So it turns out I really do still know how to bake a cake. I'd consider it a bit of a miracle, all things considered - by which I mean the fact that it was broiled for part of its life, that the butter separated from the rest of the ingredients, that one of the layers was cooked in a frying pan.
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Broiled cake
It tasted really good, too, nice and moist. Maybe the coconut makes it like that. The icing was so indulgent, butter blended with cream cheese AND some cream added into the whole mixture. If you look below the cut, you can see me icing it before I cut the final inch out of the bottom layer - I figured it would be better to frost the raw edge of the cake than have it have the big uneven lump coming out of the bottom. |
(Click the cut link to see a picture of me frosting the cake. Doesn't it look better in the other picture?)
( Read more... )I was also frustrated by the fact that somehow my cake carrier was left behind in the move. Where it is
shadowdaddy has no idea. It's a fantastic piece of deco aluminery, layered shiny silver sides with a curved black top, sitting perfectly on the edged circular bottom (where the cake would rest) and of course a HANDLE on top of it al to make it easy to tote yer cake to a picnic or Quarterly Feed or what have you. We searched the apartment high and low and it was nowhere to be found. While there are still two boxes of Mysterious Stuff in which it might be hiding, my gut instinct is that it's probably hiding in the basement at my brother/sister-in-laws house, to which I say Foo, because I've had that thing for about 15 years and I think this is the first time I actually needed it to carry a cake to an away event rather than just cover it and keep it from collecting dust!
At any rate, I am certainly good at improv, and one pie pan, three Tupperware shot glasses, one large swatch of aluminum foil, and a glass pie plate later, and the cake was ready to rock, or at least to go to
wechsler's birthday party.
spikeylady and
ciphergoth were very kind to fill in as hosts during this rain-filled day, and we had scores (or sixes, at least) of other guests:
bathtubgingirl; the entire
booklectic contingent, including the very small and fun one and
asrana for a total of five;
werenerd and
some_fox with their houseguests, one of which was
weegoddess, for a total of about 6 (they moved fast, I'm not 100% sure how many people came with them, though there was an
[Bad username or site: aster13); the brillian <lj user=thekumquat @ livejournal.com], whom I very much missed last night; and a late arriving
babysimon, who missed the singing of the happy birthday but most assuredly got some cake.
Wow, it's 60 outside and raining sideways. Brr! I've actualy fished out some sweats and an Expedia baseball jersey. I'm cold!
The cake was a big hit; 3/4 of it was gone. I covered it back up as best as I could, yet somehow with not as much success as the first time, as all the angles were off and the pie plate seemed to be sliding sideways.
wechsler then turned to me and said, "It appears that your cake will not be foiled a second time." Oy. Clearly the boy is suffering the ill effects of SOMETHING. And he liked the book of Goon Show (a Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers radio show) scripts I bought him; I can hear him in the back room reading it and giggling as I type. We headed back to our place at around 4:30 or so, as nearly everyone seemed to be struggling heavily with last night's indulgences and naps were called for all around.
Time for a Pimms or something for me, and finally for some sitting down and relaxing, the first time all weekend when I can really relax and do nothing for a while. I love that the sun will be shining for another three hours, even though it makes for difficult DVD watching. Perhaps a round of Boggle is called for.