Cakathon - Week 4

This week (a little late in the week) our venture was Cinnamon Coffee Cake.  It does get a "10" for being so simple, great texture and it is very hard to not have two pieces at one sitting!  BUT, the we are going to put this recipe to work again in Week 5.  We used the wrong pan and will try again in a spring form pan this week.  The cake was short on the sides, as we used a layer cake pan, and it was way too tall in the middle.  Hopefully, the spring form pan will fix this.  We are hoping this will make for a better presentation.

The crumbles on top are also too fine, so will change that up a bit for more crunch. But, again,sooo yummy! Notice the very pretty cake pedestal that was my Mother's Day present!!

As you can see, there are 2 very large pieces out of the cake, couldn't help it.....yum!

 
 
 

We always make homemade whipping cream, Josh is the master at that!  Warm coffee cake, homemade whipping cream, fresh cup of coffee.....ah, heaven!

Our Heroes

When you get the wrong order at the drive-thru, take a breath and remember he may not have time to eat at all today.  Count your blessings and pray for our soldiers' safe return.

Taste Test Day 2

Final decision is: 
It is a great coffee flavored white cake - not tiramisu!! 

If anyone has a great recipe for tiramisu please let me know.  Meanwhile, I will be eating this cake and doing more research.  :)

Cakathon - Week 3

Tiramisu Layer Cake ...this week's venture....with Trader Joe's Kona Liqueur & Ghirardelli Chocolate = YUM!!!!

This cake is very good, but this recipe is just not right for "Tiramisu". Overall, we were disappointed.

The flavor is wonderful, but the cake is way too "light" for tiramisu, not enough kona liqueur, and too much sweet frosting. I will add another post tomorrow, after the cake has been refrigerated a complete day. Maybe it will then seem more dense. SO,you know what this means?????   Another Tiramisu recipe to try :) 
My favorite desert, so we have to keep trying to find just the right recipe.  ("A Keeper")

Too many cakes to eat..... Too little time  :) 
So, Week 3 of the Cakathon is complete. After I update the blog on the taste test tomorrow, new research begins for what cake to tackle on Week 4.  Stay tuned...

Cakathon - Week 2

Week 2 is a Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese and Walnuts.  Additional crushed walnuts were supposed to be sprinkled on the top and sides, but we held off on those. The cake and the frosting both had crushed walnuts and that seemed like just enough.  Josh thinks it belongs in a coffee shop!    YUM!!!!

Why don't I plant bulbs???

So pretty
Such a short time to enjoy
Ahhh, Spring.

A Baking Adventure

Well, I volunteered to make the cake for Josh's birthday get-together at Jer and Anastasia's.  Did I overstep myself?  I told Josh I would make whatever kind of cake he wanted.  He said "black forest is my favorite".  So, the nervousness began.  I thought about it all week, looking on the internet and seeing those beautiful black forest masterpieces.....hmmmm....I don't bake, but it did involve cherry brandy to take the nervousness of baking away.   So, Sat. noon, coming home from work, stopped and got all the goodies at the store and I began.  I SHOULD have taken a photo of my kitchen when I was done! ....it took me two hrs to get it back to normal.  While at it, I made a lactose free cake to take along, as Anastasia would have been left out, so I put brandy in hers also! (no lactose in that, is there?)
Here are the results:

enough said.  I did the best I could, notice the chocolate is not "shavings placed carefully on top and sides" as the recipe said.  How do these people do it for their photos on the internet??  I tried and tried to make just ONE shaving, ......so ...mine is crushed up chocolate - thrown on from a distance of about 3 feet.  Al and Rocky were like vacuum cleaners on the floor, for all that didn't make it to the cakes. 

I didn' have a piece of his cake at the party, I just couldn't.  I was still recouperating from the brandy, chocolate pieces, and whipped cream. 

But Josh was happy!!