Welcome to

I’m still not quite sure how to approach this blogging thing.  I’m new to it.  At my husband’s behest, I will give it a shot, see what happens.  “Run it up the flag pole, see if anybody salutes,”  my grandfather used to say.

So if a somebody like me (NOT web-obssessed, don’t even check my email on a daily basis) is going to blog, it had better be about something with which she is preoccupied.  In this case, she is me, and that thing would be food, and all those things food-related.

 Will I focus on recipes…equipment…technique…ingredients?  Yes, I will, and I’ll probably be including a good bit of opinion, too.  Hopefully, this blog will eventually create a useful and vibrant discourse for foodies, from which we can learn from each other’s cooking triumphs and errors.  It wouldn’t hurt if we could inject a bit of humor into things, either.

Without further ado, a CAKE is in the works for me right now.  A very experimental cake it is, and I’ll include the preliminary recipe below.  If the recipe works, that’s terrific.  If it doesn’t, then I’ll post my amendments to the recipe later.  If it totally sucks and tastes revolting, I’ll post that as well.  Anyway, this cake will be called something like Tropical Thrill Cake.  In my mind/ tongue’s eye (don’t forget, I made this recipe up yesterday and haven’t tried it yet), I’m picturing this gorgeous layer cake, glowing pale orange inside with a brilliant green frosting, decorated with mango slices and toasted coconut.   If it turns out as pretty as I think it will, I’ll post a photo of it.

The idea for this cake was inspired by Alton Brown.  I was half paying attention to his show during work one day last week (I work at an upscale deli and food market so we often keep the Food Network on the television) and he made cake frosting out of avocado.  It was so BEAUTIFUL!  Anyway, he put both lemon juice and lemon extract in his frosting.  I think I’ll leave out the extract because I’m not feeling it will fit seamlessly into the flavor profile I’m going for.  All week after seeing the show, I was trying to think of how I’d like to use that frosting, and it came to me…MANGO CAKE!  I’m planning on incorporating the barest hint of toasted coconut into the cake as well, with more of it being part of the decoration.

FOR PETE’S SAKE, DON’T FORGET THAT I HAVEN’T ACTUALLY MADE THIS CAKE YET!  I wouldn’t want my inaugural blog to be tainted by comments like “I made this woman’s cake and it tasted like poop.”  or “The Tropical Thrill Cake was more like a catastrophic Guatemalan mud slide.”

The cake:

2 3/4 c. cake flour

2 1/2 t. baking powder

3/4 t.  salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla extract  (don’t you just love Penzey’s double-strength?)

2 eggs

2 c. fresh mango puree

 1/2 c. toasted coconut

Sift together the dry stuff.  Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time.  Alternate adding the dry ingredients, the mango puree, and the coconut to the butter mixture until just combined.  Pour into 3   8-9 inch  greased round cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 min., or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire racks for ten minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans.  Cool completely.

The frosting:

 8 oz. avocado flesh

2 t. lemon juice

1 c. sifted confectioner’s sugar

 Whip the avocado and the lemon juice until smooth.  SLOWLY add the sugar.  Yum.  Store in fridge if not using immediately.

Assemble and decorate your cake as you please.  I’m planning on doubling  the frosting to use it as a filling, and then decorate the whole shebang with fresh mango slices and toasted coconut.

Talk to you later.  Sorry for the brevity of the baking instructions, but I think at this point anybody reading a food blog has made a scratch cake or two in their lifetime. 

Happy Kitchen Time to You and Yours!

-Samantha