It's late.  I need to be asleep.  But alas, I find myself awake once again.  This seems to be a problem for me for about two weeks now.  I'm kinda getting done with it but what can ya do?  I have taken sleep aid a few times and that just makes me feel terrible all the next day.  So I will write instead of just lay here.  I usually read but not tonight.  Besides,  I keep reading this amazing French cook book and it makes me hungry every time.   I wish we cooked like the French.  They amaze me with the things they do with ingredients.  They take a few basic things and turn them into wondrous  creations for the pallet and entire being.      

So speaking of food,  I will share this little yummy oven pancake I make.  A lot of my friends have been making them and they are calling them dutch babies.  I wasn't really connecting the dots in my head but then realized they are what I call pannekoeken.  I have made them for years but it had been a while.  We love them.  I have made them with pears and sausage on the side or just plain with maple syrup.  You can eat them any way you like.  We have even had them for dinner.  Super easy, and super yummy. 

Recipe:

1/4 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt 

You can use any flour you want.  (even almond flour)  

Just experiment.  Its fun. :) 

Place the butter in a cast iron pan or any other round deep baking dish.

Put in cold oven and turn on to 400'

While the butter melts (about 5 minutes)

mix up the other ingredients.  

Take out hot pan from the oven and spread butter around.  Then pour batter in.

The butter will ooze all over and up over the top of the batter.  

Put back in the over and cook for about 25 minutes.  It will be puffed up and golden and

you will want to devour it in all its buttery goodness. 

LIfe doesn't always make sense

Most of you that know me and read my cake blog know what happened over a year and a half ago.
But for maybe the few that don't or those who stumble upon this story I will fill you in.

I write this now at the beginning of 2013 more for myself and the process then anything else.
I also hope to make 2013 a better year with fun adventures in the heart even if I don't leave my home.
I hope to live more purposefully as I try to every year improve on the past.  I hope to see more dreams come true and lived out.  I hope to walk more fully alive and fully myself.  I hope to laugh more, dance more, try more, play more, read more, exercise more, write more, bake more, and above all, Love more deeply.

In January of 2011 I started 52 weeks of cake.  My plan was to bake a cake a week for the entire year.  In April of 2011 I found out I was pregnant with our 5th child.  That pretty much put a screeching halt on all forms of cooking.  You see, I get extremely sick when I am pregnant.  This precious little baby was quite the surprise.  We had just had the " I think we are done" talk and then a few days later found out we were not done.  :)    So to be quite honest, we had a bit of hard time being excited and receiving this blessing.  I think a lot of it having to do with being sick again but also it was just not on our radar.  We were planning a big U.S. road trip for the summer and with me being sick it was going to be very hard.   So I just pretty much became a home body and tried my best to get better and do what I could.
I also prayed a lot.  I did not want to disapoint my kids and not be able to do the road trip.
Dear friends helped us out a ton.  They brought food and cleaned and folded laundry and cooked and took care of our kids and helped Mark a ton.  We are so grateful.

I had actually started to feel some what better around week 16 or 17. I would still throw up and felt pretty yucky a lot but I could push myself and deal with it some what.  Some days were worse than others and some days were ok.  I still had constant nausea but like I said I could sort of function.  So we managed to pack up the motor home and hit the road.  I truly was choosing to push myself.  I knew at some point I would start to feel better and I just had to tough it out for my family.   I also really wanted to go on this trip.  We had been planning it for a long time.   We left our home at the end of July.  I think it was the 21st.

So we started off and were doing good.  We had some good times and saw some amazing places and dear friends as well.  We got to Colorado and that's when everything changed.  It was August 12.
I was bleeding and cramping and I new something was wrong.  I have had bleeding before so I wasn't overly worried but I was  concerned.  We past a hospital in a little town and new I should go and get checked out.  So we got right in.  With in minutes I was having an ultra sound and the technician didn't say a word.  That's not usually a good sign.  Then the Doctor came in and gave us the bad news.  Baby Miles did not have a heart beat.  We have never felt such grief and sadness.  You feel so utterly helpless and lost.  There is nothing you can do.  I must have asked the Doctor multiple times if he was sure.
So there we were some where in the middle of Colorado with 4 kids in the waiting room and now what  do we do?   Well they didn't have an O.B. so they called a few other hospitals trying to figure out where to send us.  They ended up sending us to a hospital about two hours away that was in the direction we were headed.    Telling the kids was awful.  They were so sad and didn't know what to do either.

We got to the hospital close to midnight.  I was so tired and basically in labor.  Mark parked the motor home in the parking lot just outside my window and stayed in it with the kids for the night.  We couldn't leave them alone.  So I labored alone all night.  They had given me something to help me dilate and efface and it pretty much put me into full blown labor.  It was so intense and I could not handle another contraction.  They were right on top of each other.  I had my last two babies at home and well that means no meds.  But this was different.  I couldn't endure the pain in that room alone and knowing I was going to deliver a dead baby.  There was no joy set before me.   I just couldn't do it.   I got an epidural.  I was so worried about doing it because you hear all those horror stories. So I texted a couple of dear girl friends and asked for help.  They both said just do it.  Don't worry.  Get it.  The epidural guy was there in a jiffy.  The nurses were so loving and helpful.  They truly were amazing in such a time.  I am forever grateful to them all.  Two of my nurses had gone through what I did.  So they truly understood and got it.  They had true compassion.

I ended up laboring all night.  My dear friend Delayne stayed up with me all night via texting.  It was as though she was with me.  It makes me cry just remembering that.  Also Lynette stayed up with me a long time and other dear girl friends.  But it was Delayne that kept me company and prayed and comforted into the wee hours of the morning.
Baby Miles was born at 9:00 on the morning of August 13.  He looked perfect in every way.  He was perfectly formed and beautiful.  He was so tiny.  I held him and loved him and wept.  I can remember his sweet face.  I can remember how he looked like his own little self.  I will never forget how God showed up in that room with me and let me see him in Heaven with Jesus.  It was one of the most powerful amazing moments in my life.  God is so good.  I do not understand what happened and why Miles died.  But it was not God or His will.  Life just throws you a hard ball sometimes and it doesn't make sense.  I can not explain it nor will I try to make sense of it.  That only makes me feel crazy.
My only regret was not letting the kids see him.  They were in the room next to us and I didn't know if it would be too much for them to see him or not.  Later they asked but by that time they had already put Miles in a saline solution in a bag so we could take him home and burry him.  I didn't want them to see him like that.  A month or so later Joy had big cry over not getting to see him.  We had to work through  it.  I am sure it would have made it all more real if they could have been able to see him and say goodbye.

We stayed two days in the hospital.  The staff was amazing.  August 14 is Clay's birthday and August 15 is Jubilee's birthday.  It was also my nurses birthday that day (14th) so she went out and got Clay and Juby balloons and cake and ice-cream.   It was so so nice of her.
We were also given a special little wooden box that a local woman makes for babies.  They gave us a blanket and stuffed animal for Miles.   We left feeling loved by them but empty and sad.  I walked on to the motor home and burst into tears.

We still had quite a bit of trip ahead of us but needless to say I didn't feel like finishing it.  All I wanted to do was get home.  My baby was in my motor home freezer.  I was in such pain.  My heart ached like never before.  My whole being ached.  I would lay in bed in the back of the motor home and just cry.  I would wake up and for a split second I would forget.  And then it all comes flooding back.  And then I felt powerless and weak.  I couldn't move.  Little Juby was 2 and sometimes she would snuggle up to me and lay her head on me.  She didn't know what was going on but some how she knew.  Its very hard being in pain like that and still have all your kids around you.  They still need Mom and Dad.  We still had to feed them and love them.  You can't just turn off life.  Although I sure wish you could sometimes.  We would be driving, one second I was fine and then next I wasn't. Tears would come bursting out.  A kind of cry you could not control or stop.  Just this deep pain that had to come out.  It would literally take my breath away.   Mark and I were disconnected and didn't even know it at first.  We were just in survival mode.  What we needed to do was just stop and regroup.

We found a beautiful place to camp for the night.  We just stumbled upon it really.  We were tired and needed to stop.  What ended up happening was so good though.  Mark and I actually got into a big fight.  We were just both in pain and trying to figure it all out.  Sometimes that means a little yelling until you get to end of it I guess.  So we did and then we were better.  Well at least we were connected and going to deal with all the pain together, Not alone.  It made me realize how easy it is when couples suffer a loss or go through difficult things why they get lost and alone in it all.  You hear how divorce happens often after tragedy.   It makes sense.  You have to work at staying connected and not isolating.
At this spot by a river we sat and cried and held each other.  The kids played and fished and collected rocks.  We just sat there.  It was this strange peaceful place that God was in.  We ended up collecting 13 stones from that river to take home and place on Miles grave.  It was a time of regrouping and figuring out what was next.  We decided to just plow through the rest of the trip skipping a lot we had planned so we could get home faster.

We made it to the Grand canyon.  Barely........  Our motor home kept breaking down.  One time we were broken down in the middle of the desert in an Indian reservation.   This was an all time low of a day.  You know when you feel like you are all alone and no one cares or wants to help you?  That was this day.  We also didn't have much food and were so tired and ended up eating at McDonalds and Sonic Burger in the same day.  It was sad indeed.  Especially being the food lovers that we are.
You know life sucks when you have to eat fast food all day.  We kind of laughed about it later.  Stranded in the desert, hot and tired, in pain emotionally, eating crap food.  Lord get me home was all I could think about.  And we hadn't even gotten to the Grand Canyon yet.   Well like I said we did make it there eventually.  It was bitter sweet.  I felt so empty inside.   I was trying to be happy for the kids and make memories but even now every picture reminds me that Miles was not in my tummy and my heart was broken.  It had only been a few days since it all happened.  Every pregnant lady I saw I would have to suck it up and hold in my tears.  Every new born baby I had to do the same.  I felt so lost and so not me.  A part of me was gone.  And there I was in a world full of strangers in the Grand Canyon.  It was at this point that Mark got me a ticket to fly home.  He sent me and the three youngest home on a plane.  He and Levi stayed to drive the motor home back home.  I ended up only getting home two days before them because they got the motor home finally fixed and just plowed  fast through the night in the hot hot desert.  Thank God I was not in the miserable hot motor home with no A.C.

So I could stop there and pretty much end with the next year was really hard.  I turned 40 that next month.  I had some cancer cut out of my lip two weeks before my birthday.  That was fun.  Not...
I spent much of 40 just healing and asking questions that would and wouldn't get answered.  In some ways its a blur.  But at the same time vivid.  Not sure that makes any sense.  I ended up having a lot of health stuff come up.  I was given so many antibiotics in the hospital.  It really jacked up my body.  I am still actually trying to get better.   40 was hard in so many ways.  I missed Miles tons.  I grieved, I lived, I walked through it, I faced it, I landed on my feet.  Grief is not easy to maneuver.  Some times I didn't know how to do it.  That's when I would call Delayne or other friends.  My home group really carried me that year.  I love my dear friends.  They are such a treasure to me.  I also spent much of the first part of 40 feeling so disconnected from God.  I did not know what to say to Him.  I would just sit in silence with Him.  I couldn't even talk to Him.  There were no words in me.  And  even though I couldn't talk to Him I have never felt His presence so near to me.  He was so close even though I was so hurt and mad at Him.  He was not offended by my silence or my anger and pain.  I can even now feel His warmth next to me.  It was this quiet friend that just sat with me.  He loved me and sat with me.  Some times speaking a soft word of hope and life and truth.  Tears would roll down my face and He was with me.   So even though I felt this strange disconnect at the same time I have never felt his presence more.  I felt disconnected because I wasn't talking to him so much and didn't know what to say but I was talking to Him.  Just not with words.  Some times in my heart I would utter something and then He would answer so quick and then I would just cry.  He was so faithful and would always always meet me.  Even in silence.

In August of 2012 I had a real turning point.  It felt like the season shifted.  It just literally switched and I new things were going to be different now.  I had an amazing healing dream about Miles and I also talked with a friend that helped me work through a few things that  I just couldn't shake.  Guilt was a big one.   So then September came and I turned 41.  I can't believe I am 41 but I am.  Now Christmas has come and gone and its January 3, 2013.  I do not know what this year holds for me or my family. I do not know if we will have another baby.  I only know that we are going to live and love and do life.  Hopefully do it well.  I love my husband.  He is an amazing man.  I love my dear kids.  They are such gifts to us.  We have plans to go to Hawaii in February and we hope to go to France in the fall.  We
have two kids in school and one I home school and then Juby of course is home.
I don't know what I am doing.  I am figuring that out.  I want to dream again.  I want to do the things that bring me life.  I love so many things but making time for them is a big issue for me.  So I will work on my priorities and figure out how to do it all.  But for now I am starting with this little blog.  I don't know where it will lead but I am just doing it anyway.  :) Its good for me.

I know this was originally a cake blog but now its just a me blog.  I will have to change the name now. I may turn it into some other kind of baking adventure.  Who knows?  But for now this is what was in me.

Lots of cakes

I know its been forever since I last blogged about my cakes.  It just kind of took a back seat to some health related issues for a while.   So now that things are getting better I can refocus and write again.  You know the brain and body and can only do so much at once.  And some times you gotta just take life down a notch or two and do only what is absolutely necessary.  I found I could bake a cake but had nothing extra to give to be able to write.  Silly I know but just the way things are sometimes. 

But I still love making cake.  I love eating cake.  I love sharing cake.  They're so pretty and joyful.  They just add a bit of sunshine to a kitchen when sitting so nicely on their little cake plate.  It kind of reminds me of going into a mom and pop cafe and seeing little donuts and treats and pies so sweetly arranged on the counter top in glass cake plates with covers.  It just warms my heart and makes me think of simpler times.  I think I could have truly loved growing up in the 50's.  What a  great era.  I know I am probably a bit idealistic about that but I still like to imagine it all pure and innocent.  I like to imagine happy people eating healthy, whole, real food in their homes and making cakes and cookies were apart of everyday life.  I would have been a happy homemaker in the 50's.  I'm thinking this was also the time packaged food became so popular so we will just skip that note and pretend every one cooked from scratch and ate real food.  I would also live in a small town like Mayberry and wear a dress everyday.  I do like dresses.  In fact I think I might just skip shorts altogether this summer and wear dresses and skirts.  I know that was a random side note but it applied. :)  Pretty dresses do make me happy and feel so feminine and free.  And you know, they cover up all the lumps and bumps so nicely.  I have a bit of an extra bump lately.  Too much cake and not enough sit ups.  Actually I have been pretty good on my cake intake.  And I have also been getting better at my exercising.  Yay for me.  And I have also been eating way more vegees and fruits.  Which makes me want to tell you about my healthy food home group I'm in.  It's so very exciting.  It seems kind of ironic that I would be in a such group but really I am quite a food snob.  I love whole, real food.  But a cake made with good quality ingredients can still be in the mix of life as long as you balance it with lots of good home made food and lots of raw vegees and fruits.  Not to mention a ton of other important things but you can read Katie's blog for all that info. :)  She's amazing.  And I learn something new every time I'm with her.  Like for instance, the last time she was over the house she pointed out that I have a grape vine growing in my backyard and some rosemary.  Who new?  Not I that's for sure. 

Ok now time to tell you about at least 5 or 6 cakes.  And sorry I am not going to post all the recipes but if you want any of them just let me know and I will send it to you.

Cake # 14 was called Cardamom Coffee Cake.  It's from the Moosewood Cookbook.  It was tasty but I undercooked it and it totally fell apart when I was trying to take it out of the bundt pan.  And I had to take it to RTL. that next morning.  I was bummed.  I managed to salvage some of it but I did not take any pictures.
Sorry.  It was really sad looking.  :(  Also just in case you make this cake,  I did not have any cardamom but used other yummy spices instead.  It was pretty much just a coffee cake. 

Cake # 15 was another bundt cake of some sort.  And now for the life of me I can't remember what it was.  I have a picture of it but seriously can't remember what it is.  I think it was good.  I will post its pic. 
My son thinks I only make bundt cakes lately.  At first I said I do not.  But now I'm thinking I have made quite a few.  O-well.  Sometimes you just get on a kick of some sort and you gotta go with it.  

It looks so familiar.  I'm sure I liked it. :)


Cake # 16 Lemon Cake.  This is one of my favorite cakes.  It is so simple and delicious.  And very pretty too when baked in my cutest ever daisy cake pan from Williams Sanoma.  This pan was a gift from a friend and I just love it.  You really should make this moist scrumptious cake soon and have some friends over to share it.  If you want the recipe let me know.   You may be able to find it on a Williams Sanoma website.  It is quite a few year ago though so I don't know.  It was the recipe that came with the pan.  Man alive it is good.  

Oh my cuteness



Yummy

Cake # 17 Short cakes.  I know these are pretty basic but I saw a recipe in my Country Living magazine (April edition)  for Easter time and thought I would give them a try for our Easter dessert.  They were yummy.  I made them the night before and I think they would have been better fresh out of the oven.  Also, before I baked them I did not brush the top with heavy cream and turbinado sugar.  Just trying to cut out some sugar. 
But their official name was Turbinado Shortcakes with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. 
I love strawberry shortcake.  It just has that summer time is finally here feeling.  We eat it often in the summer
and it is such a crowd pleaser.  I never saw someone turn them away.  I mean who would do that?  A crazy person maybe.  I don't know people like that. 


Happy little shortcake

Cake # 18.  Vanilla cupcakes and Carrot Cupcakes.  The first one was a vanilla cupcake from the Gluten-free Almond flour cookbook.  I don't know what I did wrong but I took one bite and then proceeded to throw them in the trash.  It was sad.  Such a waste.  ugh.   So then I went to try another recipe from Country Living.  March issue. They were called Carrot Cupcakes.  And let me tell ya,  they were so so good.  Its always nice to have a success after a flop. I didn't even put frosting on them and they were just amazing.  Moist, fluffy, smooth, spicy, sweet, textured, and somewhat healthyish.  I mean after all, they do have raisins, nuts and carrots in them. :)

They were so moist and tasty. Pretty much carrot cake in
cupcake form.



great texture

Cake # 19 was also a success and quite yummy.  It was from the Moosewood cookbook again.  I like her cookbook a lot.  Fun and different food with quite a lot of healthy stuff.  Yes the cake had a pound of butter in it and two cups of sugar but other then that it was good for you.  Ha. ;)  I know it wasn't good for you but can we just pretend.  At least it is home made and has only quality ingredients with no preservatives.  And it was organic spelt instead of white flour and organic free range eggs from my chickens and organic sugar.  So thats gotta count for something.  I'm bringing it to my health food home group tonight.  Along with a plate of sliced red peppers and hummus.  Balance is the key.  lol.  By the way,  I reduced the sugar to two cups instead of three and it was still quite sweet and tasty.  I almost always cut my sugar in recipes and they seem to be fine.  Also, this was made in a bundt pan too. :)  I guess I do make them a lot. 


Cooks for over and hour till quite golden brownish but
surprisingly moist and perfectly done.




We ate it with fresh berries and creme fraiche.
Oh so good.




I know I'm a terrible photographer


If you like interesting, different, healthy food and want to try some new things you should get the Moosewood Cookbook.  You will like it. :)

I think this gets me up to date minus one cake for this week.  The pound cake was actually counting for last week.  I can do that.  I'm in charge.  If you want any recipes let me know.  You can obviously find a couple of them in the Moosewood and one in April and one in March editions of Country Living.  As for the mystery bundt cake, I don't know what to tell you.  Make a bundt cake. :)

Hope you are all happy and healthy and eating cake.

Yummy cheese cake (#13)

Two weeks behind again but such is life.  If something fun becomes a chore well then its just not fun anymore.  So forgive me in advance but I think this may be an ongoing problem for the rest of the year.  Baking the cake is the fun easy part and I have made at least 3 since I last wrote.  The first of them being an amazing cheese cake.  Charis got me thinking about them so I just had to bake one.  I will for sure make this one again and again.  It was perfect and actually quite easy.  My computer is still down and I'm still on my friends little guy so I can't download the pictures and show you how pretty it was.  But I will in about a week.  My handy man dad is coming for a visit and is going to fix our sad computer.  I love my daddy.  He's the best.  He can do it all.  When I was in high school I wrote a paper called the Handy Man.  It was about my amazing father.  I got an At on it. 
My dear husband is not super handy when it comes to fixing things.  But it is so funny every time he fixes something around here he says he "Tedded it."  My dads name is Ted. 

I have been having some health issues lately and feeling like I am going to have to make some pretty significant changes in our eating around here so I don't know how this cake thing is going to turn out.  I really want to keep it up so what may have to happen is that I will have to get really creative and experiment with making healthy cake.  Not sure there is really such a thing as that on a weekly basis but I just have to try.  I mean I know there is yummy healthy cakes but I can't imagine I could find enough recipes to make it through a year.   I may just have to give a lot cake away.  I just love baking and love baking cake.  They make me happy.  They celebrate life.  They look pretty.  They taste oh so good. :)
So I will see what becomes of this all.  I don't think I'm supposed to stop making my cakes.   That makes me feel sad.
So give it up for this glorious cheesecake. 
Marble Cheesecake:
crust-
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbl melted butter
mix this all together and press down in the bottom of
a 9" spring form pan.

4 packages (8oz. each) cream cheese softened
2 tsp. vanilla
1&1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 squares melted chocolate.  unsweet

In your kitchenAid mix all the above ingredients minus the chocolate.
After it is mixed, take out about half of it and place in a separate bowl.
Add the melted chocolate to one of the bowls of cheesecake mixture.
Then alternately drop spoonfuls of each into the pan. 

This really turned out great.  It was not too sweet at all.  It was a perfect consistency and texture.
I just loved it.  It didn't look as pretty as the one in the book but it was great. :)  I will post pics next week.  Promise. 
And if you don't have chocolate, like I didn't, I used a bit of regular dark chocolate and then a bit of cocoa powder and butter.  I just melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan, added some cocoa powder and a square of dark chocolate and it worked perfect.  I just improvise when I need to. 

I forgot to tell you to bake it at 325 for about one 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I think mine took a bit less but not much.  It got pretty golden brownish on top too.  And the sides kind of puffed up and it looked a little funny.  It looked home made.  I seriously don't know how they get them all flat and perfect looking. 

#12 Yellow cupcakes with butter cream frosting

This past week  I was supposed to make the winner of the cake drawing their favorite cake.  Well that was super easy since Suzanne won and her favorite was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.   So I made her my favorite which is Pioneer womans chocolate sheet cake.  I hope you liked it Suzanne. :)
And I'm obviously not going to give you all that recipe since I have already told you about that cake before.
It also took me all week to get it to her.  This past week just felt crazy.  I have seemed to have a lot of crazy weeks lately.  I always start out with mellow expectations but some how seem to pile on the chaos and before I know it I barely have time to breathe.  Does anybody else have this problem.  Seriously I don't quite know how to juggle it all.  Maybe I just need to realize that this is just life with a husband and four kids, a home to care for and clean, laundry to wash to fold, (and sometimes put away,) home school 3 kids, care for animals, go to mom's group, drive to ballet, soccer, play practice, and cook 3 meals a day.  And those are just to name a few.  I love it all, don't get me wrong.  It's just a lot some times.  And that's not factoring in the things that really matter.  That would be relationship with one another and friendship.  These are my favorite things.  People are my favorite I should say.  I could ditch all of it and just do people things.  I love playing with my kids and going places together.  I love quality time with my husband.  I love being with girl friends and talking about life and cooking together.  These are the things that fill my love bucket.  I wish cobwebs didn't form on my ceiling or dust on my furniture.  Then I would have more time for all the stuff that makes life rich.  Cob-webs are not my friend. 
So speaking of friends, a couple weeks ago I made cupcakes to take over to my dear friends house along with another friend and we had a great meal together, let the kids run and play and then let them decorate
yummy cupcakes with frosting and a plethora of sprinkles.  It was happy.
Here is the recipe.
350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. 
Honestly just test them with a tooth pick to make sure.
I can't remember how long they took.  It was  a cake recipe I made
into cupcakes instead.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Frosting:  I always kind of wing it with this frosting.  I'm a wing it kind of baker.
I know this is bad but I just do it anyway.  :)  It's one of my flaws. Other than that I'm almost
perfect.  Ha.
One stick of butter melted
1 to 2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups of powdered sugar
2 or 3 Tbs. milk
Just fiddle with it till you get what you like.  Hows that for perfection.

Banana cake with Strawberries and chocolate (#11)

Oh my goodness,  I am two weeks behind in my blogging.  I'm sure you've all just been dying for the latest cake recipe.  Now I have to catch up while Juby is sleeping.  Let me tell you this is not my fault.  My computer has crashed.  It is full of demonic viruses.  Seriously,  I am not kidding you.  One time I turned it on and it growled at me.  It was kind of crazy.  And before it crashed I couldn't even get this blog spot to work.  I'm now thinking it was because of the viruses.  Computers drive me a bit nutty.  I love and hate them at the same time.  So now I am on my friends tiny little lap top and I keep messing up because I'm not used to typing on it. :)  But oh so thankful for her letting us use it until she gets back from a far off land.  Thanks AmyBeth. 
Well just so you know I am not giving up on my 52 weeks of cake making.  I bake at least two cakes a week.  And believe me my middle is starting show it.  Summer is coming and I really better start to do something about it.  So tomorrow I will start. :)  Actually a friend is going to come over and we are going to exercise.  Woohoo! 
Suzanne won the cake drawing from a couple of weeks ago and I finally got her a chocolate cake this weekend.  I loved making a cake for someone else.  I really needed to not eat a cake this past week also.   I think I might keep doing this for the sake of my belly and my dear husbands belly.  But also it was just fun to make something for someone else.  So you may just randomly receive a cake from me. 
Now for the last cake recipe.  Goodness which one was it?  I'm pretty sure it was the Banana cake with strawberries and chocolate.  I loved it.  Oh it was really yummy.  Here is the recipe. 

2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 bananas
2/3 cup milk
Bake at 350 in two round cake pans (greased) for about 30 minutes.
Let cool and then layer strawberries in the middle of them and on top.
Drizzle warm chocolate frosting in middle and on top.
I used spelt and whole wheat and regular flour
I used organic sugar and raw sugar and organic brown sugar
I used coconut oil instead of butter.  I think you can pretty much do what you want.

Warm chocolate frosting to drizzle or to pour heavily upon it. :)
1 1/2 sticks of butter heated in sauce pan
3 to 4 heaping Tbs. of cocoa powder
4 Tbs. of milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 of a pound of powdered sugar (approximately)
This will be thickish but very pourable still and warm.  You can
fiddle with the sugar to get the consistency you want.
Sorry I don't have pictures for the past few cakes.  This again is the computers fault. 
As soon as I get it working I will go back and post pics.  You'll want to see this one for sure. 

Orange Apricot Chiffon Cake (#10)

I just can't seem to keep up on this blog.  I don't fear making a cake every week for the rest of the year but sitting down to tell you about it may just prove to be a whole other story.
I have decided that home-schooling and having a toddler is quite the challenge.  There is always, always something to be done around here and there is almost always some one needing something from me.  At the moment two little people are outside, one is playing down stairs and the littlest of them all is asleep.  I am not going to look behind me at the mountain of laundry for the next little while so I can escape for a few minutes to cake land.  Oh that would be a happy place indeed. 

 Last week I asked you on Facebook to choose between two cakes and I went with the Orange Apricot Chiffon.  It was super yummy.  It once again came out a lot more like the texture of a banana nut bread. Or something of the sort.  It was dense and hearty.  I have determined that trying to bake healthier cake with whole wheat flour is just going to have that effect.  But it was still really good and super moist.  It has a bazillion eggs in it.
I even had to send Mark to the store half way though the process to get more eggs.  This cake has a wonderful citrus flavor and topped with a little chocolate sauce made it more dessertish.  I really like chocolate and orange/apricot flavor together.  Oh yum.  But I also loved the cake just plain. 

This week I am going to give a cake away to one of you.  Just answer this question in the comment area and I will randomly select a winner and bring you a cake.  So sorry for those of you out of town.  I just can't drive that far.  
Tell me what is your favorite cake? 

Recipe for Chiffon cake: preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in a tube pan.
This cake is kind of a doozy to make so don't just try to whip it up if you don't have time.
2 medium size oranges
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 &1/4 cup flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
4 lg. egg yolks
8 xtr. lg. egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Prepare tube pan by cutting out a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan.
2. Grate off the orange peel with a zester or fine grater. Place in a bowl and set aside.
3. Squeeze the juice from the oranges into a small sauce pan and simmer on low to reduce the juice to
    two tablespoons. 
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the water, oil, vanilla, orange peel and two tbs. juice.
5. Sift together the flour and baking powder in large mixer.
6. Add salt, and the first two sugars.  Not the last 1/4 cup. yet.
7. Add the water mixture and dried apricots and egg yolks to flour and blend with a spatula.
8. Place egg whites in a separate mixer and beat on high till frothy.
    Add the cream of tartar and beat.  Slowly add the 1/4 cup brown sugar.
9. Beat till glossy and firm but not stiff peaks.
10. Transfer to prepared tube pan and bake for about an hour.  Or until tooth pick comes out clean.
11. When you take it out of the oven you should invert it over a bottle or some how put it upside down so that the cake does not turn in on itself.  My cake was plenty firm and did not do this and I actually removed it from the pan right away.  My tube pan is in two separate pieces so it makes it easier to do. 

Well, there you go.  Orange Apricot Chiffon Cake. I told you it was a doozy.  I also said I was going to bake the mocha angel food cake this week and I ended up making some thing different.  I will tell you about it later.  It was really good though.  :)  Happy cake baking.