As i can...

So i am posting as i can and i have different cakes to post tonight and hopefully catch up a bit.

Tonight i am baking a variation on last night's cake which was a variation on Sunday's cake.

Sunday i was out in Washington Township, NJ at the family home of Sara Valentine.  She is there sorting, cleaning, packing and pitching stuff. Her Dad moved to Florida in with Sara's sister and the house needs to be dealt with.

i am out there because i wish i had had a friend to be there with my while my sister and i were doing the same in September.

The Valentine's have been in that house for 40 some years and it was the store house for many people and many generations.

Finding Sara's Nana's Blood Donation and Voter Registrations Cards, her brother Michael's first grade primer, her Mom's Girl Scout Troop leader files and lots of dusk, drek and mouse poop!

We avoided falling into the excavation site. Friends of Michael's are trying to find the rumored Civil War canon purported to be buried in the root cellar. i avoided several concussions after Sara bonked me in the head and i slid down the stairs.

Anyway before all this happened i made a cake.

Before i made a cake i made dinner.

Dinner was a blending of comfort food and dredged possibility.

i found some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in the car. (Sara had the Velveeta kind which i refused to consider) And i found some Danish Mussels in a can.  Sara had a package of sliced mushrooms and some Chard.
i had brought an onion from Morgan's kitchen and so we were off.

Sauteed Mushrooms with Chard and Mussels

and

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with Mussels

Served with some Red Wine.  Surprisingly delicious and satisfying.

For dessert:

A Banana Cake

1/2 cup Coconut Oil
whisked and then slowly is added
1 cup sugar.
1 nice ripe banana
1 teaspoon Vanilla ( i actually forgot this and the cake was still very yummy)
Try to incorporate as much air into this as you go along.

In separate bowl
2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix into Oil/Sugar mixture
Dry ingredients in about 5 goes
alternating with
1 cup Soy milk

Pour into a greases and floured pan.
Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick or clean knife comes out clean from center.

It was SOOOOO Yummy!

On Monday when i got back to Morgan's in West Philly i attempted another version.

Ginger Squash Cake

5 Tablespoons Grape seed oil
1/4 Malted Barley Syrup
1/4 Honey
whisked together
it'll slowly come together and then you can start incorporating air into it and you'll see it get stringy and lighter in color.
Add 1/2 cup mashed Thanksgiving leftover Ginger Squash

(This was probably my first misstep)
i prepared 1/2 teaspoon flax seed with 1/2 cup water in a blender.  First blending the flax seed then adding the water.
Then i added it to the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl

i blended 2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Then i added the dry ingredients alternately in 5 goes with
1 1/2 cups homemade almond milk.

(This was probably my 2nd mistake, the Almond milk was really cold straight from the fridge.)

Poured into a greased and floured pan and baked in a preheated 375 oven for 30- 35 minutes.

Well it was heavy and not sweet though the squash flavor was nice and the cinnamon could be hinted at.)


Tonight's version i came up with after consulting with Caleb.

Also i had to improvise because of circumstances and Morgan reminding me of things that needed to be used.

i told Caleb about last night's efforts and results and he suggested a couple things and we came up with a couple more during the conversation.

First off forget about the Flax.
2nd more lift is needed so use Baking Soda in some proportion to baking powder
3rd reduce liquid.

Some of the other things were to dissolve the syrup and honey in the liquid so it could be incorporated more easily.
Add some sugar for structure.
Adjust liquid amounts because squash in different than banana

Oh and other things too.

Here is the recipe which evolved over the making because we ran out of both Grapeseed Oil and Olive Oil.

Second Leftover Ginger Squash Cake

In a small sauce pan heat
1 cup homemade Almond Milk
1/4 cup Malted Barley syrup
1/4 honey
Blend it all together, don't cook it. Just get it warm enough to blend in the gooey stuff. Set aside to cool.

3 Tablespoons of Grapeseed oil
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil (poured off the top of the Tahini Jar)
3/4 cup mashed leftover Ginger Squash
This i slowly heated up to take the chill out of it.
At this point Morgan reminds me he set aside the pulp from juice making this morning! Carrot-Apple pulp.
So i add in:
1 cup Carrot-Apple pulp.

In a separate bowl mix well
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 brown rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Make "3" holes in the dry ingredients.
that is i dump the oil/squash/carrot-apple mush on one side
make a small hole for
1 teaspoon Vanilla
another small hole for 1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
and then pour in the sweet liquid.

Stir quickly to incorporate and wet all the ingredients and pour into a greased and floured pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 30 -35 minutes or until done.

It is now just out of the oven and looks MARVELOUS! High rise, good aroma! Springy to touch!
Will let it cool for a few more and then taste it.

1st Recipe post here!

yesterday morning i went out to enjoy the lovely weather, i walked down to Clark Park here in West Philly and sat in the newly renovated area that is reminiscent of European parks with is tamped clay area and chairs. i sat and managed to finish the book i have been reading on and off for a couple of months.  The Kate Mosse book called Sepulcher.  She is often described as "a thinking person's Dan Brown" or "three Dimensional characters and decent prose style". Luckily i am entranced by that particular area of France in which most of the novel happens. It is another of the "New York Time's Best Sellers List" "thrilling page-turner" that i can put down and not worry about for periods of time.

As i sit here writing i am drinking some Lapsong Souchong Tea and am going to go and find some Vervain because one of the characters in the book served a tea of them blended together! Sounds lovely!

Last week in NYC i made 10 cakes for the Que(e)ry: Open Access Fundraiser for the Queer Zine Archive Project www.qzap.org.   One of the cakes i used extra strong Lapsang Souchong Tea as the liquid and folks said that it didn't taste like bacon but the smokeyness left a bacon smell in the nose!  i was too caked out to try it that night and left the cake at Jorge's house so i didn't get to try it.  Will have to experiment again soon!

So yesterday's cake is what i want to share today!

It is a better codified and clarified version of another cake i made last week up in NYC.

i am calling it a 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 Cake (snappier names suggestions are welcome!)

Scrapping bowl as needed:
Cream 1 stick softened butter until light and fluffy.
Add 1 cup sugar slowly until very well blended.
Add 1 ex large egg and mix until light and fluffy.

In another bowl
Sift together
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 generous dash salt

then whisk in
1 cup whole wheat flour

Add dry ingredients slowly to butter/egg/sugar mixture alternating with

1 cup liquid (any combination of milk, cream, tea, juice, water, would work) i have used 2% milk the first time and then yesterday about 1/3 heavy cream and 2/3 cup buttermilk

Once it is all well blended add

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a lightly greased and floured loaf pan

spread evenly a thin layer (1/2 inch) of batter and then Thin slices of fruit;
then a slightly thicker layer of batter and another layer of fruit and then
the rest of the batter.

Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes- Check for doneness with toothpick or clean knife poked into center of cake.

Last week i used very ripe strawberries and also a very sparse layer of mini-chocolate chips on top of the strawberries Yesterday i used a nice ripe persimmon.  The strawberry/chocolate chips melded into the cake and was delightful. You really couldn't tell where the strawberries and chocolate was coming from.  i didn't peel the persimmon and so you could see the layer of skin which didn't deter from the enjoyment or aesthetic of the cake at all.

Let the cake cool for a while even though you might really really want to try it while it is still HOT.  It needs to rest and firm up a bit.

Would love to hear other people experience of this recipe and if they learned anything or have questions!

The cake was taken to the Fat Elvis Day After Party at my friend Spice Rack and her fiance Jasper's place and many people said they loved it! Including Jasper's Mom. People told me later that this was a big complement!

Thanks to Spice Rack and Jasper for making such a welcoming and open space for sharing food, thought and heart!

Blessed Be~Divinely Doo-doo

Intro

This blog is to chronicle the recipes from a year of baking cake daily.  It will also offer the circumstances of where, what, why, when and how of their making and sharing.

More later.