re.CAP: EASTER

RER 3.27.16

Timing is everything. Or nothing.

RER 3.27.16

Easter came early this year— almost like an afterthought before the actual thought. It crept up on us, shocking like the mystery that it celebrates. Acting much like the weather: temperamental, moody, unpredictable, and early. It’s been an up and down of temperature—unseasonably warm one day and typically cold the next.  Lions and lambs fighting and ending in an oddly unbalanced stalemate.  Hot and cold like the most passionate affair or weary teacher. But Easter came and went, as did March—quickly, quietly, and early (by early, I mean, time is moving forward faster than I could have imagined or even hoped in darker times). And now it’s gone.

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

Easter ushers a breath of fresh air after stale Lent, dark with deprivation and reflection, and quarter three, full and dense with symbolism and five-paragraph essays. The death and darkness of Lent and winter months culminate in Resurrection and the rebirth of spring. Easter is a moment of new beginnings and celebratory feasts.

And feast we did.

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

JAR 3.27.16

Timing is everything.

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3.27.16

RER 3.27.16

MangiaMore: GINGERBREAD layer cake

RER 12.25.15

Christmas Eve ended up being a flurry of baking— a follow-up to an earlier Christmas cookie bake-a-thon. Cookies are never enough, even that double batch of sugar cookies and those oh-too-delicious walnut bites. There were tins of cookies, but it didn’t feel like enough. Santa would be pleased, but we were having company. So I made cakes…

RER 12.24.15

RER 12.24.15

RER 12.25.15

Not just one layer cake, but two. To take the pressure off, I made a cake I have made what feels like a million times and has been requested on twice as many occasions.  My chocolate cake is a crowd-pleaser and just chocolate enough to be sexy.

RER 12.24.15

RER 12.24.15

RER 12.24.15

But what is a holiday without trying something new and season-sensitive? Chocolate is good all year round, but gingerbread, gingerbread is a funny festive thing. Gingerbread only feels appropriate from the fall of October to the rise of January. Martha helped me out with the dense gingerbread layers for the tall cake, while Smitten Kitchen inspired the creamy whipped filling.

RER 12.24.15

RER 12.24.15

My gingerbread cake amalgamation stood super tall and bare on the sides—naked cakes are a thing. Each layer was substantial and dense, spicy, but not too intense. A fresh whipped cream, laced with thick mascarpone cheese, cooled the warm brown layers. The cream filling was wet and airy, but not too sweet. The dichotomy left the cake lovely and light, just enough to tickle, but not enough to overwhelm.

Apparently, ‘tis the season for baking.  

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12.25.15

MangiaMore: Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake

RER 6.23.15

Ok, maybe I’m no expert. I know I’m no expert. My cakes do not always come out looking perfect. Believe me, I wish they would like those from gorgeous baking blogs and glossy magazines. But, sadly, they do not. I am no pastry chef with culinary background and know-how. However, I am a sometimes baker who enjoys trying something different and experimenting in the kitchen.

RER 6.20.15

RER 6.20.15

For Father’s Day, I was inspired by my sister who has been wanting a caramel cake. A legit caramel cake. Not the gentler breed I made before. One of those super buttery yellow cakes held together by melted sugar caramel glue, sticky and sweet, decadent and southern. I got the picture.

However, my cake, unfortunately, did not come out like the picture.

RER 6.20.15

RER 6.20.15

The Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake recipe from Grandbaby Cakes would appease sister’s dreams and celebrate my Daddio. Making the cake was easy, despite the zillion (six) eggs plus a load (two) of yolks, the copious amounts of butter, the surplus of sugar, the random sour cream, and the endless mixing. It was cathartic and exciting, maybe a little unnerving.

RER 6.20.15

RER 6.20.15

The cake became infinitesimally more difficult when the thick evaporated milk, tons of sugar, and more butter than safe, simmered, bubbled, and boiled for more than an hour and a half. I sat and I watched and I stirred and I read when I was not sitting and watching and stirring, but at about the 1.45 hour mark, things started to burn. I ruined everything that this caramel was meant to be: a creamy, glossy, sticky caramel to coat that cake.  Mine got lumpy and dull, chunky, and stiff—to sum up, unpleasant. Little whisk in hand, I attacked the cooling caramel, hoping to bring back some of its luster  and revive the soul of this cake.

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RER 6.23.15

If that wasn’t enough, this seizing caramel involved extreme, strenuous, and sometimes sweaty effort to apply. Warm caramel and muggy afternoons do not play nicely together, so what was once a straight, square and level cake, became a sloppy, lopsided mess. A few layers went one way while the others leaned the other way. Disaster.

To put it simply, the cake was not pretty.

But whoa, was it delicious.

RER 6.20.15

RER 6.20.15

I made it on Saturday and threw the swerving cake in the fridge before any more damage could be done. Sunday, after prying off the lid and some of the caramel (and cake layer #2), the ugly cake tasted amazing. The crisp beautiful layers were sweet and tangy with sour cream, but dense enough to stand up to my imperfect caramel. It was just moist enough and felt like heavy pound cake on the tongue, while the candy coating was buttery, rich, and decadent with the aroma of browned sugar. Despite it all, my unattractive cake was scrumptious filled with love, commitment, tears, sweat, and dedication.

It’s the taste that counts? Or is it the thought? Well, this caramel cake ended up being pretty tasty.

Hope you all had a sweet Father’s Day too!

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6.21.15

RER 6.23.15