Alas...

Due to work constraints I wasn't able to make the coconut butter thins, but hopefully I'll get to enjoy their tastiness later.

In the meantime, please watch the best commerical EVAR! (especially since Duke lost)



(for those who don't rabidly follow college basketball, from L to R that's UNC coach Roy Williams (yay!), Louisville coach Rick Pitino, former coach Bobby Knight and Duke coach Krazywisky, aka Rat-face)

TWD - Blueberry Crumb Cake

Chosen by Sihan of Befuddlement, this week's Blueberry Crumb Cake was a hit, especially in the category of the not too-sweet sweet. I'm glad that I got to use some of my frozen blueberries - I keep forgetting they're in the freezer. With the flour to help bind them in the batter, the amount of berries in the cake is just right. The crumb topping I might play around with more if I choose to make this again; I got a big pool of butter and I noticed others had the same result as well. It also ended up in giant chunks that would break off and then leave the rest of the piece without crumb topping :(.

I also need to find a pan that's actually 8x8 or 9x9...this one is definitely just a little small:


The recipe can be found on Sihan's blog and check the blogroll for everyone else's results.

TWD - French Yogurt Cake w/ Marmelade Glaze

For this week, Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction chose Dorie's French Yogurt Cake with Marmelade Glaze. I've been looking forward to making this recipe for a while and it did not disappoint. This is definitely one of the ones you can decide to make semi-spur of the moment and you will likely have all the ingredients on hand for it - I didn't even have to make a run to the grocery store for this cake. I also got a chance to use some of the farm fresh eggs that a friend of a friend gave us; they're so much prettier than regular white eggs!


The batter for the cake was a breeze to put together, except I wasn't paying attention and added the oil with the other wet ingredients rather than waiting til after I added the dry ones. Fortunately it seems like everything worked out OK. In my oven, which I think usually runs a little warm, this took the whole 55 minutes to get done on the inside. The outside, however, was a bit more colored and the sides were slightly more crispy than I would like but it doesn't really affect the taste. I might try this in some of my smaller loaf pans when I next bake it (because I really want to try the Riviera version) and hopefully that will help with the brownness.

I used orange marmelade with a little lemon juice added (saw someone did that in the Ps and Qs), but I'm actually not that crazy about it. I've got some lemon curd too and that is just scrumdidliumptious on the cake. I should not keep jars of lemon curd in my house.


Anyway, thanks to Liliana for a great recipe. Stop by the TWD website to see what everyone else ended up with.

PS - I have had a new food blog addiction for this past week: Alinea at Home, by a lady in DC. She had previously cooked through the French Laundry at Home and is now taking on Grant Achatz's Alinea cookbook. It's great reading to see a normal person tackle molecular gastronomy.

No TWD for me this week....

With all the sledding and playing in the snow I had to do yesterday and the fact that I'm working a double today, I chose not to take on the Chocolate Armagnac cake chosen as this week's recipe by Lyb of And then I do the dishes. (no offense!)

I'll be back in action next week for the Lemon Cup custards, so be sure to stop by.

Bruno says hi!

TWD - Caramel Crunch Bars

This week's recipe was chosen by Whitney of What's Left on the Table (haha in my house, not much). Great call...these bars are sweet enough to satisfy any sweet tooth but have enough saltiness from the toffee as well as the instant coffee that it's not overly sweet.

I chose to make a half recipe in an 8x8 pan...honestly the 2 sticks of butter in the recipe made my eyes bulge just a little bit. Everything was going swimmingly until I reached for the tin foil and realized we were out, so I used wax paper instead. Cut to 10 minutes later and the wax paper is smoking and two of the smoke alarms are going off. Awesomeeee. I almost dropped the whole mess on the floor trying to get it out of the oven. Fortunately after I cut off most of the excess wax paper and put it back in the oven everything went OK, though I was paying careful attention to any suspicious smells.

One of the things I like about this recipe a lot is that you can whip it up in under an hour, and it's great warmish or cooled. I will probably have to hide these from myself so I don't eat all the rest of them.

Tuesdays with Dorie: The Cover Cake!

This week, Stephanie of Confessions of a City eater chose the cover cake of "Baking From My Home to Yours," also known as the Devil's Food White Out Cake.

Part of me wanted to make a mini-cake this week (I guess that's latent holdiay/Valentine's eating guilt setting in) but a. I have no mini pans and b. I feel like everyone's been waiting to make this cake for ages, so why not go big?

I didn't read the P's and Q's this week, but my cake layers ended up being way more thin than I expected and they also didn't settle as well. I guess I will take Dorie more literally when she says to smooth out the top of the batter. I was glad to be able to put my cake lifter to good use - it's nice to not have to worry about cracking my layers in half like I have done in the past.



I am a big fan of the marshmallowy frosting that goes with this cake - it's not overly sweet and it complements the cake very well. I don't make cooked frostings that often but aside from taking longer than I thought it should have, it turned out very tasty and holds its shape very well for how light it is.




So, thanks Stephanie for choosing the cover cake! Check out the blogroll for everyone else's cakes.

A late Valentine's entry...

I just wanted to share what I took to work on Sunday. Those who had been married/divorced got a kick out of the "sign a prenup" one especially.