cakeaustin

As you may’ve heard, we had LOTS of apples around the SFC office for a while, having split several cases Kim Alexander drove down from the midwest recently. The Jonathan variety were ideal for applesauce, apple butter and apple pie filling. So we canned. and canned. and canned…

I’ve fed applesauce to numerous family members and friends now, made pies with the filling and Dai Due lard, a fantastic way to get classic; and there are still RACKS of cans.

Canning. Do it now. You’ll have stuff to eat later.

I just stumbled upon this as I was packing. What a smile Olivier had. Good-night! (It’s actually veerry early in the morning and I am madly finishing my refugee-esque house packing).

This is undoubtedly the beginning of what will prove to be my new collecting obsession. Archival footage of celebs being cutesy. Still can’t believe the news about MJ. Will post photos of myself dressed as him, complete with glittering glove, age 7, next week.

Sari & Andrew's Birthday Cake

When you run out of marzipan?…add some almond extract to your fondant and call it a day. Have just returned from [can you guess?] another baby shower. Am officially retiring from cookie factory before it replaces cake/all memory of having ever cooked other food.

Just awoke with a start as I noticed what appeared to be blue icing on the side of my right hand. This was confusing to me, as yesterday was probably the first in a while NOT to include the production of baby shower cookies. Everyone is required by the City of Austin to have a baby this spring, clearly, and so I’m slinging more of these, less cake.

Cookies made for Claire's shower

[Sidebar: that babycookie is eerily reminiscent of Edvard Munch, no?]

With a sniff, I discerned that the mystery goo was in fact aloe vera slathered in haste before bed, following a hand-sear incurred while cooking artist-formerly-known as roommate grassfed beef tenderloin. I have to say, it was worth it – as a non red meat eater, I have to practice integrating it into my menus or I will fall completely out of technique.

Keep your pants on, people – I’ll post The Bee Cake photos tomorrow.

Our favorite flower farm provided these gorgeous poppies and other varietals for D’s wedding on Saturday. I had the pleasure of adorning the cake with them, having gotten it finished and to Wimberley unscathed.

It was an interesting challenge negotiating the space between the layers, as flowers nor fondant ought to be compromised. For the most part, I was pleased with the outcome. The bride & groom tell me they were too.

Darla and Peter’s wedding cake was a job (a thrill!) awarded to me a few weeks ago. Yesterday when I had taken the second of Peter’s gluten-free vanilla layers out of the oven, a fuse blew, there was a large fire – contained, thankfully, in the oven, and I swatted at it with the oven mitt before grabbing the fire extenguisher. Ever notice how even if you’ve read the directions on the side of the extenguisher numerous times – perhaps seasonally, like a school fire drill, you STILL have no bloody idea what in the world to do once fire actually breaks out.

I calmed myself, resigned that the oven was toast and there was no hope of finishing the other six half-layers at my house, then ran next door to Walter and Yim’s. Walter is my landlord – I’ve written about him some before, but in addition to having survived Ravensbruck concentration camp as a youth, he has achieved a long-spanning career as an oil painter and holds two PhDs. Whenever I have a problem, he’s typically who I call.

The Meyers were having a quiet evening at home and kindly let me Kramer in and out with cake pans of varying sizes throughout the evening. Let me tell you that it got done, only thanks to these wonderful neighbors. And how delicious Yim’s mushroom soup tasted after long hours of baking.

The Meyers save the day!

The point, friends, is that without community, we are nothing. I have respect for those who choose a life of solitude and rugged individualism, but having tried it for a time, I know it’s not for me. People need people. Babs said it, and I’m agreeing. We’re the luckiest people in the world.

It’s a good thing to have friends who willingly double as guinea pigs when it comes to your culinary experimentation. A friend of mine who’s getting married in a few weeks is vegan and her intended is gluten-free. Which, of course, makes for not only an interesting menu but think of the cake(s) alone!

Also, Suzanne’s birthday was last week and we belatedly celebrated it with lunch at Mother’s yesterday. Since our bride to be was joining us for lunch I made the birthday cake gluten-free to see what she’d think:

I used rice flour, eggs from Vital, almond milk, and regular old ingredients for the rest. The buttercream and fondant were gluten-free. When I make this again I will give the rice flour a whirl in the food processor because it really ought to be finer grain. No one mentioned perceiving grittiness, but being the cake police, I definitely did – just a bit.

For the middle layer I ran Harvest Time Farm’s blackberry jam (made from Sam Watson’s blackberries) underneath a layer of marzipan Joy brought me back from Europe. I just remembered I have a stash left. Going to nibble it now.

Four Hands on a Soft Dough

After over twenty years of making her trademark cinnamon rolls, counted upon by many a west Texas family for holiday cheer, my mother realized this morning that by leaving the dough uncovered on the counter for a bit (post-rise, of course) that it’s much more stable and easy to manipulate – not to mention less gooey and sticky.

My sister and I were left to our own devices a few years back when Mom had to go and stay with her mother in the hospital – and fell guilty to visiting vs. concentrating and lumpy, crunchy potato-based dough and cinnamon-less “cinnamon rolls” (which I refer to now as sweet rolls) – but we’re fairly certain the throngs of expectant Tall City-dwellers were none the wiser.

Finished Product with Citrus-Sugar Glaze

My sister and her husband’s first wedding anniversary was celebrated over our Thanksgiving holiday. It was fun to share that with them, and as an added bonus the entire family was privy to a hunk of the happily marrieds’ wedding cake. I don’t know if you’ve had year-old cake or if you’d admit to it in any case, but I must say, these two soldiers held up particularly well in their deep-freeze bunker since Nov. 2007:

We Survived!

A lively group debate ensued following the collective moment of silence in which we solemnly chewed our cake and agreed that both bride and groom’s cake had made it through the freeze admirably.

Carson’s brother, Taylor, asked that I explain my theory behind the moistness of the cake, lasting creaminess of the icing and lack of stale or shrimp-spiked taste and smell. A little-known fact of cake preservation is that by wrapping in plastic wrap, followed by heavy-duty foil and placing in a freezer devoid of shrimp, one can enjoy a remarkably lifelike cake a year from its inception.