After my first babycake experience with the red velvet cake, I fell in love with it. I was inspired by Miette's tomboy. It's a no fuss way to frost a cake that also offers a visual variety from your traditionally frosted cakes. I had another opportunity to bake another cake last weekend as it was someone's birthday. I decided to make the Devil's Food Cake with Seven Minute Icing, again from More from Magnolia. The cake is a simple straight forward recipe. The frosting, however was similar to a meringue and took me a bit more than seven minutes to make. Frosted and ready to go, I put the cake in my trusty carrier and away I went. The cake, however, wasn't destined for local delivery. The cake was for one of my triathlon club's coaches and was to be presented at our annual training weekend, 200 miles away from San Francisco. My car was packed to capacity and I made sure the carrier was well lodged between items so that it wouldn't slide around in transport. The one thing I hadn't accounted for was the temperature and oh, also maybe one slightly steep grade that probably had a part to play in this..

Ack! Yes, I was very very sad. The top two layers slid off the bottom layer and rested against the side of the carrier. We were able to remove the top of the carrier and put the layers back on, but nothing could be done about the icing that oozed and got squeezed off of the cake. All I could do was present it to him with the "nice" side showing and hope that they thought the process of cutting the cake squeezed out the frosting. Despite the slide the cake made, it got two thumbs up!

This weekend's baking adventure took me away from cakes over to cookies. I'm not a huge fan of Rachel Ray. In fact, I can't really stand her and find her down right annoying. However, her magazine actually surprised me. The Every Day Challenge in the April 2007 issue is "Cookie Jar" and today, I decided to bake ALL three recipes. What I love about these recipes, is that I didn't have to go out and buy a thing. The premise to this feature in the magazine is that they are made only with ingredients from the "Every Day essentials list" -- not sure what this is yet, as I've only purchased of her magazines, but I'm assuming it refers to pantry items. Pretty good concept if you ask me. So without further adieu, I present to you my April 2007 Every Day Challege, yaiAnn's Cookie Jar.

L-R from back: Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brown Sugar Shortbread, and Lemon Cookies

Jumbo Chocolate Chip cookies, 8 ingredients, but no vanilla. I thought this was odd, but proceeded anyways. It's a very quick recipe, except that my cookies weren't quite "jumbo." The recipe is supposed to yield 12 cookies and ended up with 12. I did find the culprit though. The recipe reads, "Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough." I don't know about you but I read that as a one heaping tablespoon, which probalby came out to close to 2 tablespoons full of dough. Is "tablespoonfuls" a word? Should it say "tablespoonsful"? either way, I think it would have been a little more helpful to give an approximation of how much dough a heaping "tablespoonfuls" is. So if you plan to drop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough, the cookies should be done in about 15 minutes, instead of the 20 minutes as written. Because of my measurement misinterpretation, my cookies didn't quite come out like the photo. The cookies they show in the photo are quite thin and I prefer mine to be a little thicker, being crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. I had one pan that came out pretty thin and thought it would be just burnt, but they're actually pretty good. They remind me of a lacey cookie. And the absence of vanilla? Didn't notice it. Overall the cookies were pretty good. Not the best I ever had, but I would definitely make them again -- and also with the correct amount of tablespoonfuls.

Brown Sugar Shortbread, 3 ingredients (butter, flour and brown sugar) and REALLY simple to make. However, I was NOT jazzed by this recipe at all. I've never had homemade shortbread so this isn't a fair comparison, but the consistency wasn't what I imagined. It was very soft and pliable. I'm not sure if it needs to dry out overnight, but if it does, it wasn't stated in the recipe. Flavorwise, I wasn't impressed. It reminded me of just eating a "crumble" topping, but it didn't feel like the ingredients even blended together. It was kind of like eating.. sandy butter. Does that make sense? Is this worth trying one more time just to see if it comes out different? Eh, I'd rather save my butter, brown sugar and flour for something else.

Lemon Cookies, 7 ingredients, and smells so yummy while it's mixing I had to stop myself from wanting to eat the batter raw (And I'm not a fan of eating cookie dough at all). These cookies are the most labor intensive out of the three, but they look so pretty and smell so good while you're mixing it up, they're worth it.

The flavor is lemony and not too sweet. It's a light, refreshing cookie. It's firm but not chewy in the middle, but also not crispy. It's definitely got some snap, but if you undercook it a bit, you may get that chewy texture. Would I make these again? Yes! Just the perfect thing if you've got extra lemons. My favorite part about these cookies is that you roll them in sugar before you bake them so they've got that sugar sparkle.

One of the lessons I've learned in my cookie adventure this weekend is to take the cookies out JUST before you think they're ready. For both the chocolate chip cookies and the lemon cookies, the recipe instructs you to take them out when the edges turn golden. I think the time period from "golden" to "more than golden" is a short window, so if you wait too long, you'll get really hard bottomed cookies. This is what more than golden looked like for me. For the lemon ones, these aren't ideal. It changes the flavor dramatically. They're not burnt, but it makes a significant difference in the flavor.

First some crafty updates.. Puff-sleeved cardi is coming along well. I've decided on a sleeve treatment and I'm almost done with the peplum.. peplum, peplum, peplum (that random peplum outburst goes out to Nova)! All that's left is the bottom seed stitch border, button bands, buttons and blocking. Might we have a knitted FO by the end of the month? It certainly is looking that way.

Brazil SWAP action has been going slow, mainly because I'm still waiting for more pattern inspiration and because I'm doing a lot of color contemplation. I'm thinking of going for jewel tones and I also want to do a print or two, but I have to really figure out how to execute all of it and really make sure everything is mix and match. This SWAP stuff is really complicated business. Any of you have tips for color selection?

Now onto the sweetness. Last week was really taxing on my self control. If you haven't figured, I have a weakness for baked goods, or just food in general.. but let's not get into that part of it right now. One of the ways I've gotten myself to lay off baked goods in general is to avoid anything store bought. This is how I practice laying off of meeting leftovers at work or buying baked sweets. If I want something I either have to make it myself or it has to result from the labor of someone I know. So yes, this is the part of the reason for the proliferation of baked goods posts on the blog. The other part is all Nova's fault. She infected me with her pie obsession.

So being home can be a dangerous place with all these lovely home baked goods. But to control myself (because I have been known to devour 4 cupcakes in one sitting), I made it a rule to give away 3/4 of everything I bake, except if they're items mama- and papaFasu particularly enjoy. They'll either go to my aunts or come to work with me. And I find that it's a pretty good solution, if they make it to the end of the weekend. Part one of this weekend's baking adventures were sadly, mostly consumed by me.

Recipe: Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies, "Baking From My Home to Yours" - Dorie Greenspan

Notes: So I console myself in the fact that these cookies are partially good for you since they've got whole grains in them. But I blame the recipe in not being 100% clear that each cookie should be formed by dropping one level tablespoon of dough. This recipe was supposed to yield 50 cookies. I made just over two dozen by dropping rounded tablespoons. Whoops. So if I actually had more cookies to give away, I wouldn't have eaten most of them myself. Do I really need to go into how good these cookies were? Just as the recipe states, these things are like a cross between a brownie and a cookie. It's got a nice crisp texture on the outside and a cakey-ness on the inside. But be very careful when you transfer them to the rack to cool. They're really delicate and will split in half if you're not careful.

Part two of this weekend's baking adventure was an adventure in itself. It was someone's birthday last week and I decided to bake her a cake. I decided on going for something really simple and made the Caramel Cake from the January issue of Gourmet. And really simple it was, I just didn't realize how violent caramel could get!

Recipe: Caramel Cake, Gourmet, January 2008

Notes: A really simple, really delicious cake. Sometimes you're just in the mood for something uncomplicated, yet really good. This is it. If you're not someone who likes really sweet desserts, this isn't for you. The caramel is gives the cake it's sweet edge so you can scale back on the amount of glaze you pour. My version of the cake is rather flat because I used a 9-inch pan instead of an 8-inch. And in regards to the caramel being violent, have a splatter screen handy, because it will sputter and splatter as it cooks!

I'd definitely offer you a slice, but luckily Stephanie took the rest of it home with her. My muffin top thanks her (though I do wish I cut off a slice before she packed it away)!

So a little good news and a little bad news. Since my last post I was able to trace out three patterns! Wooohooo! But since then, I haven't done anything, not even wash and press my fabric. I'll get on that this week for sure. Slowly but surely, this wardrobe is going to come together.

So the real bad news is, my camera is dead. Okay, really it's not dead, dead. The batteries are dead. I got this camera almost two years ago and it came with rechargeable batteries and they finally gave out a few weeks ago. So what's a girl to do? I can't take photos and refuse to buy regular disposable batteries now (part of my green living quest). And who came to save the day, green LA girl! She posted about battery chargers the other day and I've been looking for it ever since! I tried to order it from Amazon and they had an estimated ship date of May 31st!! WTF? Okay, I can't live without a camera for that long. I did some searching around and ordered them (and some new rechargeable batteries, of course) yesterday and they're coming on Monday, yahooooo! So one of my short term goals, have a FO to shoot by the time it gets here.

Yeah, I put myself out there.

So let me leave you with of the final shots from my camera before my rechargeables decided to leave me camera-less.

Recipe: Orange Oatmeal Currant Cookies, Tartine Cookbook

Notes:
So very yummy!! This was my first try at an "icebox cookie." The recipe calls for you to roll the dough into logs and chill them overnight. I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, but the dough was pretty sticky and I had a bit of a hard time rolling them up because the dough was so malleable. Even when I sliced them after freezing, they didn't quite hold their shape (they're supposed to be ovals). I have a feeling it has to do with the currants and the rolled oats preventing a clean cut. But despite these minor issues, the flavor is amazing! They're not crispy or firm (something I'd expect since they were frozen), rather they're soft with a bit of texture from the currants and oatmeal. Yum, seriously, yum!

Recipe: Tofu Quiche with Leeks and Asparagus, Real Food Daily Cookbook

Notes:
Let me give a little background before I go on about this recipe:

A few weeks ago, I went to a training weekend with my triathlon club to prep for an upcoming race. It's a pretty big affair with rented out cabins, coached workouts and fun social time. Anyways, our cabin decided to do a potluck and I set out to bring quiche. This was my first quiche ever (and I'm really sorry I don't have any photos.. well wait, actually.. you can see in the left corner of this photo) and I was surprised to find out that it has a lot fewer eggs in it than I thought! I used the recipe for the Asparagus and Scallion quiche from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking book. The entire recipe called for only 2 eggs. The rest of the custard was made with half and half, cream cheese and goat cheese. Can you say heart attack city? HEART ATTACK CITY! HEART ATTACK CITAAAAAAAY!! Well first thing's first, it was amazing, AMAZING! It's the kind of thing you eat once in a while, with a HUGE green salad and like no dessert *sniff*. So anyways, since then I've been on a quest to find a healthier quiche recipe, either something with more eggs or tofu and less dairy. Here enters the Real Food Daily Cookbook recommended to me by a coworker.

So now onto the recipe. It's a vegan tofu-based recipe with no butter or dairy. So silly me, thought that I was going to get a healthier quiche recipe tasting like the full screaming fat dairy version. So when I tasted it, I was floored and really disappointed. I was complaining to friends that I didn't like it, that it wasn't absolutely horrible. It just wasn't what I was hoping it would be (the full screaming fat dairy version). I was so disappointed by it that I actually considered chucking it. What stopped me was that I didn't want to waste all the ingredients just because it didn't turn out as I expected. So the next day, mama- and papaFasu said to me, "Hey, you're pie is good!" That caught me totally off guard. I decided to give it another try, and indeed. There was really nothing wrong with it at all. It wasn't the best quiche ever, but it also definitely wasn't close to being the worst. I think because I was so set on having it taste like my first quiche, it felt like an utter disappointment. You definitely won't fool any meaties into thinking that what they're eating is really quiche. There are definitely a lot of recipes out there that you can use to "trick" meaties into eating vege, but this is probably not one of them. Like I've read before, there is seriously no real substitute for eggs and dairy, but there are certainly a lot of things that can come quite close. Either way, I'm still on a quest for a better, heathier quiche recipe.