Doves, Daffodils, and Divine Intervention

Three posts behind, what?! I promise the cakes have been made. I just lost the entire month of April, and May isn't looking much better. So, to catch up so far... I had to cheat a bit on the cake from THREE weeks ago... first of all, I switched it with the cake before it, and second, I was one day late getting it into its appropriate week. I was traveling, so I had to pick the cake that would be easier to make away from home and had to bake it when I had the most free time. I was actually in New Jersey visiting Randy; that week had been so bad at work that I literally ran away. I just booked a last minute plane ticket (special thanks to mom's AirTran points, my Delta miles, and a bit of cash from each of us) and took off for a week. To be fair, even my boss said I could use a few days off to recover from the trauma, and I did do some reading and prep work while I was up there, so it wasn't like I was being delinquent or anything. I just needed to get away. So I traded in lab work for a week of playing house wife, Pilates, nursing a sprained ankle, watching countless episodes of What Not to Wear, and enjoying some quality time with Randy.

The cake was an Italian Easter Dove Cake. It was really more of a bread, but as it says in the chapter, the difference between bread and cake is "not much." Technically, breads use yeast and cakes do not, but then what do you consider treats like banana bread? The line separating bread and cake is thin, if it exists at all. Anyway, this cake/bread, as you might guess from the name, is apparently an Italian tradition at Easter. I was skeptical about my ability to make it, because, while the dough is simple enough, it requires the baker to shape pieces of dough into doves. As we've seen before, I'm a baker, not an artist. But I carefully followed the directions, and while my birds seemed more

eagle than dove, I think I sufficiently conveyed the avian concept. We were well past Easter, and Randy is Jewish anyway, so eagle or dove, it was all the same. Sadly, Randy's oven cooks much differently than mine, and my two eagle-dove cake-breads (a cake with an identity crisis?) burned to a black carbon crisp on the bottom. We managed to salvage the more central parts of the less burnt dove, and had it not been burnt, it would have been quite tasty. It was light, slightly sweet, and slightly citrusy. It would indeed be an excellent Easter morning treat.

Upon returning home that weekend, I prepared the cake I switched with the Dove Cake, which was named Daffodil Cake with Orange Glaze. Daffodil being mostly due to the coloring, and if prepared properly, the glaze over the cake would probably make a sight reminiscent of a flower. This cake mandated the KitchenAid and a bunch of ingredients bakers keep in their kitchens, but single boys do not, so I imagine it would have been a far more stressful experience trying to make it in Randy's closet-sized bachelor kitchen. The instructions were INTENSELY detailed, which seemed daunting when reading the recipe, but it wasn't actually that difficult. The worst part was the eggs... a whole dozen, separated. (All these cakes made entirely of eggs has me seriously considering just raising some chickens. I'm sure my apartment complex would love for me to turn my screened-in porch into a chicken coop.) Also, this cake was yet another cake requiring a tube pan, so I had to substitute the springform again. In fact, this cake required all the items on my Need In Kitchen list: 10" tube pan, zester, sifter. I MacGyvered my way around the kitchen as usual, though, and it came out just fine. I invited Tim and Maureen over because I wanted to taste it and felt sad eating cake alone.

There are two awesome things about this cake. The first is that it's marbled. Marbling a cake is literally magic. You pour alternating layers of two different colored batters into the pan, and then just run a knife straight through it a couple times. No stirring or mixing or back-and-forth motion, just cut straight through. In my mind, there was no way it was going to come out marbled, but when we cut into it, it looked awesome! Super exciting. The second awesome thing is that Dr. Robinson made this cake for Jane Goodall when Dame Goodall came to UD to give the keynote speech at our undergraduate research symposium. Jane Goodall has been my hero since I was young. I remember doing a report on her for class in grade school. The day she spoke was thrilling... it's always a bit surreal to see your celebrity role model in real life. I even got her to sign my copy of one of her books! It gave me a bit of a chill to read this chapter about Dr. Goodall's visit, reliving what I saw through another's eyes, and getting a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes. Sadly, Dr. Goodall never got to eat this cake. The reason for having a cake in the first place was that Dr. Goodall's visit to UD was the day after her birthday, and the planner wanted a cake to celebrate and put Dr. Robinson in charge. But after making the cake, Dr. Robinson got a message from the planner to pick up a cake from a local market, and suddenly got too nervous that her homemade cake wouldn't live up to expectations, and so replaced it with a store-bought carrot cake that remained largely untouched. Apparently, on the ride back to the airport, the topic of cake came up, the dilemma was revealed, and Dr. Goodall assured Dr. Robinson she would have much rather had the homemade cake. I think this is evidence that Jane Goodall is a real, regular person who has accomplished the extraordinary and not some untouchable science celebrity who has let success and fame change her.

Finally, last week's cake. The saddest one, and the one I don't want to write about. Konrad and Ivana have accepted postdoctoral positions in the UK and are moving tomorrow. I'm having separation anxiety... they have been such fantastic friends to me, always ready with a margarita or glass of wine to celebrate or commiserate. I met them through Randy not long after moving here, and they took me in as a real friend, not just the girlfriend of their friend. They've been there for the ups and downs of science, my relationship, and life in general. I think it will be a bit quieter without them, and not the good kind of quiet, but the lonely kind. Anyway, they had a goodbye party at a local pub Saturday night. I desperately wanted to make a cake, because lately, it's not an occasion if cake isn't involved. But last week was so utterly crazy I didn't think I would have time. Bright and early Saturday morning, though, I checked the book on a whim, just in case it would be possible. The cake, a Krumb Kuchen, was the second easiest and quickest recipe in the book thus far, following only the dump cake in simplicity. It required only the most basic baking ingredients and took a total of an hour to make. A miracle, no doubt. There would be cake, after all!

I showed up at the party, cake in tow, and settled in for a Guinness and a few last memories. The party was well-attended, and the cake well-enjoyed. It was essentially a crumb cake, full of cinnamon and brown sugar. I had an early morning, so I couldn't stay out late, but I left the remaining cake, which was also serendipitous because Konrad and Ivana, having cleaned out their apartment, needed something for breakfast the next morning, and apparently the cake was perfect with coffee. Gotta love dual-purpose dessert. And that is all I will say about this one, because I will continue to deny they're leaving until they get on the plane tomorrow. Hurray for finally being caught up. My apologies for the epic post.

A Surprise Shower for Maureen

Top secret events and reason for Cake of the Week switch revealed!

As most of you who actually read this know, Tim and Maureen are getting married this spring. But since they're planning their wedding long-distance and their family is somewhat spread out, Maureen is missing out on some of the complete bride-to-be experience, like bridal showers. Her mom decided this was unacceptable, so she enlisted me to help out with a surprise shower. She gathered gifts from family and sent them down here to me (which was a massive ordeal in and of itself... apparently my apartment complex doesn't understand mail delivery), and I organized the girls here for the party.

Our theme was a traditional tea party, so we all dressed up, Tim provided finger foods (including the most delicious cucumber sandwiches ever... kudos to him for his extensive research on tea time), and Maureen's coworker got her out of the apartment under the guise of pedicures while we set up. She was definitely surprised when she walked in. I think that's the most gratifying part of a surprise party: the look on the guest of honor's face when he or she walks in to a room full of people yelling "Surprise!" is always some priceless combination of confusion, excitement, and a little bit of pure terror. It was awesome.

We enjoyed tea and snacks, watched while Maureen opened her gifts, and of course played an obligatory ridiculous bridal shower game (who comes up with this stuff?) involving making wedding dresses out of toilet paper. I was actually quite impressed with the dress quality... we should have been featured on one of those Bravo shows or something. We may have had only toilet paper, but we certainly did "make it work."

My contribution to the shower fare was Japanese Green Tea Cake. For the Robinson family's Year of Cake, this cake was Dr. R's, birthday cake, made by her youngest daughter. The chapter is full of the sort of melancholy people like me feel around their birthdays. A deep reflection on life, and if the best parts are already gone, and if we're up to what lies ahead. I'm pretty melancholy myself right now, with the second half of a PhD project falling down around me and in what seems like an endless quarter-life crisis. (Maybe that means I will live a long time?) A good time to remember that "where there is cake, there is hope." And thankfully, for Dr. R then and me now, there is always cake. There's no time or place for melancholy during pre-wedding festivities. But there's always time for cake.

This cake is as green as red velvet cake is red. A bit terrifying, actually... I'm not sure something that color should be ingested. Unlike red velvet cake, however, the green color is completely natural, created by the addition of matcha, or green tea powder. An elusive and expensive ingredient, I managed to find some at the Farmer's Market, and thankfully, a little goes a long way, because my tiny container nearly cost me my left hand. Although I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of it. I have no idea what it's used for other than this cake. I guess I could just make a lot of cake, but then I'd probably need to buy some chickens, because other than green, the cake is entirely eggs and air. I had to whip 4 egg whites, beat together 6 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs, and then mix together both egg mixtures. Crazy. I suppose it's healthy, though, with all that protein. Or that's what I'll tell myself. There was so much batter (and I may not have had an appropriate pan) that I made two: one for the shower, and one tiny loaf cake for me. The cake was served with a ginger dessert sauce, which soaked right into the airy cake. It was interesting and different, and went well with our tea party theme.

Successful cake, successful shower, surprised and happy bride-to-be... all in all, a great Cake Day.

Sometimes, it pays to be redundant.

So, due to some still top-secret events, I had to switch cakes for this week and last week. It will be worth it, you'll see.

So last week, I was making out my grocery list and grabbed the Cake Book to add the cake ingredients to my list. I flipped it open, and imagine my surprise when I discovered that the cake was... pancakes. What.

First of all, pancakes are not cake. They're flat and boring and there's no frosting or crumb topping or anything that is good about cake. Second of all, as you can probably tell, I don't particularly like pancakes. This is more the fault of condiments than the actual pancakes themselves, but, when you don't like syrup or butter, really, how boring are pancakes? And third of all... pancakes are not cake. The end.

Clearly, Cake Day was in jeopardy. It's not Pancake Day, after all. I read through the chapter to gain some understanding about what surely must have been an oversight. Aside from learning some... interesting... things about my advisor I was not previously aware of, I learned that on that Cake Day, they were leaving for a spring break trip, and so to ensure Cake Day was fulfilled, they whipped up these pancakes. I can't decide if this shows more or less dedication than me... I would have moved Cake Day or had two the next week; they got their day in, but the authenticity is questionable.

One really cannot take pancakes anywhere, and I wasn't about to eat an entire batch myself, so I did some creative thinking and decided pancakes would be a perfect post-long run recovery food. I invited Chris for a 7 miler followed by a pancake extravaganza, complete with butter, syrup, strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and chopped nuts (I need toppings too, ok?). As far as ease of recipe is concerned, this one really... takes the cake... ahem. I mean, pancakes are pretty simple as it is, although for me, the usual result is disaster. But even I did not fail using this recipe.

During the boring process of waiting for pancakes to cook, Chris got this crazy idea. What if we made... a pancake cake? A cake with pancakes as the cake and toppings as the frosting? Brilliant! We had enough extras at our disposal to make it work. So I present to you the most amazing recipe ever: Pancake Cakes.

1. Make pancakes. (Use the recipe from The Cake Chronicles, because they are legitimately the best pancakes I've ever eaten.)
2. Place 1 pancake on a plate.
3. Spread pancake with layer of whipped cream and top with banana slices.
4. Lay second pancake on top of first.
5. Spread second pancake with layer of whipped cream and top with strawberry slices.
6. Lay third pancake on top of second.
7. Cover whole stack with a layer of whipped cream "frosting."
8. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the top of the cake.
9. Serve and enjoy!

As you can tell by the pictures, it was fantastic. As you'll have to imagine, it was also delicious. To be fair, I did try a single pancake with butter and syrup as the book suggests, and it wasn't too bad... almost enough to make me a pancake convert.

Anyway, thanks to Chris' help, Cake Day was saved, the Pancake Cake was born, and two very hungry runners got very full tummies. Now that is a happy ending.

Some day I will tell this story as a bedtime story to my children: The Legend of Pancake Cake. There will no doubt be an epic movie based on this story as well. Hopefully I'll be played by someone awesome. Like Anna Torv. And then we can add this part about the failure to invent the Pancake Cake in time to save Cake Day in the alternate universe, and so agents from the other universe cross into our universe to try to steal our Pancake Cake, inadvertently triggering the destruction of both universes... I wonder if J.J. Abrams would be willing to work with me on this...

If you give a mouse a cookie...

He's going to ask to upgrade to cake.

My coworkers have apparently become quite spoiled. Justin informed me the other week that "there hasn't been cake in awhile." A subtle hint. It was actually true... there were too many events at which to showcase my cakes, so the lab got the short end of the stick and missed out. Lucky for them, the cake from two weeks ago had no VIP appearances to make, so they got this cake all to themselves.

The cake was Toffee Nutmeg Cake. Interestingly, toffee was not a component of the cake at all. It was almost entirely flour (3 cups) and brown sugar (1 pound. No seriously) serially diluted into 3 separate mixes, which in the end condensed down to 2 separate mixes: the cake, and the top. I was unconvinced that two dry, powdery mixes would make a cake, but... you know how the saying goes... remember the Tomato Cake. So I didn't ask questions, layered the mixes in the pan as instructed, and put it in the oven to bake.

I should note that I was supposed to use a 9" tube pan with a removable bottom. But I'm not privy to such luxuries, and cash is tight, so I improvised and used my springform pan. Besides, we bought that pan for this project, so I'm going to get good use out of it. The cake came out fine, probably just slightly less pretty. But I was fairly certain it wouldn't survive long enough in the office for anyone to notice.

It was indeed well received, and went quickly. It was delicious... the cake was soft and spicy, and the topping was a crispy toffee-like layer full of pecans and brown sugar with a crunch that contrasted nicely with the texture of the cake itself. By the time I went home, it was entirely gone. I thought perhaps I'd satisfied the lab cake craving for awhile, but one of the postdocs checked every day for the rest of the week on the "off-chance there might be cake." Sadly, they're in a cake dry spell again. I'm sure I'll hear about it soon enough.