A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Fruit Cake IS Good...if you do it right

All my life I've thought fruit cake, even my cake baker Mother's, was the nastiest food on the planet.  It's dry, it's got GREEN pineapple in it, poisonous maraschino cherries (okay, just because they're approved by the FDA doesn't convince me that soaking cherries in formaldehyde, and then recoloring them with red dye and chemical flavors, makes for something good for the body), it's dry, it's tasteless, it's dry... well, you get the idea. You've all been tricked into taking a bite of the stuff at least once in your life. And I bet your swore off it too.

When I started blogging I noticed that all the English bloggers got all excited and into Christmas Cake each October/November and spent the next couple of months "feeding", nurturing, and dreaming out loud of their Christmas cakes.  I wondered what this wondrous stuff was.  I mean, come on, I grew up in a cake decorator's household and grew up to be a baker for a while too.  Was there possibly some divine cake I'd never heard of or made myself?  I looked more closely at those cakes on those blogs and was shocked, shocked I tell you!, to see that Christmas Cake was that other awful "F" word--Fruit Cake!!!

At first I thought it must be the seventh sign of the Apocalypse that a whole country would enjoy making AND EATING such a repulsive cake but then I started looking at the recipes and methods more closely and saw my favorite "B" word, as in "booze".  It was my Oprah "AHA" moment heard 'round my house!  The answer to good fruit cake was laid out in front of my eyes.  Our Puritan forefathers had obviously screwed the pooch on this one when they denied me alcohol in my fruit cake.

Okay, seriously, I think part of my problem with fruit cake is that I always expected fruit cake to be  "cake" and to Americans, cake is light and fluffy. I think it should be called "Fruit Bread"  because, honestly, it's much more of a fruited bread in texture and density than it is a cake, although the cake designation may come from the idea that a lot of non-Americans bake theirs in round cake tins, where we're used to the long square log of nasty.  So once I wrapped my head around the idea that it's really a bread, then I took the recipes that I'd been playing with this summer and combined them with my own baking knowledge to come up with my personal fruit cake/bread recipe that not only tastes great but doesn't require a cup of coffee or tea to wash down the sawdust aftertaste. It comes out a dense, moist bread with a sugary, fruity taste and a pop of smokiness from the whiskey.   It's good straight out of the oven but really something special after being fed for a month or two.  Give this one a try and you might change your mind about fruit cake like I did.

Halloween! Holli's "Twilight" Birthday Cake

Cake decorating is one of my favorite food arts but because it's so tough on one's hands, I only do it for family these days, specifically for our nieces and nephews. The rule is that for their birthday I'll make anything they want.  One year, Sydney wanted a butterfly. Check.  Boy Jordan wanted an Eric Carr (the fox) from KISS cake. Check.  Girl Jordan wanted a car cake. Check, although it was made from rice krispie treats rather than cake which added to it's value in her eyes.  Holli's birthday falls the week before Halloween so her request was doubly appropriate for both the holiday and the latest vampire craze.  She asked for a Twilight-themed cake.  On the inside is a cherry chip (family favorite) cake torted into five layers with homemade buttercream between each. The covering is black marshmallow fondant (I think it looks like leather).  Everything on the cake is made from sugar with the exceptions of the apple and the ribbon.

Not having read the books, I didn't know what the icons all stand for but Wednesday night at work Carissa and I did a quick google and found that the apple represents man's (and vampires') free agency: the choice between good and evil, innocence and corruption.  The red and white flower is for purity stained by blood.  The chess pieces we found nothing on but it seems pretty obvious that the king represents the vampire and the pawn represents humans in their eyes.

Fun cake. I had a great time putting it together.  Happy Birthday, Holli!

For the recipes and tips on cakes, see my prior cake posts:

Marhsmallow fondant recipe:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/day_1_the_cake_.html

Sculpting a truck cake for Isaac and tips on stacking cakes:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/day_1_the_cake__1.html

The finished truck cake and Jordan's retro black and white cake:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/day_0the_cakes_.html

 

Great Potluck Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownies

 

(For you, Barb!)

This is one of those great potluck recipes where you can keep the main ingredients in the pantry on hand for any time you need it.  It's basically Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, a church basement recipe made from a cake mix and a few things from the fridge, quick and easy. I took it last night to work for our going away party for Tom and ended up not only sharing it with the dept but we had one mom in Peds who'd had a really looooooong week with her sick child so after he went to sleep I snuck her in a small plate with a large square of this and whispered "Better than valium" as I handed it to her.

The Jordan, Jordan, and Sydney Birthday Show

  

Last weekend we had a summer family birthday extravaganza of sorts. Since (boy) Jordan, Sydney, and (girl) Jordan's birthdays are all at the beginning, middle, and end of summer, and they all wanted to go to Incredible Pizza even though they're teenagers...we made it a mini blow out. 

The funniest thing to me was that when I said to the gal attending our party room "You don't seem fazed by the fact that they're all teenagers" she replied "Oh we get teens all the time. Adults too. Right before you in this room was a 40 year old's birthday party."  Now I feel ripped off. I told Gene last January I wanted to go to Incredible Pizza for my 44th birthday and he thought I was nuts.  Pizza, cake, ice crea, video games, putt-putt....come on! Who wouldn't have fun with that as their party?  So for my 45th, Gene....

Jordan's Flowers in the Making

 

For full tutorials, search "gumpaste flowers" at www.youtube.com.  There are some really nice videos up with step by step instructions.

Flowers like the roses and calla lilies I used for Jordan's cake start with a gumpaste center that is dried overnight and then petals added around it.  For roses, I like to complete one layer a day and let the previous layer dry, if I have the time.

Like buttercream drop flowers, gumpaste drop flowers are simple cutouts with dragee centers, great for fillers or to add a touch of whimsy to cupcakes.

A few pics of the process: 

Niece Jordan's Birthday Party

 

It might seem a little odd that most of the family parties are at my house but I think it's about me being the oldest of our five kids and our mom having passed away 20 years ago. I've become the matriarch of my little family, sort of Grandma by Proxy.  So for many years, the niece and nephews have all expected to have their birthday parties at "Aunt Gonnie's". 

Since I make the cakes and do most of the cooking, it's very convenient for me.  I've always felt a little guilty that I'm the one who learned to cook but, being the oldest, I was the sergeant-at-arms in my mother's kitchen for as long as I can remember, and my little sister, Jordan's mom, being six years younger was mostly kicked out to go play.  Lucky her in ways!  Not that she's a bad cook, she just didn't get the same experience I did in the large family/trial by fire way I did.

  

Jordan requested her menu, which is our tradition, Ziti "with pepperoni" and "strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream and blue roses".  I can dig it.  Ever since Jordan was a toddler her favorite meal has been spaghetti but as she's gotten older she's added the spicy pungency of pepperoni to her favorites and strawberry cake has won her heart since she was a baby.  That I bought strawberry cheesecake ice cream to go with it was like a strawberry sugar nirvana shared by all.

The menu board to the left is a little freebie bank whiteboard give-away we got years ago that's always been my little party cheat sheet. It's on the fridge so that I, and anyone in the kitchen helping me, can consult to avoid the common after dinner "Oh crap! We forgot the ___" moment.

 

I'll give the recipe below. We found the Ziti with Pepperoni to be an excellent choice for a crowd, easy to prepare in advance and a hit with everyone. 

It is also my entry in this week's Presto Pasta Nights, created by wonderful Ruth at Once Upon a Feastand hosted this week by Sara of I'm a Food Blog .  On Friday of this coming week, be sure to stop by to see all the pasta doings going on.

Additionally on the menu:

 

Basic spring salad of leaf lettuces, chunked zucchini, celery, spring onions, tomatoes, shredded carrots, and edible flowers from the garden:  Sweet William and Purslane.

Accompanying the salad was a host of bottled dressings for the timid and a home-made lemon vinaigrette for Auntie Miranda and I, made from lemon balm and parsley fresh from the garden.  The recipe for this also, is below.

Later this week a post a few pics of the "garden", not traditional rows or square foot, my garden is a fairly ambitious collection of pots on the back porch...I'll also write a separate post on the cake with more behind the scenes pics of making the gumpaste flowers.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, vivacious, growing-up-way-too-fast, fabulous niece, Jordan!

Night Shift Cake: The Rest of the Story

 

Perhaps not nearly as attractive to show you the guts, so to speak, of the caramel apple cake but I wanted to show just how moist the recipe can be if the cake isn't overbaked. And of course, the marshmallow fondant covering it and protecting it from drying out didn't hurt either.

Here's Chris being an adorable dork demonstrating for you, my readers,  just how moist and tasty the cake was:

 

Somehow sometime around eating all the yummy Mexican food and snarfing up cake, we also found time to give some treatments and run some vents! What a great night!

In Honor of March and April Birthdays on the Night Shift

In honor of March and April birthdays on my shift, we're having a pot luck celebration for "lunch" @ 0100, which is "too damn much in the middle of the night" for you day shifters.  But for us it will be a nice break in the night. 

Obviously, I chose to make cake: Caramel Apple Cake. What's a birthday without cake?

Everything on the cake is edible from the sugar pearl dragees to the gumpaste calla lilies with their edible glitter and the marshmallow fondant covering.

Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake Recipe (Pictures and Recipe Re-post)

 

I couldn't wait for Easter. I made the cake again last night and we all loved it. Jordan took a plateful back home to her mom and sisters and it was a big hit there too.  Yum!  It's a very rich, moist, what I call snack-type cake, that's a cross between a cake and a bar-type dessert. 

Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake

recipe by Paula Deen, perverted by Glenna Anderson Muse

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix with a hand mixer and pat into the bottom of a oiled 9"x13" baking pan:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker mixes when I use mixes)

1 Martha White Banana Nut muffin mix

2 egg (if using medium eggs instead of extra large, add 1/3 cup water)

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

(Mix will be very thick)

On top of cake layer, mix filling with a hand mixer and spread on top:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 overripe banana

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

16 oz box powdered sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick--hey, it's Paula Deen!)

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is lightly browned and internal temp of filling is 140 degrees (eggs set at 140 degrees) with a meat thermometer.  Top will still be jiggly but not runny.  The cream cheese/ egg layer will thicken as the cake cools. 

 

I Must Confess to Cleanse My Soul (Banana Cake Recipe)

I, Glenna Muse, confess that I baked a cake and it wasn't from scratch.  OH NO! I can hear the screams now...but before you run off to crazytown and vow to never read me again, at least listen to my excuse: I was siiiiiiiiiiiiick.  I'm always sick these days. It's been a rough winter.  But that's not the point. The point is the cake was gooooooooood.  Very good according to the folks at Prime--a big howdy to the parts and shop folks!  My favorite quote Kenneth sent back to me was the person who said about the cake "Not big enough.  Need more."  Now THAT'S a review I'll listen to.

There are two punchlines. I forgot to take pictures and Gene and I didn't get to taste it so all I know is Kenneth was happy with his cake and he was asked by a few people for the recipe. (I'm making it again for the family Easter party so I'll have pics in a few weeks.)

Let me back up and tell the tale.  My little brother (who's now 36 but will forever be 12 in my mind) had a friend named Mark who passed away recently in a motorcycle accident. Mark was a great guy and everyone has a friend like him.  He's that daring fool stuffed full of fun that everyone adores and doesn't want to live without  but you wanted to smack him sometimes and say "Dude, what were you thinking?!" That's Mark, and he will be greatly missed.

When Mark died, Kenneth took some days off work to help Mark's family with the arrangements and he asked me to bake a cake as a way to say thank you to his co-workers for their support. I liked both Mark and Kenneth's friends at work so I wanted to do something special but I wasn't physically up to a big cake decorating marathon or a long day in the kitchen. 

Hmmmmm....I needed something that would be very yummy without being super labor-intensive.  I thought of Paula Deen and her Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes, always a hit at my house and the chocolate version is my favorite brownie recipe.  And hey, I don't even like chocolate that much so you know it's good!

I went to the internet and found Paula's basic recipe and a few hints on how to dress it up in different flavors.  Taking that base, and what I rummaged through my pantry and the fresh fruit I had on hand, I created my own version which I'm calling: Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake.  (Wonder if either one of them will come after me for that one? hehehe)

Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake

recipe by Paula Deen, perverted by Glenna Anderson Muse

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix with a hand mixer and pat into the bottom of a oiled 9"x13" baking pan:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker mixes when I use mixes)

1 Martha White Banana Nut muffin mix

2 egg

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

(Mix will be very thick)

On top of cake layer, mix filling with a hand mixer and spread on top:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 overripe banana

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

16 oz box powdered sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick--hey, it's Paula Deen!)

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is lightly browned and internal temp of filling is 140 degrees (eggs set at 140 degrees) with a meat thermometer.  Top will still be jiggly but not runny.  The cream cheese/ egg layer will thicken as the cake cools.