Cake of the dead.
I am never making another red, red velvet cake. Do not confuse that statement with never making another red velvet cake, because that will surely happen, it just won’t be red.
Here’s why.
I was standing in my kitchen, making a blood-red cake batter in memory of a dead girl, a cake that I would bake using a pan from a dead aunt while watching a documentary on the plague. I mean, it’s kind of gruesome, but kind of funny, right? I mean, you use so much Red #40 that you manage to turn a dark brown batter BRIGHT EFFIN RED, it looks not unlike a bowl of blood (not that I’ve ever actually seen a bowl of blood in person, so perhaps a more accurate statement would be “it looks like a bowl of blood as shown on that one Showtime television show”).
Slurp.
It’s not natural. I pride myself on using actual food when I bake: butter (from a cow!), eggs (from chickens!), sugar (from a cane!), vanilla (from a bean!), dark chocolate (from beans!)….good stuff. No margarine (petroleum!), no chemical sweeteners, no eggs from a box, no chemical flavorings. Cake should be good, and flavorful, and rich and satisfying. “Fake” ingredients don’t give you the depth of flavor or texture that “real” ingredients do.
So why the hell am I using Red #40?
Upside down.
Week 48. Cranberry Upside-downer
Ever since I got my copy of Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking”, I was excited to make this cake. It was a definite Fall recipe, it used fresh cranberries (one of my favorite ingredients), and seemed like a super moist, tart & sweet cake.
Andy Williams is always 3 months late.
Week 42. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love all the flavors that seem to be in abundance (cinnamon! cloves! pumpkin! squash! roasted _____!), the colors, boots and skirts! (err…although it was 95 and sunny this week…), the return of school (I loved school, big nerd here), HALLOWEEN. The best holiday during the best time of year.
Party Cake.
Week 40. White Out Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting.
I like baking to make other people happy, to bring a smile to their face, a bright spot in their day.
My grandfather’s favorite kind of cake is white cake with milk chocolate frosting. I am glad I got to bake him a cake before I moved. Love you, grandpa!
He insisted on eating the last slice of cake straight off the cardboard. Can’t see a problem with that!
I used Baked’s White Out Cake recipe for the white cake, and the milk chocolate frosting recipe from the Malted Milk Chocolate cake. Delicious!
Vanilla Walnut Mocha Bundt Cake
Week 31. Vanilla Walnut Mocha Bundt Cake. That’s a mouthful.
This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours“, which I got as a bundle with her “Around My French Table” for a song off of Amazon earlier this year. I think it was $16 for both, one of the best deals all year!
Anyway. Back to the cake. This is hard for me to believe, but this recipe is the first full size bundt cake that I’ve ever made (!!). I think the fear of the cake sticking in all the nooks and crannies of the bundt pan kept me from making one in the past. I made mini-bundts earlier this year, using a pastry brush and melted butter to coat the pans and didn’t have any issue with sticking. I inherited a bundt pan in June and was anxious to try it out. I used the same method here and once again, no sticking! It’s the little things.
This cake has two distinct layers, the chocolate is dense and rich, laced with coffee. The vanilla is equally dense, with a lighter flavor and studded with ground walnuts. I don’t think I swirled the layers enough this go-round, I’ll be sure to swirl more the next time I make this.
Shortcake.
Week 28. Boysenberry Shortcake.
I think strawberry (or marion\rasp\boysen\black berry) shortcake is my most favorite dessert. Lots of textures and flavors, crunchy and salty in the shortcake, sweet and creamy whipped cream and sweet berries with a hint of tartness. I want to write more about this but…fresh berries. fresh cream. fresh shortcake. That’s all.
Tender Shortcakes from “Baking: From My Home To Yours“
Update 8/23/2012: I used the rest of the shortcakes last night. The recipe makes a dozen or so, which was far more than RMT and I could eat, or rather, should eat, in one go. I froze a couple thinking we’d have them later in the summer when we inevitably bought more flats of berries. Well, yesterday at the farmers market I picked a up 1/2 flat of mixed berries: rasp, blue, and black. Oh my. I tossed the berries with a sprinkling of sugar, juice of half a lemon and let them sit while I reheated the shortcakes in the oven. I added maybe a 1/4 t of vanilla to about 1/3 cup of cream (I’m terrible about measuring when I’m putting together leftovers), whipped it up and assembled. Still amazing. Still my favorite. These cakes keep extremely well in the freezer, just be sure to wrap them well (I wrapped mine in cling film and then put them in a ziploc).
Devil.
Week 12.
Devil’s food cake.
Flour, Sugar and 10W40
Week 8.
There is good reason that this blog is called MotoBaker. For me, those two activities can turn around the worst of days.
Work this week was trying. Long days of hurdle after hurdle, seeming to never make progress. By mid-week, I had turned to my two favorite stress relieving activities: motorcycles and baking.
After work on Wednesday, I jumped on the bike and went for a ride, aimless except keeping my course somewhat directed towards the stores I needed to stop at to shop for ingredients. An hour or so later, I returned home much more relaxed and with a bag full of groceries.
I was in the mood for something cake-like but quicker, and not as involved. I stumbled across a crumb cake recipe that had three of my favorite flavors (banana, espresso, cinnamon) and is based on a Baked recipe (Banana Espresso Muffins which I’ve made and loved), but it was a crumb cake. I hate crumb cake. Hate it. I think it’s a waste of calories, ingredients and time. HOWEVER. The flavor combination and Baked inspiration swayed me to try it. Despite it’s crumb/coffee cake nature, I was hoping these attributes would win me over.
I am officially a crumb cake convert.
Motorcycling, baking, both clear my head and take away any and all frustrations. It’s a good day when I can end it with both of those things.
Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake. — This isn’t the most photogenic cake, but it is super delicious.
motobaker 
