Cake, Cake, baby...

Oh yeah.  It certainly IS the most wonderful time of the year.  For it is the Holiday season and that means one (of many) thing(s).  Baking With Intent.  This time last year, I'd just moved into my new fab condo in South Beach, so it was the very first Christmas I'd spent both there and out West.  I was still deliriously happy about my move to San Francisco (I think it took a full six months before my perma-grin managed to be somewhat internalized, rather than remain plastered on my face like a Crazy Fool) and so decided to celebrate in style by baking a Fabulous Cake and getting all Nigella in the kitchen.  

Now, I'm not one of this instinctive cooks who can whip up a storm through just "knowing" that this random ingredient will marry perfectly with that random ingredient and - voila! - culinary genius worthy of a Quick Fire win on Top Chef.  Nope, I cook like a scientist and follow a recipe to the letter.   If it says "one level teaspoon", my teaspoon will, indeed, be absolutely level.   Recipes that request you to add a "pinch" of this or that just annoy me - be more specific, for God's sake!  What if someone had really big hands with enormous fingers?   Another easy way to cause me distress is to require me to make an unexpected substitution to a recipe, so I try and avoid that scenario at all costs.  One time, back in the UK, when me and a friend used to compete to see who could throw the most elaborate, complex dinner parties (sound familiar?), I once sent a friend of mine out in search of a specific herb (and no, its not "erb"in this blog - its "H-erb") for my roasted poussin.  The recipe called for lemon thyme and - though she found regular thyme at the first store - much to her vexation, I was insistent that that Just Would Not Do. The recipe called for the lemon variant of thyme, so lemon it had to be.  In the end, she drove to three different stores in three different towns in search of it.  She finally found it in the Waitrose in Ramsgate, much to her relief and mine.  The poussin tasted excellent in the end, so I maintain it was well worth the effort...

...although it probably was a bit cheeky to then ask her to strip the tiny leaves off of it when she got back in....

Anyway, because of this rather retentive tendency, baking is right up my control-freaky street.  I should do it more often (my last foray into the baked goods realm was a rather successful white loaf during the dog days of KSCC) as its fun AND you get to eat a sugary treat at the end of it.  Last Christmas, I excelled myself with probably one of the best cakes I've ever made to date - a multi-tiered confection of awesomeness from my holiday baking mag, a Creamy White Chocolate Layer Cake.  It was simply divine - which, given it  was a gut-bustingly non-Speedo compliant 1,000 calories a slice, it bloody well better have been.  It actually froze really well too, so Mumsie and I were happily eating it for days. ("cake for breakfast?" "why, yes, don't mind if i do").  Here it is, in all its glory....

2011 Bake-fest Frenzy-
Hold the flour, I'm going in....

In construction - defying the Laws of Gravity,
one creamy tier at a time 

Ta-da!  And it tasted as good as it looked.
Bonza indeed.

And thus a new Holiday Tradition was born.

So, back to the currant.  

What will be this year's choice?  

Well, for such a weighty decision of such import, Mumsie and I felt it only fitting that we invite two special VIPs to oversee the Confection selection.  So, last night, we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Ashley and Kelly for dinner.  Mumsie had whipped up one of her "I can't believe its so simple cos it tastes so damned good" beef casseroles and I had decided to experiment with a couple of recipes I hadn't tried before from one of my recent cook book purchases.  Although I am rather control-freaky with recipes, I will pretty much try anything and have no hesitation to let loose on unsuspecting dinner guests with something I have never made before.  And - in general - it works out pretty well.  Tonight, I had decided to try a beetroot and orange salad with citrus goat cheese as the appetizer, and then follow up Mum's yummy casserole with a white chocolate mousse (if you're interested, both are from Claire Robinson's 5 ingredient fix book).  After initial concerns that the beetroot salad may be tasting a little more root-y than beet-y, it actually tasted pretty good as the creaminess and orange tang of the goat cheese mix cut neatly through the earthiness of the beet, and was a really tasty combination.  The white chocolate mousse, though, was simply divine.  It had caused me a little trouble earlier on when the chocolate chips failed to melt completely after the hot cream egg base was poured over the top, but that was fairly easily rectified with a bowl of hot water, steam and a stiff beating (steady on - this is not the 50 Shades of Grey blog).

After dinner was finished, it was time to consult the Cupcake of Dreams to make the selection.  Mum and I had written down about 10-12 various different cakes, pies and delectables from our ever-burgeoning Christmas magazine and recipe book selection.  Last year's cake was in there, as well as a couple of carrot cake options, as well as the Mother of All Cakes, the Oooey-Gooey Butter Cake, made by none other than the Queen of Butter herself, Paula Dean.  We read through the ingredient list with increasing disbelief - this thing has got 4 cups of butter in it!!  Plus a plantation's worth of sugar, and cream and cream cheese!!  You can probably get pre-diabetic just looking at the picture.

So, of course, in it went.

After reviewing all the potential options, Ashley and Kelly were then called upon to make the final choice from the Cupcake of Dreams..... 

Nice to know I'm not the only ham in the room....  Ashley and Kelly
 preparing to make the important Confection Selection

Ashley wishing upon a cupcake
"please don't let it be carrot cake...please don't let it be carrot cake...."

"Wow!!  What a surprise I picked this one! "
Ashley somehow manages to select his favorite choice...
And the winner is.....  

Ooey-gooey layer butter cake!