This Blog Lives! (Sorta)

We celebrated my grandmother's birthday this past weekend, and as she requested, I baked her a birthday cake. Nothing too fancy, a white almond and dark chocolate layered cake with vanilla buttercream. The green sugar is the only acknowledgement of the St. Patrick's Day weekend.

Turns out I didn't bake a large enough cake - there twice as many people there than I had expected, so the slices ended up being thin and halved. There was also a fruit tart, but that went unnoticed.

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I ran into Mr. Fussy at Nine Pin a few weekends ago and he had mentioned I had survived the blog roll purge. Not bad. I wish I had the motivation to write as much as he does, but writing is hard for me. And as I explained to him at the time, it is much easier to post on Instagram than write blog posts. If you look at my IG feed, you will see that I post almost daily. Photo with a few words... send.

If writing could be that simple.

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes

It's been a while since I've brought food in for my co-workers. Mostly busy... some tired feelings. And the lazy was in full effect. But all it takes is some call time and a rest day from the gym to finally make something.

Nothing to fancy here. Same cake I made for the one year, although I added more instant coffee and brewed coffee. Same buttercream, because I tend to make too much icing.

As I write this, there are one... maybe two left. And it's only 9:30.

Next time I'm using beer.

(If a picture doesn't post with this, it's all the app's fault. That's what I get for trying to blog on my phone.)

The Problem With Spring Semester

Being in the Northeast, snow is expected. So we have our shovels and salt ready. We have our warm clothing and waterproof outerwear to deal with the low temperatures. And we expect things to keep going.

But then there's a snow day. I don't get these days anymore, but I used to. When I was in grade school, and even then it was only for extreme conditions. If our elders marched through blizzards, then we could put up with a few inches and go to class.

But things have changed. Global warming... lack of salt... things. Since I've been upstate I've noticed it more. When I went to UAlbany, we had one snow day, and they it was for afternoon classes. Still had to trudge out to my morning classes. This season... heck the last two weeks alone they've had what... two? Three?

Lucky.

Or are they? I only say this because I am having the same problems at SCCC. These winter storms have been hitting early in the week, cancelling either one of the classes I am taking this semester. Cake Decorating has been dealt the worst of it - we've only had ONE class so far - and that was the "first day." I have that in quotation marks because technically the real first day of classes was a holiday so of course no class.

Plain bad luck.

How will they make this up? Two labs now we've missed and they're the foundation classes for the rest of the semester. Sure, I may have a leg up because it's piping and frostings which I have plenty of experience with, but it's sucks for those who don't. So we have to do it on our own at home, and I guess they'll have to cram the rest in the remaining weeks.

Still sucks.

And I am pretty sure there are a few people in my class that will be demanding a refund.

Okay, rambling post somewhat food related done. Time for lunch.

Oh, and I do have Food Prep tonight. We make soups tonight. Excited!

Moons Over My Pie-y Cake

Something happened yesterday that has not happened in a very long time.

I was phone-less.

Yeah.

I plugged it into the charger while running around getting things ready for the day. Ran out the door and remembered I didn't have my phone as I was exiting 787. Not that it really mattered... it was a busy day at work, but it was weird.

M, being the nice guy he is, brought it in when he came in for work.

I am pretty sure this would not have happened if I had decided not to bring a cake into work.

Monday was my co-worker's actual birthday, but I thought it would be nice if I made something to celebrate. I'm still pretty new here and still in the "getting to know you" phase of it all. One of the gifts co-worker received was a tote full of pinwheel cookies.

"I know Moon Pies are your favorite, but I figured this would be close to it."

Well, that was easy. I looked up recipes for moon pie cakes, and settled on one from the Serious Eats website. Go on, look it up. It didn't seem that hard, but making marshmallow frosting seemed daunting. Still, I was up for the challenge. I printed out the recipe and headed to the store after work.

Because of my interest in cakes of late, I had most of the ingredients at home. I grabbed more butter (amazing how much of this stuff I go through!), dark chocolate, unflavored gelatin, and graham flour. Did you know that graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour? I didn't, which would explain why I had such a hard time finding the stuff. The other shoppers must have thought I was nuts walking up and down that aisle trying to find graham flour. But I found it, and after cleaning up the kitchen from M's most recent round of renovations, I started on the cake.

Cake

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, and then mix them all together. I was contemplating swapping out the AP flour with cake flour, but I didn't want to risk messing up the thing. The addition of whole wheat flour (and I guess the brown sugar plays into it as well) will darken the batter, and gives it that graham cracker coloring I'm used to. Maybe whole wheat flours do that in general - I don't work with the stuff very often.

The recipe calls for the use of two 9-inch round pans, but a taller cake, so I used an 8-inch pan and collared it. I probably filled it a little over half, and had enough batter left over for six cupcakes. Placed both in the oven and went back to some Netflix watching. The cupcakes were done in about 30 minutes. The middle of the cake was still a bit fluid, needed another 25 minutes or so before it was done. Left the cake out in the sun room to cool and went to sleep.

Marshmallow Frosting

Because it is marshmallow, I figured the best time to make it would be the following morning. Which meant four in the morning wake up. Crazy, yes... but I was determined to make this an amazing cake!

After making this frosting, I think it's safe to say making marshmallows shouldn't be too hard. You just have to get over the fear of piping hot sugar flying at you. Wear long sleeves and it's not a problem. And maybe glasses.

While the sugar/water mixture was coming to a boil, I leveled and torted the cake. I may have been a tad too generous with the cake spray, because the cake seemed pretty greasy. I started making this with the hand mixer, but it was taking much longer than the recipe stated. So into the stand mixer the frosting went and soon after I had what looked like fluff. Placed the first cake layer on the cake circle and a generous amount of the frosting. Smoothed it out to the edges and placed the second caker layer and more frosting. I need to work some more on my icing technique, but for a pretty crumby cake I did pretty well. I was going to add more of the frosting, but it started to set so I quickly dusted a small pan with corn starch (that's what you use, right?) and spread the remainder in there. Put the cake back in the sun room to set while I worked on the chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Drip

Pretty simple enough - heavy cream and corn syrup heated to a simmer then mix in chocolate. I gave it a shower/getting ready for the day length of time to cool down before pouring over the cake. It was still pretty runny because not only did it spill over the side of the cake, but also off the cake board and onto the turntable. Cleaned up as best I could and boxed it up. Dishes were left for M.

Results

There are no pictures in this post. Because I didn't have my phone. See how it all ties in? The co-worker with a birthday liked it, and others mentioned that it did remind them of a Moon Pie. Success! I dropped a slice off in M's department and he shared it with his co-workers. He didn't tell me what he thought about it.

I can't tell  you what I thought about it, because I haven't tried it. I like the baking and giving them away to people, but I don't want to actually eat these things. Not that it's diet reasons. I think I'm starting to lose my sweet tooth. But there is one slice left. And it's waiting for me.

I'll have to get back to you on what I think of it.

The Last Piece

I did my job and helped finish off the leftover cake. And no, I didn't cut it up to get that. It was just there and  thought it was a bit strange - birth at the end.

Delicious deep thoughts.

It's the Thought That Counts

Celebrate Octogenarity.

So the cupcake tasting came and went, and I was not a part of it.

But I had a good reason.

My grandmother turned eighty. Which trumps cupcakes any day. We tried to convince her that she shouldn’t cook, that it was okay to cater the party. But she wanted to cook, it’s her thing. It wouldn’t be a party without her cooking.

Some snapshots of the day.

A Family Thing

My sister is a food picture taker too. These two here are from a wedding she went to in Albany recently. They had a two flavored wedding cake… nice.

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake

Thanks to this tweet, I tried out Truvy’s recipe.

No Bundts About It

I was very close to ending this blog.

Birfday Cake

This March-April span is when many of my friends and family members celebrate their birthday. So to all of them, for all of us (since I am a March baby)… happy birthday.

Now pass me a plate.

Cake... On Them

Job gives its workers free dessert on their birthday. I went with carrot cake.

Soup and Salad Luncheon

I brought neither. I made a cake. Cinnamon swirl with cream cheese frosting.

King Cake

A week ago today I picked this up from Bella Napoli. I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate Fat Tuesday with alcoholic beverages, so instead I indulged in baked goods.

Traditionally these cakes are supposed to have a coin/pea/bean hidden within the cake before it is baked. Whoever finds the surprise is supposed to have good luck for the year. I don’t know when it shifted over to hiding a little baby within a cake, but it’s festive and goes with the whole crazy Mardi Gras-ness. This cake did not have a hidden baby, but I’d be wary of a small plastic toy in my food. What if it melted in there?!?

The Mardi Gras cake was just a regular frosted cake with a splash of… fun. No baby baked in there as well, but there was one on top with some beads. At least I didn’t have to flash anyone to get them. Just had to shell out some money.

Job Perks

This job is going to make me fat.

That Kind of Morning

Cake and coffee are the only way to go. Not looking forward to the snowfall (even if it will be pretty looking).

Vegan Red Velvet Cake

My dessert from Curly’s Lunch in Manhattan. This slice was HUGE and tasted ohsogood. Does anyone know a good vegan red velvet cake recipe? I am down to make one.

Pandan Cake

Picked this up from the Philippine Bread House in Jersey City. It’s supposed to be a pandan cake, but I didn’t taste any pandan in it. Should have picked the mocha roll instead… at least I would be guaranteed some mocha flavor.

Chocolate Cube

 

The same day as the Vendy Awards I was invited to a party in the city. Big fancy deal, in the heart of Manhattan. Unfortunately I was running late. Really late. By the time I sat down at my table, the guests were just finishing up their desserts.

Ever see those molds that turn ice cubes into shot glasses? Well, this dessert had the same premise, with the cake turned into a bowl of sorts, filled with chocolate. And as you can see, it was decorated with mixed berries (blueberries, blackberries, and what looked like thawed out raspberries). Didn’t like this one at all. I don’t know if they were going for some dark chocolate theme, it was just not working for me. I resigned to some bad coffee and enjoyed the rest of the night.

As the party was wrapping up, I headed upstairs to the suite for the “after party.” Someone had brought in a bunch of Filipino food, which was delicious and made up for the cake disaster.

21st Birthday @ Gilligans Clam Bar & Grill (Pomona, NY)

I was too busy eating to actually take pictures (plus they kinda sucked). My uncles, on the other hand, took the time out to snap photos, like the one above.

I am feeling a whole lot older now- two of my cousins turned 21 this month! One of them celebrated this weekend by inviting the family to dinner at Gilligans. I’ve driven by this place plenty of times, but never actually ate there. I’ve heard from people… who in turn heard from people, that it was a good place. And it must be, because on a Sunday night (after 7) it was packed. For a party of 16, we must have waited for about 45 minutes before they would set up a table for us.

We started with two calamari appetizers, which were two pounds a piece. It was pretty darn good, and didn’t last long. Dinner ended up being six lobster dinners for two. SIX. Lobsters were good, but on the small side. Just a few clams, and tons of mussels. I split it with my mom, which meant she barely ate one lobster and left the rest to me. And I did finish all of it, although not in one sitting.

For dessert, my aunt bought what I can only describe as a chocolate bombe cake. The cake was almost sponge cake-like, filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and bananas. It was frosted with whipped cream and coated in cake crumbs. The cake was light, and had just the right amount of richness. She bought it from B & W Bakery in Hackensack, NJ if you’re wondering.