I’m referring to coconut. Like cilantro, Brussels sprouts or sushi, coconut is one of those foods that people feel strongly about in one direction or the other. Fortunately I’m pro-cilantro, Brussels sprouts and coconut. No, I don’t like sushi. It’s a raw fish and/or seaweed thing. But that’s not the point today.

Today the point is this: If you love coconut, you will love these coconut lime cupcakes. Assuming that you like limes. But I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who was opposed to limes.

I’ve made these cupcakes numerous times in the past and they’re frequently requested by people who have tried them before. I think they’re second only to carrot cupcakes. This most recent batch was made for a cookout on the 4th of July. Joel requested that I make them despite the fact that we didn’t know how the people at the cookout felt about coconut. Fortunately I think most of the people liked coconut and the rest of them just had to go without a delicious cupcake. Their loss. I also shared some with a neighbor and her mom liked them so much that she requested the recipe. And since I needed to post something on my website anyway, here it is!

The recipe for these is from the fantastic Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook. If you haven’t ever flipped through this cookbook, it’s worth doing just for cupcake ideas.

I did make a number of changes to the original recipe and my version isn’t vegan as I used real dairy products instead of soy ones. I’ve made them the true vegan way as well and really couldn’t tell the difference. The recipe below is my non-vegan adapted version as it’s a lot cheaper to make them this way. Also, the original called for coconut oil and quite frankly, I am not willing to buy coconut oil as it’s grossly expensive and these cupcakes taste plenty coconutty without it.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes 12 regular or about 40 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk (I use the light variety)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coconut extract (if you don’t have it, I’ve subbed extra vanilla before and all was well)
• 1 tbsp lightly packed, finely grated lime zest
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sweetened coconut

Lime Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp finely grated lime zest (I like lime a lot and I used more like 1 heaping tablespoon. But that’s your call!)

Optional topping:

• 1 cup sweetened coconut, toasted in the oven until browned and crunchy

Directions

Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners. If making mini cupcakes, you’ll probably want to bake these in 2 batches.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the vegetable oil and sugar. Add the coconut milk, milk, vanilla, coconut extract, and lime zest. Mix to combine.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Add the coconut and mix to incorporate.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes for regular cupcakes and slightly less for mini cupcakes, until the cupcake top springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.
5. Cool completely on racks before icing.

Frosting:

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined well and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and lime juice, beat for another 5 to 7 minutes or so until fluffy.
4. Add the zest and mix to distribute.
5. Chill until ready to use.

To Assemble:

1. Heap the frosting onto the cupcakes or pipe onto cupcakes using a pastry bag and decorating tip of your choice.
2. If using toasted coconut on top, sprinkle the cupcakes with the toasted coconut and press lightly so that it adheres to the frosting.
3. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

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No long, drawn out descriptions from me today. All you need to know is that you need to make this gingerbread cake with coffee icing. Why? Because it’s easy and delicious and I loved it even though I don’t particularly like gingerbread. With loads of spices, dark beer, coffee, cocoa powder and molasses, how could I not love it?

The recipe is from The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco and Mindy Fox (which is a pretty cool cookbook that I’ll purchase someday soon). The actual recipe is for 18 cupcakes. I made a bundt cake instead because I currently don’t own any muffin tins for making cupcakes (that’s a long story for some other day). I didn’t alter the size of the recipe at all. Batter for 18 cupcakes is apparently exactly the right amount of batter for a bundt cake.

Other than making cake instead of cupcakes, the only change I really made was the use of porter instead of stout. Yes, I live on the edge when it comes to recipe alterations. I also skipped the candied ginger on top as I truly believe that would have been weird on a cake.

Since this is a lazy post and since NPR was kind enough to post the recipe on their website, I’m not posting it here.

P.S. If you’ve read this far and care, I have no wedding plans to blab about at the moment. We’re still figuring out the when and where.

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Every weekend, we sit around and plot our meals for the week. Generally one trip to the grocery store follows the meal planning and we rarely stray from the plan. We may not get around to cooking everything we planned to cook but we don’t usually decide to make something completely different once the shopping is done.

Despite having done this for about 2 years, planning meals for the entire week is a challenge for me. I used to be the type that would make a zillion trips to the store and would decide what I wanted to cook on a complete whim. This ended up costing a lot of money and I wasted a lot of food. I also worked in a restaurant for a long time and quite honestly didn’t have to cook that many real dinners. I pretty much never had to think about what to eat for lunch since the restaurant fed me. In addition, I detested leftovers and rarely wanted to make something that would last for several meals.

Fast forward to now and life is pretty different. Instead of working 4+ nights a week, I’m home every night and need to have something to eat for dinner just about every night. I also take lunch with me to work most of the time. When we plan our meals for the week, we think about what we want to eat for lunch and dinner for a full week. To make decision making a little easier, we keep a list of all of the meals I’ve cooked that we liked enough to eat again. We also have to think about leftovers. It’s rare that I don’t cook something with the intention of eating it again at least once. All this planning is not an easy task. For me, it takes a little bit of the fun out of cooking. I liked the old way…where I would wake up and decide what I felt like cooking. Fortunately I still get to bake on a whim as we don’t plan desserts or baked goods in advance and I keep enough supplies in the house to bake nearly anything we might crave.

So…here’s what we’ve planned to eat this week. Pretty much everything on the list will be eaten more than once.

Pork Fried Rice - I use a variation of the recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I’ve made this enough times that I don’t actually need the cookbook anymore. This is great reheated in the microwave and even better if you fry it a second time. Also, my version is made with brown rice.

Potato Leek Soup – I like mine pureed and topped with cheese and chives. The topping is not necessarily traditional but it’s delicious. The version I’ll make is from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.

Shrimp Cakes with Tartar Sauce - Like crab cakes…but with shrimp. I found a great recipe online last year at Je Mange la Ville and this will be the recipe I use again this week.

Turkey and Muenster Cheese Sandwiches on Homemade Oatmeal Wheat Bread - I could eat turkey sandwiches every day so they’re a common item when we plan meals. The bread recipe is slightly adapted from one found in the February 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s great tasting and doesn’t get stale as fast as a lot of the homemade breads I’ve made.

If all of the food above doesn’t last until Saturday, we’ll have baked potatoes or eggs or vegetables or even a bowl of cereal. We probably won’t have to resort to any of these as I usually make more than enough food.

And then there’s dessert. I don’t have anything planned for later in the week but I did already bake a batch of dark chocolate oatmeal cookies – minus the oatmeal and white chocolate chips in the recipe. Instead I used toffee bits and peanut butter chips. Still very delicious…so much so that they won’t last all week. By Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll need to dream up something else.

P.S. Let me know if you want to stop by for dinner…we’ve usually got plenty of food!

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Like everyone else, I want to eat better. Trite but true.

In order to aid my evolution towards better eating, I’ve come up with some food oriented goals for 2010 and beyond. I’m posting it here to hold myself somewhat accountable. The good thing is that none of these goals really require giving up anything. I just have to try a little harder and think about what I’m eating.

1. Eat fish (or seafood) at least once a week. We eat it about twice a month now…but I’d like to start eating fish or seafood more often instead of heavier meat-centric meals. Added bonus: fish and seafood are quite often easier (and faster) to prepare than meat dishes.

2. Eat vegetarian at least once a week. That’s vegetarian…not vegan. I can’t promise to go that far. I like eggs and dairy too much. Not much more than a year ago, I scoffed and “icked” at the idea of vegetarian meals. I’m a carnivore at heart. But I’ve slowly come to realize that I’m okay with a lot of vegetarian choices. And if you throw mushrooms into the mix, I’m nearly as happy as I would have been with beef or chicken or pork or duck or lamb or turkey. I’ve also realized that just a hint of meat in a dish can sometimes satisfy my carnivorous ways. A few slices of bacon in a quiche or a little bit of sausage in a bean soup actually gives the dish enough meaty flavor for me!

3. Eat vegetables and lots of them. And make them local if at all possible. Once farmer’s market season is in full swing, I plan for the farmer’s market to be my first source of food ideas each week. We’re also already planning a larger garden this year. We’re trying to learn about when to plant what so that we’ll take full advantage of all of the growing seasons we have here in Virginia. In addition, I’d like to pick lots of fruits (and veggies) at pick-your-own farms when they are in season. There’s a chance we’re going to need a bigger freezer and a very large pot…

4. Eat non-industrial meat and poultry. Yes, it’s going to hurt the wallet but I’d really like to find local sources of grass-fed beef, humanely raised pork and cage-free chicken and eggs. We’ve got plenty of possibilities between the local farms and the farmer’s market. And the somewhat famous Polyface Farms (located on the other side of the state) actually delivers their goods once a month to a home here in Williamsburg that happens to be located only about 10 minutes from my office.

5. Buy even less processed food than we already do. We’re pretty good about this already but there’s always room for improvement. I’d really love to be able to stop buying anything containing high fructose corn syrup and/or a list of ingredients a mile long but I’m not sure this is entirely possible. In trying to accomplish this goal, I’ll definitely have to bake more breads, cookies and other treats. Fortunately I’m not at all opposed to expanding my baking repertoire. This goal is also a way to help cut some costs in the food budget. It’s a lot cheaper to bake a loaf of bread than it is to buy one at the store. Same with cookies and cake and granola and so on. We can then spend the extra money on the more expensive but better for you foods I’ve already mentioned.

P.S. I’m already off to a good start on goal #5 with the bread in these pictures. I baked it myself last weekend for sandwiches rather than buying a loaf of grocery store bread!

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Everywhere I turn, there’s an article in a magazine or a news report telling us to eat more Omega-3 fatty acids. My two-person household has been doing our part for a while with foods like wild salmon and walnuts. But every report touts the extra super goodness of flax seeds and I hadn’t really gotten around to eating them yet. Fortunately for me, I stumbled upon a picture of this granola on Slashfood’s Feast Your Eyes page the other day and I’ve now jumped on the flax seed bandwagon.

Admittedly, it was the maple syrup that sold me on it. I’m a sucker for recipes containing maple syrup and I just so happen to have nearly a gallon of delicious grade B syrup taking up a lot of valuable refrigerator real estate…so maple granola seemed like a good idea.

The original recipe didn’t contain the walnuts or dried cranberries that I added to mine but that recipe did mention that other seeds, dried fruit and nuts were all very acceptable add-ins. I also added a bit more salt than the original recipe used as I really love to eat things that have a mixture of salty and sweet. If you’re not such a fan of salty and sweet together, reduce the salt to just 1/4 teaspoon. If you don’t like walnuts or dried cranberries, leave them out or add something else in their place.

Maple Granola

Slightly adapted from recipe at Sweet Beet and Green Bean

Ingredients

• 2 2/3  cups rolled oats
• 2/3 cup flax seeds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup maple syrup (I used grade B)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to lowest setting (200 degrees Fahrenheit for my oven). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In food processor or blender, process 1/3 cup oats and 1/3 cup flax seed until the mixture is a fine powder.
3. In large bowl, stir together oats and flax seed powder, remaining 2 1/3 cups rolled oats, remaining 1/3 cup flax seeds, dried cranberries, walnuts and salt.
4. Drizzle olive oil over mixture and stir together until olive oil is evenly distributed.
5. Add maple syrup to mixture and stir again until maple syrup is evenly distributed.
6. Evenly spread granola on prepared baking sheet and bake for about an hour. If the granola doesn’t seem quite crunchy enough at this point, bake it a little more.
7. Let cool to room temperature on baking sheet. At this stage, you can break it into large or small pieces (your preference). Store in airtight container at room temperature.

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As much as I love the fluffy buttercream frosting I’ve been making near constantly for almost 2 years, it was time to make a new friend in the frosting world. Maybe a wordly, sophisticated frosting that isn’t so reliant on powdered sugar? Swiss meringue buttercream frosting is that new friend and possibly a friend for life.

Swiss meringue buttercream is my new favorite frosting and it should be yours as well. The fluffy buttercream has been pushed aside for the not-too-sweet, super smooth and shiny Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. While the buttercream I’d been making called for about a million cups of powdered sugar, the new Swiss meringue buttercream calls for barely a cup. It’s a healthier option…if you can look past the copious quantities of actual butter in this frosting. I have. And so should you.

As my first venture into this new frosting world, I made the frosting to go with a batch of mini chocolate cupcakes. Both the cupcakes and the frosting recipes are from Martha Stewart‘s relatively recent Cupcakes cookbook. Just so you know, the One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes are pretty killer…and the recipe yields a LOT of mini cupcakes. 58 to be exact. It yielded so many cupcakes that we kept a bunch and both the boyfriend and I took lots of them to our respective offices…where they were met with high praise. Praise like “This is my favorite thing you’ve ever made!” and “It was so good, it made you want to slap your mother.” And it’s not like these people haven’t had lots of baked goodies from me in the past…the cupcakes were just that good.

Back to the frosting. For the mini chocolate cupcakes, I made a coffee version of the frosting following Martha’s careful instructions. Since then I’ve also made a batch of white cupcakes with a chocolate version of the frosting. Both versions are super-duper-amazingly delicious. Next I’ll try a plain version.

Let it be known that I made the frosting despite some old fears of screwing up what looks to be a fussy recipe. In fact, it was not a fussy recipe. It’s a little time consuming only because the mixer has to whip the meringue for a long time. Other than that, it couldn’t have been easier. I should probably note that in order to really make this frosting successfully, you should use a stand mixer. A hand mixer might work but you’ll be awfully tired of using it by the end. With the stand mixer, you can walk away and do other things while it’s whipping. If you’re like me, the other things you’ll do will probably be the dishes.

For the number of mini cupcakes I made, I prepared just a half batch of the frosting recipe shown below. Everything divided in half well other than the egg whites…so I used three of those. If you’re planning to use this frosting for a regular cake, make the full recipe. Or if you like your normal sized cupcakes heavily frosted with a bowl of extra frosting just to eat, make the full recipe.

One more comment: If you (or your office mates) love coffee, definitely try the coffee variation. My office mates actually ate their cupcakes in the morning…with their coffee.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
3. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
4. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
5. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla.
7. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth.
8. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month.
9. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Coffee Variation: Mix 2 tablespoons good quality instant espresso powder (do not use instant coffee) with the vanilla extract. Stir until espresso powder is mostly dissolved and add to frosting in step 6.

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Post title borrowed from a Ben Folds song of nearly the same name.

Last song I purchased from iTunes: When Will I Be Loved by John Fogerty & Bruce Springsteen.

Made for dinner tonight: Chicken, cheddar and onion quesadillas. The chicken was marinated with chipotles in adobo sauce & grilled with the onions before being turned into quesadilla filling.

Currently drinking: Nothing. But a glass of milk sounds good.

Playing on iTunes right this very second: Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.

Currently reading: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson and Amarcord by Marcella Hazan.

Laughing about: The episode of Mad Men we just watched. We’re at the beginning of Season 2 and Joan is my favorite character. Tonight she discussed why crying in the break room is bad: “This is why I don’t allow crying in the break room. It erodes morale. There’s a place to do that, like your apartment.”

New to me, easy and delicious dessert I recently made: Tarta de Santiago (as pictured here). It’s a Spanish almond cake with a hint of lemon. Yum. Recipe here. I followed it almost exactly.

Song I can’t stop playing over and over and over again: 21 Guns by Green Day.

Currently knitting: Still nothing. But it’s almost cold enough for me to want to knit again. And I’m hankering for a project that will use some of the Noro Iro in my stash.

In need of: A new immersion blender. We had a generic one that mysteriously died/broke when I tried to puree black bean soup. I need to decide what brand to go with for the new one.

Playing on the iPod now: Something to Say by Toad the Wet Sprocket. I still love this song from the early 90s.

Will soon attempt to learn: Adobe Lightroom. It’s installed on my computer at work and I haven’t had a free minute or hour to learn how to use it yet.

Not getting enough: Sleep. I think the changing season has made me want more of it. And I still don’t know how to go to bed early.

Hyped up about: Autumn weather. I like the sorta warm, sorta cold days and I can’t wait for the leaves to change color.

Something I need to do tonight if it kills me: Decide what kind of cookies to bake tomorrow. Yes, it’s important that I decide this tonight.

Craving: A grilled hamburger. We walked around W&M yesterday and there was some sort of barbecue somewhere and the hamburgers called to me.

Trying to learn how to: Stop buying clothes that all look the same. It takes real effort on my part to buy shirts in different styles and to refrain from purchasing something I like in every color made in it.

Something I thoroughly enjoy: Random cussing in songs that don’t seem like they’d have them. Ben Folds and Glen Phillips are both good at dropping random f-bombs in the middle of a song and I love it!

Hell hath frozen over because: I gave up whipped cream on my Starbucks iced toffee nut lattes. And I’m drinking less of the lattes as they’re not as good without the whipped cream.

Best thing I’ve bought this month: New corduroy pants. I love corduroy pants and these Old Navy ones are pretty spectacular.

What I might be for Halloween: Lucille Ball. Or a devil. Or something else that can involve my red hair.

Still bragging about: The wedding cakes I made this summer. I’m proud of me for having the skills to do that.

Looking forward to: Next weekend and the possibility of our first (and last) camping trip to the Outer Banks this year.

Not looking forward to: More painting in our house. It looks nice when it’s done but the process is so long and tiresome…plus I’m only a moderately decent painter.

Playing on the iPod now: Fidelity by Regina Spektor.

Next up on the reading list: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.

Can’t believe: That the new season of 30 Rock hasn’t started yet. I need an Alec Baldwin fix.

Absolutely, positively obsessed with: Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and turbinado sugar. Best new food I’ve tried in a long time. They’re good like dark chocolate covered pretzels are good…only better.

Next in the Netflix queue: More Mad Men Season 2, American Beauty and Away We Go when it’s released.

Must make time to: Get everything ready to get our kitchen inspected by the state so that I can legally bake things for money. After that’s done, there’s a business license to be purchased.

Trying to decide: How to spend less money in October. Less eating out? Less clothing purchases? Too bad it’s fall and I want new cold weather clothes.

Last dessert I baked: Caramel Apple Upside Down Cornmeal Cake from Better Homes & Gardens.

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Since my last post droned on and on without even mentioning what flavors the cake layers were, I figured I should write (boast) a little more about this wedding cake.

Some stats about this one:

• Meant to serve about 170 people. I don’t know how many people ate the cake but I think there were some leftovers.
• I made 5 cakes. Each with 3 or 4 layers. All told, I baked 19 layers of cake in 6″, 8″, 10″, 12″ and 14″ pans.
• The smallest cake was not part of the assembled cake you see here. It was boxed and set aside as the couple’s 1st anniversary cake. In all honesty, the thought of a 5 layer cake scared me.
• Three kinds of cake were made: lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting and raspberry jam filling, almond cake with almond buttercream frosting and strawberry jam filling and chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting.
• It took me 4 evenings and part of 2 weekend days to prepare and assemble the cake. Baking the actual cake was the easiest part.
• A sampling of the ingredients used: 12 pounds of powdered sugar, 2.5 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of margarine, several cups of cocoa powder, 12 pounds of granulated sugar, 12 pounds of flour, more than a gallon of whole milk, nearly 1 large bottle of lemon extract, 1 roll of gauze and 1 roll of waterproof tape (for my cut finger), 4+ dozen large eggs, 10 pounds of fondant and nearly a roll of parchment paper.
• It took 2 online orders from Joann.com, 1 other online supply order, 2 trips to Michael’s, 1 trip to Hancock Fabrics and 3 trips to the grocery store to obtain all of the needed supplies and ingredients. I’ll plan better next time.
• The pieces you have to slice off the cake to make it level make a nice dessert when layered trifle-like in a dish with extra frosting.
• As mentioned in the last post, there was a lot of stress and a few tears involved. And some restless sleep. If I’d had some anti-anxiety medication or sleeping pills, I probably would have used them.
• I’ve been asked how the cake was assembled. It’s stacked on half inch tall cake drums made of cardboard and there are wooden dowels in the cakes to support the weight of the stacked layers.
• I was also asked how we transported the cake to the reception site. Very carefully. In boxes on the floors and seats of my Camry. With the air conditioner blasting out the coolest air it could muster. If I were to start doing this all the time, I think a station wagon or a mini van would be a good vehicle to own.

In the end, it was worth all of the literal blood, sweat and tears. I even think it was worth it enough that I’m willing to do it again (and again and again). I think I’m even willing to sacrifice some of my precious free time to do it. With time, I think I could bake a little faster and work more efficiently. The anxiety over doing a good job might even lessen after a while. So…if you know anyone in the vicinity of Williamsburg, Virginia that needs a wedding cake, I might just be available!

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Seriously, how has it been a month since I’ve posted? I blame the photo of the day thing I’m doing on Flickr. I’m taking a picture everyday and posting the photos on Flickr with a nice little description…and this is taking the wind out of my blogging sails. Sorry. If you really really really care about what I’ve been up to lately, head on over to my Flickr page. There are lots of pretty pictures of food and flowers and plants over there.

And just to prove that I do still cook….

Pork carnitas. Yummy pork carnitas. If you’re not familiar with carnitas, you ought to be. The pork is a nice change from the usual beef or chicken. But maybe you don’t like pork quite as much as I do. Most people don’t.

These are from the May 2009 issue of Everyday Food Magazine and the recipe is available on the Everyday Food website. I followed the recipe to the letter for the pork. I didn’t, however, use the same toppings they used. Instead I topped my pork with sharp cheddar cheese, fresh pico de gallo (made with just picked cilantro from my herb garden) and sour cream.

As you look at the recipe, I’m pretty sure you’re going to scratch your head and say “Ewwwwww!” Yes, the recipe does instruct you to simmer/saute the pork in a mixture of milk and orange juice. Yes, this does sound gross. Yet I followed the recipe and I can assure you that the pork did not under any circumstances taste gross. The milk and orange juice thing repulsed me so much that I almost wanted the pork to taste bad. Shouldn’t milk and orange juice curdle when mixed together and shouldn’t mixing them together ruin the pork? Despite my skepticism, the pork was scrumptious.

This blog writing thing was fun. Maybe I should do it again sometime soon. Maybe if I do it again sometime soon people will still want to visit my site. Wishful thinking?

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I’m a little light on photo and blog content lately. This is because I’m in the midst of a self-imposed baking hiatus. Summer is approaching and I must admit that I indulged in a few too many treats during the long, cold and miserable months of winter. So I’m attempting to undo a little of the damage from all of the cakes, cookies and rolls. Don’t worry too much. The baking hiatus is temporary. It won’t turn into a long sabbatical. I won’t retire. I like baking too much.

On to the cake…

I’m not a big fan of spice cake. Or at least I wasn’t until I was introduced to this cake last fall. The boyfriend’s boss made it for his birthday. Whenever there’s a birthday in his office, someone is in charge of bringing cake (or dessert). Quite often the baking job has fallen on me….despite the fact that I don’t work there.

When the boyfriend’s birthday rolled around last year, his boss was responsible for the cake. Apparently she felt that it had to be great since he gets my desserts at home all the time and she knows how tasty some of them have been. Needless to say she did a great job choosing the cake and baking it!

He brought the leftovers home and I pretty much gorged myself on it for the next couple of days. I even ate this cake for breakfast. Not that there’s anything wrong with eating cake for breakfast. Especially when the cake has nutritious ingredients like apples and walnuts.

The recipe for the cake can be found on the Food Network website. It’s a Gale Gand recipe called Stella’s Stellar Apple Spice Cake. Stellar isn’t nearly a generous enough word for this cake.

It’s an apple spice cake with lots of walnuts and golden raisins. I don’t really like most spice cakes but this one I love. I also don’t adore raisins…but the golden raisins more than okay in this cake. The apple pieces are relatively large and give the cake a nice texture.

The cake itself is kind of like a spice cake brownie. It has a crunchy top and a soft interior like a good brownie should. But no chocolate. That would be weird.

The recipe calls for a glaze over the cake. The boyfriend’s boss didn’t make the glaze and neither did I . The cake doesn’t need it. Other than skipping the glaze, I didn’t make any changes to the recipe.

Just in case you didn’t click one of the other links, the recipe is here.

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