53/99: Lemon Poppy Seed-Sour Cream Cake

While I was sitting on the floor of my bathroom this morning blow drying my hair, I had a visitor. I wasn't paying much attention to anything but the blow dryer in my hand since I still hadn't had my daily cup of coffee.  My housemate, Elizabeth, walked in behind me unnoticed and sat on the edge of my bathtub.   When she finally spoke I almost fell over from the shock of someone else being in the bathroom with me.  This week is rush week so she's not supposed to be in a good mood but something was apparently very good by her expression.

It was the cake.

52/99: Rose Red Velvet Cake

This weekend was the celebrated Georgia v. Ole Miss football game.  It is the first SEC game that Ole Miss has played so the grove was packed full of fans.  In honor of this festive occasion, I decided that our cake must be red so that we showed a little team spirit. We may not win any games this year but we'll still have a good time. 

Here's what happens at the eleven o'clock games: First, everyone heads to the grove in the morning and has a delicious breakfast (and maybe a few mimosas) including bagels, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, fruit, and lots of other tasty treats.  When the time comes, everyone either heads to the game or sits in the grove to watch the game on one of the many TV screens suspended from a tent.   When you return to the tent, you eat lunch with your family and friends and then cut into the desserts.  When I returned, however, I discovered that the cake had already been cut into.  So here is a picture of the half eaten cake:

 

Rose made her red velvet cake into a valentine but I decided to double the recipe and make it a red velvet layer cake.  Of course I made the dreamy creamy white chocolate frosting to go with it because who would refuse cake with dreamy creamy white chocolate frosting?  On the outside, I covered it with fondant (obviously in a hurry as you can see that my fondant did not turn out perfectly) and put some dots on it to give it a little school spirit.

51/99: Individual Pinaple Upside Down Cakes

 

 These little cakes weren't quite as pretty as I expected.  I wanted the pineapples to be full circles like Rose's pretty picture (Jenn from the Knitty Baker has one too) but my ramekins were a little too small. I had to cut pineapple pieces as you can see from the above photo.

I'm really glad that I'm in the Heavenly Bakers group because this recipe might be one that I would have put off for a long time. I have never been a huge fan of upside down cakes so this one did not peak my interest as much as some of the other cakes.

50/99: Ginger Cheesecake with Gingerbread Crust

This cake is kind of a big deal because it marks a very special day.  This cake means that I am officially over half way through the book. I really can't believe it.  It feels like yesterday (actually it was 163 days ago) that I went to the bookstore and happily stood in the checkout line with Rose's Heavenly Cakes snuggled in my arms.  This past week, I even had to go to the grocery store and buy another 20 pound bag of sugar.  I guess that's just another piece of evidence that proves that I've spent the last few months immersing myself in sugar.

48/99: Yellow Butter Cupcakes and 49/99: Chocolate Egg White Buttercream

 

Birthdays are the best. I think they are almost as good as Christmas time.  There's something so special about celebrating a life every year. And it's always fun to blow out some candles.

This weekend was a weekend of birthdays. We celebrated Stephens birthday and we decided to celebrate George's birthday even though it was a week ago. 

These cupcakes were really easy.  They have a ton of butter in them which always means they will be yummy.  They also call for sour cream but I used yogurt instead.  She says full fat yogurt is acceptable but I don't think they sell that at my grocery store.  I looked for awhile.  I guess it makes sense though; who would want to buy something that says "full-fat" on it.

47/99: Many-Splendored Quick Bread

 

Sometimes I make a cake when I don't have anything in particular to take it to. In that case, I open the book to the least exciting thing I can find and pour my heart into it.  This cake is a testament to my pretty low key week. No tests. No papers. No assignments.

The many-splendored quick bread looks good and easy but scared me away when I saw zucchini in the ingredients. And carrots. I'm not a huge vegetable person though I'm trying to get better at it.  When I eat cake though, it is supposed to be a treat.  I felt like this cake was doing what you have to do for your dogs when you give them medicine: wrap the pill up in a piece of meat. In my case, I'm disguising my veggies in lots of sugar. 

46/99: Gold Ingots (Financier Classiques)

 

About two weeks ago, I made the brioche so that I could make the caramelized apple pudding cakes. I made the crème anglaise for the cakes and then let the little brioche cubes soak in it as required. They had to sit for awhile so I put them in the refrigerator and forgot about them.

A day or two went by but I decided that I’d use them anyway. Then a week went by. And then two weeks.  Sadly, my little brioche cubes and their marinade found a new home- in the trash can. The lonely pineapple is still sitting on the counter top with half wilted leaves.

Since that recipe has been nagging me for a few weeks, I felt like I should just complete it today. Plus, that would keep the pineapple from dying.  The plan was to buy brioche from our local bakery and cheat. I already made brioche so it counts if I buy a loaf for the next recipe, right?

After class I hurried to the bakery that closes at 2:30.  It was 1:58. Whew.  I got to the counter, ordered my coffee (it’s the best in town), and then asked for a brioche.

The man at the counter looked at me regretfully and said that a gentleman had just come in and asked for 10 brioches. Sadly, he took the last ones.

I called the other, not so exciting bakery and they didn’t have a brioche either. They said I could special order one and it would be ready by the weekend. I could make my own brioche by then so no thank you.

Time was ticking because my next class was at four.  The goal was to get the majority of the cake done before class and that way my evening would be free for other things.  I flipped open Rose’s Heavenly cakes to see what I could make with the ingredients in my pantry.  I’m going out of town this weekend so I didn’t want to make anything exceptional because then it wouldn’t get eaten.

The final decision: Gold Ingots (Financiers Classiques). They contain only ingredients that any good baker has in the pantry at all times, no exceptions: eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, butter, and baking powder.  The only ingredient that I could reasonably not have were almonds but thankfully I’ve acquired a semi-impressive nut assortment from making all of these cakes.

45/99: Gâteau Breton

It looks simple. It looks plain. It looks delicious.

I think I had a croissant crust in my mind when I looked at this cake.  Rose says that it is "crisp like a pastry around the edge, but has a soft, dense, and moist interior." There really is no better way to describe this cake.

44/99: Lemon Meringue Cake

 

I have a new venue for my cakes.  For every home football game this season, I am assigned to bring one of my cakes to the grove for the Highlands tent. So, since this one has been on my schedule for awhile, The Lemon Meringue Cake was the final decision.  Don't worry though, I'll make the next ones a little bit more Ole Miss festive.

43/99: Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

These little guys were a hit. I should have doubled the recipe.

I made Rose's Chocolate butter cupcakes and then made a batch of peppermint icing from Mama's Peppermint Torte. Really, it was the perfect combination.