CreativeSpace

an imperfect cake

It took me a long time to get this picture, mostly because I kept trying for a "perfect" shot. The truth was that this cake was imperfect all the way around from its uneven layers to the over-whipped whipped cream and sporadic jam smears. The point of my baking endeavor was to make something new and spectacular looking in honor of my mum's visit. Mission accomplished despite the fact that it lacked all of Martha's precision. Yes, this was a Martha Stewart recipe.

You can see the entire recipe in all its perfect glory here. It's also featured in the latest issue of Martha Living as part of their Once Upon a Baby Shower. 

The good news about the cake was that it tasted very, very good. The cake was spongy and absorbed the jam but not enough that it became soggy. The subtle spices of the cake were only enhanced by the tart-sweetness of the blackberry jam, and the marscarpone-whipped cream icing was a revelation. Who knew that marscarpone was excellent in icing? Anyone?

Of course, I learned several valuable cake lessons. Next time I will allow the marscarpone to warm slightly on the counter before trying to whip it into submission. I'll also pay closer attention to whipping the cream instead of trying to multi-task (uh, trying to keep Little Bear from sticking her entire hand into the jam jar) and allowing it to get halfway to being butter.

Nor will I question Martha's (or her minion's) measurement of jam. It looked excessive when spread on the cake layers, but the extra was absorbed and the deep purple gooeyness that dribbled down the sides was lovely to watch.

And lastly, I won't freeze the layers before cutting them in half. This was a huge DUH! on my part. Chilling the cake layers made icing a breeze, but I didn't consider having to cut them in that state. I actually wished for a chainsaw at the time, and as I rassled the layers I had bagel flashbacks. (A time when I sliced through my finger with the serrated knife.) Ok, I've actually had that bagel slicing problem several times, to the point where The Husband will only buy my bagels pre-sliced.

The best part of having cake was serving and eating it, of course. I sat the cake on the buffet during dinner, and the dog spent a long time gazing at it. Which I took to mean that it was a damn fine cake, flaws and all. Sorry, no scraps for you, dude.

 

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day and is recovering nicely. I needed an entire day just to get over my mother leaving. (sob!)

 

the mash-up post

Today's post was intended for this:

 

I pieced together quilt squares from my Grammy Stash to make curtain ties. Now the summation of my knowledge of quilting would fill a cat's thimble (ie. a really teeny tiny bit). In fact, I can summarize all my quilting know-how in the following statement: it's like making a fabric sandwich. Ta-da! as Little Bear would say. Since I don't know anything, I began with piecing some squares.

There aren't any pictures (yet) of my collection of quilt squares, but permit me a one word description; Voluminous. I have several shoe boxes of cut fabric from both great-grandmothers and my Grammy. There are 2x2 squares, 4x4, and 6x6, hexagons and circles. And there's A LOT of ugly fabric in those boxes. Enough that I worry about what these ladies were wearing back in the day. Maybe the fabric was given to them by well-meaning friends...that's what I tell myself. 

Little Bear loves the ties as well. So much so that she just pulled the entire curtain rod to the floor. "Uh-oh," she says. "Mom, break!"

Even though my post was reserved for quilting, I got distracted at breakfast by A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, a writer so skilled that he requires two middle names. I'm not typically a fan of the high fantasy genre in general, but this book hooked me from the first three pages. (I was giving it a twenty page head start before I decided if I liked it or not.) It's not so fantastical that the magic (there's only a little bit so far) or foreign words pull me out of the story, and the characters are full and vibrant.

I've been reading at lunch sometimes and right before I go to bed which causes me to wake up in the middle of the night to roil about the many intrigues of the book. I'm so close to the end that I gave myself fifteen minutes of reading time after breakfast. (If I don't set a timer I'll spend the entire day reading and the house and bear will run amok.) In that short time one of my favorite characters died. I was in shock, followed by a short bout of crying over my coffee cup. Thankfully The Husband had already left for work, so he couldn't tease me about it.

I warned him that the series (it's a trilogy) had a huge following, but he went into work and made the comment about his wife "being into that nerd stuff." Three of his co-workers spoke up and told him that they were big fans and had read all the books. Ha! The Husband was pretty embarrassed and stammered out a confession of liking Lord of the Rings. Point to the nerds.

The difference between The Husband and I is that I wear my nerd badge with pride. I openly profess my love of space and knights and comics while he considers himself "the cool one."  But we both know the truth.

Last but not least, I sneaked a peek at the royal wedding shenanigans going on and watched Princess Kate and Prince William share a chaste kiss on the balcony. Much to my surprise I got a gushy feeling at the modern fairytale. (I choose to ignore the over-exposure, souvenirs, etc.) I guess we're never too old to love a prince and princess, although I prefer my princesses with swords. Gah, it appalls me that I possess such a sentiment and goes against my general fight the power attitude in life. Oh well, we all have our dark sides.

giving great gifts

I was unexpectedly invited to a baby shower next week, and although I was delighted to be included, I couldn't squeeze in another long road trip to help the expectant mother celebrate. We were almost to our move date, and there was still plenty of packing to accomplish. The next two weeks will afford me little time to craft and create (as evidenced by my lack of blogging last week) and most of my sewing and crafting paraphernalia are stowed away in boxes. So I decided to order her present online and went to RedEnvelope.

I've ordered from them in the past, and lucky for me, have been on the receiving end as well. A dear friend sent me a similar cherry blossom candle that I loved so much that I was afraid to burn it. Since they've recently expanded their baby line, it was easy to find a unique baby gift for the mama-to-be.

I thought these cupcake onesies were the cutest things, and while poking around, I decided to buy a set of photo albums for myself. They're divided by milestones; 0-3 months, 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12.

I probably have 500 pictures of Little Bear's first year of life, and someone suggested to me months ago that I should take care to fill my albums now before Little Bear goes off to college and I'm wondering, "now where did I put those pictures?"

One thing led to another, and I decided that a hummingbird feeder wouldn't go amiss at our new house either.

Made from recycled glass, these feeders are hand-blown. (Two things that will go a long way towards assuaging my conscience.) I know, I know...I should be throwing out--not acquiring more. But really, how could I resist?

 

little bear has a birthday

Little Bear had a birthday recently, and my generous sis-in-law, the Mom Planning Parties, offered to plan it. My original idea was rather vague. She asked me about it months and months ago, and I stammered something about a homemade cake plunked down in front of the bear with a sprinkling of family in attendance. That was the best I could do at the time. Incredibly underwhelmed, aren't we? Yet the sis-in-law's take on a birthday celebration was an entirely different story. And thank goodness for that.

Leslie is thinking of becoming a party planner full-time, so she has committed to planning a party every month for a year to see if it's a career she would like to pursue. I lucked out, because she chose me to be a guinea pig and planned Little Bear's festivities. She took my feeble cake idea and turned it into a fun yet kid-friendly party along the theme of vintage barnyard. Little Bear's cousins attended, all three of them, and hilarity ensued. Everything from the food presentation to the decorations was charming, tasty, and clever. It was a wonderful experience despite my cooking until the last minute and drafting my mother and random party guests as my prep cooks. (It's amazing what people will agree to do when you're holding a large chef's knife in your hand.)

The only thing that was missing was a bear warning. If you've ever hiked a trail through the wilderness then you've probably seen warnings posted at the trailhead. Usually they advise you to keep your food tightly sealed and not to leave any trash anywhere to keep the bears from hanging out along the trail. I should have posted a big sign on the door about bear rassling. Not that party-goers shouldn't rassle bears but that an attendee might be rassled BY the bear. The star of the party happened to be a spontaneous wrestler when the spirit moved her. Maybe I should have taped a sign to the door that said, BRACE YOURSELVES.

Little Bear doesn't mean it maliciously. It's the bear way of hugging, and in bear culture, pulling the ones we love down onto the floor (with or without their consent) is how you say I Love You. It starts innocently enough. She puts an arm around their neck, and for a moment they think she's going to hug them. And who doesn't want a hug from a cute bear? Then they start feeling the pressure and suddenly lose their balance. Next thing they know they're prostrate on the floor, and a good-sized Little Bear is lying on top of them. She doesn't bite or growl or squirm. She just lies there on top of her victim, er, cousin. Next comes wailing (from the unwilling participant), and we peel off Little Bear and go to the steps for another talk about how "we don't take down the ones we love."

She has tried this maneuver at school. She loves watching the babies in class, and the first time she tried to pull a teetering little boy to the floor, I prayed it was a fluke. After all, babies are easy to tip when they're learning to stand. Surely it was an accident, I thought. Then she tried her now signature move on a three-year-old. One minute they were playing companionably on the balance beam and the next they were on the ground with the little girl on her back kicking as Little Bear tried to shimmy her way up the little girl's legs. Eyes wide she shrieked, "WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO DO?!?!"

Um...yeah. That's kind of hard to explain. Try to see it as a compliment. She likes you in what could be interpreted as an aggressive way, but really it's a good thing. It's just a big bear hug but on the ground. It's all about perspective. Just go with it. Breathe through the pressure of having your internal organs smashed. It will all be over in a second. I promise.

If you'd like to see the nitty-gritty details of the party from the party planner's perspective, head over to my sister-in-law's blog, Pampers, Play Dates and Parties. She'll be posting all this week about everything that went into throwing a fantastic celebration.

I heart coconut cake

Happy Valentine's Day, my creative lovelies! This cake wasn't part of our V-Day festivities (nor is it red), but since it was something I loved I decided to post about it. This was Little Bear's birthday cake, but I'll say more about the actual celebration tomorrow. Today is all about love, and although I love the bear to pieces, her birthday adventures will have to wait.

First, the cake...

This turned out to be an excellent cake, and although the icing color was an accident, I was pleased with the final result. Truth be told I broke a cardinal rule and experimented on company. My gamble paid off, and I have the wonderful leftovers as evidence of my savory victory. The cake has a moist crumb, and the cream cheese icing provides just enough tang to balance the sweet of the coconut. Just thinking about it makes me want to cut another slice.

I was mid-recipe and beginning to whip the egg whites into a stiff frenzy when The Husband strolled into the kitchen (always a risky endeavor right before a party) and asked, "Does Little Bear even like coconut?" I replied, "I doubt she even knows what it is. We're not talking about a sophisticated palate here. Just yesterday I caught her snacking on a piece of dog kibble. How could she dislike coconut after that?" Most of the time if you ask a two-year-old if they like something, they'll say "no!" even if it's their most favorite thing in all the world. I wasn't going to ask Little Bear's opinion about the cake, and if she hated it and was horrified that I had made it for her...well, she could save it for future discussions with her therapist.

My sis-in-law generously donated her talents to plan the party, and when we discussed the cake she requested a beige or brown color for the icing. Well, hmmmmm....I thought. Icing has always been my achilles heel, and I knew that beige/brown icing was waaaaaaay beyond my meager abilities. If I wasn't a procrastinator or if I was born Martha Stewart with a hundred baking minions at my disposal, I would have worked weeks ahead and experimented with food coloring until I got the correct tint. Alas, I am neither of those people and it was the eleventh hour, and I was down to the wire. Light blue icing was it! Funny, I added purple food gel to get it. The small portion of icing that I did experiment with turned a hideous Dr. Seuss shade of puce that no one in their right mind would have touched, not even the dog. Like I said, I have almost no talent in the icing category.

You can find the cake and icing recipe here. I baked the cake in three 8-inch layers and decreased the baking time by ten minutes. One of the recipe commentators mentioned this, but I'll say it again. Whenever you use Coco Lopez cream of coconut, mix it well before measuring it into the recipe. Cream of coconut separates in the can, so stir it vigorously. And last but not least, make sure that your butter and cream cheese are room temperature before mixing up the icing. Cream them together first to make sure that all the lumps are smoothed out before adding the rest of the ingredients.

(And if you know how to make beige icing, help a girl out and leave it in the comments.)