I have the hottest date with Kevin tonight, but he doesn't know it yet.

We're meeting at our park (it's where we always hang out). I'm going to surprise him by bringing him over to a picnic blanket behind the trees, where there will be chilled champagne that we'll drink out of real champagne flutes, candles burning, reggae music playing on my mp3 player, and food - coconut-date rolls, fresh strawberries, and pineapple.

Right now I'm waiting for the music to load onto my mp3 player. I wish it would go faster.

Can't wait!

Wedding cakes

I'm getting ready to make Joe and Mary's wedding cake (they're getting hitched in less than a month, so I guess it's about time!). First I need to test the recipes for the cake flavors they have in mind. Then I need to construct a practice cake (using just cake mix) to make sure the tiers will fit together and nothing collapses.

It's going to be a 4-tier cake for 250 guests and will have cream cheese frosting on the outside.

• Bottom tier - 18" - red velvet with regular cream cheese filling
• Second tier - 14" - white almond cake with raspberries potentially folded into the batter and some type of raspberry filling
• Third tier - 10" - ambrosia cake - coconut cake with alternating orange and pineapple fillings
• Top tier - 6" - anniversary tier - red velvet with regular cream cheese filling

The 18" layer is made with a special half-round cake pan because an 18" round pan is just too big to make a cake that cooks evenly.


So far I've made the red velvet cake a few times and we know it's a winner. I need to test the ambrosia cake and white almond raspberry cake recipes, so that's my goal in the next week. Then I'm going to buy the pans I need to make the practice cake.

I'm a little concerned about cream cheese frosting being on the outside of the cake, since it doesn't crust and smooth the way buttercream does. But I have a new "crusting cream cheese icing" recipe that I'm planning to try, so hopefully it will work.

As for the actual wedding cake, I'm going to take over Mary and Joe's apartment kitchen starting thursday before the wedding and I'm going to bake the cake there. Yep, it'll be crazy, but I want it to be as fresh as possible and their kitchen is bigger and nicer than mine.

Also, Kevin has a friend, Abu, who is getting married to this woman, Mia, who has since become an acquaintance of mine. I told Mia I'd make their wedding cake if she wanted me to, and as far as I know I'm still doing it. Making a Ghanaian-style cake will be interesting... I will be doing a practice cake for that wedding, too, and it takes place in early October. Looks like September will be a busy month of baking!

Stay tuned for future updates on the wedding cakes..

Today's Lunch:
Leftover Jamaican chicken foot soup (no feet this time)

To bus or not to bus?

My brain is working in overdrive. That's what it always does after a weekend.

I'm thinking about taking the bus to work. The reasons:

1. My workplace will reimburse me for the cost of a bus pass
2. I won't have to drive through morning traffic
3. One bus will take me from my apartment to my workplace. No transfers, no waiting around.
4. Less gas money, less wear-and-tear on my car
5. More chances to walk

The only bad thing about it is that the bus comes once a half hour. Better than once an hour when I lived in a different neighborhood 2 years ago, but still kind of crummy. Especially if you're me and you're always running late.

Debating..

I'm debating over whether or not I should get cable. My practical side says "no way, Jose! It's too expensive!" But my fun side is all, "dude, think of all the great TV you could kill time by watching."

I was spoiled living at Dante's house. I spent all day sunday watching reruns of America's Next Top Model on MTV. I caught an episode of Rock of Love and now I'm intrigued. And last night I even enjoyed watching Larry King with my dad. Two years ago I didn't even HAVE a TV and now I'm considering paying $50/month just so I can watch more crap.

[wailing] What's come over meee????

My laborious Labor Day

My dad came from Michigan sunday to help me move to my new apartment.

Yes, my new apartment. I found a 1-bedroom place that would offer me a 3-month lease.. finally. I didn't mind living with my roommate, Dante, but sometimes it's just nice to live alone.

I crashed with my dad at his hotel sunday night. Monday morning we were up bright and early (too early, in my opinion, but my dad's an early riser). And we started moving... furniture, box after box, food... it took 4 hours to get it done. But we managed. We were exhausted and hungry afterwards and had a huge lunch at The Great Dane Brewpub (bison burger with gorgonzola, fries, homemade coleslaw, and a glass of oatmeal stout). After taking a little rest, we did more stuff - went to Borders, saw a movie (No End in Sight, about the war in Iraq), and visited Whole Foods and ate dinner there. I ate more these last two days than I did all week. I stayed with my dad again last night. Even though we went to bed at like 9:30 both nights and I didn't get up until 7:00, I am still exhausted and wish I could take a long nap.

Now I just have to get my stuff situated in my new apartment. It's pretty nice - it has a balcony and a pool and a fitness room. I'm just bummed that I have to find furniture and certain appliances that I didn't think I'd need again, like a toaster and a microwave. But those things are cheap and easy to find on craigslist, and I don't want to have to move them to my parents' house this November so it's good to get something disposable.

Today's Lunch:
Going to Subway with Petra. Maybe continue my excessive calorie consumption and will get a BMT or something.