Thalia Learns to Cook: Sauces!

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make!  Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

To my mind, a major component that separates the meal made at home from the fancy schmancy made in a restaurant is the presence of a sauce.  Sauces are delicious. They add flavor, moisture and depth to otherwise plain ole’ pieces of chicken, fish, etc.  However, they are difficult to make and make well. Although I haven’t been doing much new cooking as of late (see: 5 month old who is cute and smiley and doesn’t think sleeping is something he should be doing), I have been starting to venture into the world of sauces. And also panko bread crumbs (which are amazing and the subject of another post).

Tonight, we decided to make a lemon caper chicken.  Or rather, chicken breasts with lemon-caper sauce. What is a caper? I have no idea. But it’s small and salty and goes well with lemon.  Plus, we had some delicious rose wine that had to be drunk. 

Delicious Rose wine.

Gone are the days where opening a bottle of wine means finishing it in the same night. Nope, we have become 1-glass with dinner people. Mostly because any more than that and I will fall face first, dead asleep, into my lemon-caper chicken. So, there was extra wine. On with the recipe!

 Ingredients (Recipe taken from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-with-lemon-caper-sauce/)

• 1 pinch salt (I omitted this- the capers have so much salt in the sauce, no salt needed for the chicken).

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (You actually need way less than this, just enough to coat the chicken).

• 2 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I cut these down to even out the cooking)

•  2 tablespoons olive oil (I also added some onion into the pan with the oil, only because I had left over cut up onion from some guacamole I had made earlier. Hate to let some cut up onion go to waste. It’s like you cried for nothing).

• 1/4 cup dry white wine (I used dry Rose. It was delicious).

•  1/4 cup lemon juice (I used a mix of fresh lemon and jarred lemon juice. It ended up being a bit too lemony- so next time I will use less).

• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I used pastured butter. Um, pastured butter is the best thing in the whole world. Find some, buy it, eat it, and be happy).

• 2 tablespoons capers, drained (I didn't drain them- it made the sauce a bit salty, but it was a good thing).

• 2 lemon wedges (As mentioned, the sauce ended up pretty lemon-y, so extra lemon was unnecessary. Your experience may vary). 

Directions

1.     Mix together salt and flour in a small dish or plastic bag, then coat chicken and shake off excess. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Shake excess flour from chicken, then brown in hot oil until both sides are golden-brown, and the inside has turned white and firm, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Chicken dredged in flour. The word dredged is funny. 

Traditionally, I have a problem just letting the darn chicken cook. Leave it alone! Let it cook!  So now I set a timer, 3 minutes and turn. 3 minutes and flip. 3 minutes and turn. 3 minutes and flip.  Then it's done.  I get impatient.  So, instead of futzing with the chicken as it cooked (Leave it alone!) I took a picture of the timer on my microwave. That's how I roll.

39 seconds to flip!

2.     Remove the chicken, and set aside. Pour white wine into the skillet, and allow to boil as you dissolve the cooked bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the lemon juice, and allow to come to a boil, cook for a few minutes until reduced by half.

The wine almost bubbled away! Nooooo!

My stovetop is hot, so this took no time at all.  Beware, you might want to remove the pan from the heat to avoid losing all of your wine and/or lemon juice. 

3.     Sprinkle the cubed butter into the boiling sauce. Swirl and shake the pan vigorously to dissolve the butter, thus thickening the sauce. The butter must never come to rest, or the sauce will separate and become oily. Once the butter has completely incorporated, remove from heat and stir in capers.

I was stirring so fast, you can't even see my hand! I'm speedy. 

So, this instruction had me totally freaked out, and is the reason sauces are something I've tried to avoid.  It seems so easy to just mess it all up if you're not moving quick enough.  But, if you prep ahead of time (an important lesson!!), then it goes relatively smoothly.  Happily, my sauce did not break. Or if it did, I didn't notice.  Whatever, this much butter? It was delicious. 

4.     To serve, pour lemon-caper sauce over the chicken, and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Delicious!

I served with a salad: greens, tomato, red pepper goat cheese. The sauce was also a nice salad dressing. 

So was it delicious? 

Yes it was!

Thalia Learns to Cook: Fancy Mac and Cheese

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make! Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

I was recently the proud owner of a lot of cheese. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Like, picture a cocktail party platter worth of cheese.... and no one ate any. Delicious cheddar, munster, gouda, havarti etc. So, what do you do with a large amount of cheese? Fondue? Nah, too drippy. Simply sit and eat cheese until you feel like a mouse? Um, perhaps an overwhelming dairy based feeling that you're not going to like. How about something that is comforting, brings up remembrances of cold days and comfort. Ah hah! Mac and Cheese!

So I decide to look up online fancy recipes for homemade mac and cheese from scratch. Apparently, you should start with a white roux. Basically, this is a mix of butter and flour.

However, I think I did it wrong, because when I mixed 4 TB of butter with 6TB of flour, I ended up with something that looked more like dough and less like the base of a sauce. So I added more butter.

Ah, that's better. Then I started to add some milk, and more milk, until I got a nice creamy sauce. I continued to whisk like a mad woman. I was actually afraid that stopping to take pictures would cause the roux to have problems, but I couldn't leave you guys with no pictures!

Once I had a good thickness going, I started to add cheese. Using my genius moment from the carrot cupcakes a few weeks back, I decided to use the food processor to turn my cocktail sized lumps of cheese into delicious small pieces of easily meltable cheese. And it totally worked! Amazing!

Meanwhile, I chopped up all my ingredients. I decided on broccoli, mushrooms, and sun dried tomatoes. I know they've gone out of style at this point, but I desperately love sundried tomatoes. I think they are delicious and add fabulousness to many pasta based recipes. I also love pesto. I will not apologize.

I used my favorite vegetable shortcut and microwaved the broccoli into submission. This was really easy. You just cut up the broccoli, add some water to the bottom of a bowl, and microwave it until it's soft. I actually overcooked it a bit, since it also then got to cook in the oven, but in the end it was delicious and look at that bright green!

Once my roux with cheese was melted, and the pasta was cooked, I mixed it all together with the cooked broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms, topped it with more cheese amazingness, and then a bunch of breadcrumbs to get some crunch on top. I baked it for 20 minutes at 350, and it was amazing. Really, really really bad for you, but amazing. A good use of leftover cheese! Highly recommended.

Thalia Learns to Cook: Cupcakes from Scratch!

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make! Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

I recently had a new an interesting experience. I had a craving for cupcakes. OK, that is neither new nor interesting. Rather, it happens all the time and is very typical. No, the new and interesting part was that this craving for cupcakes was accompanied by a desire to make the cupcakes myself. From scratch. Using a recipe I had never used before (which isn't difficult to find since I had never made cupcakes before!)

Since it worked so well the last time, here is my annotated recipe: (Recipe from the book "Cupcakes" by Shelly Kaldunski)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 C Flour
1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (Important! These are two different ingredients!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 C finely grated carrots (about 3 carrots)

1 c sugar

3/4 c vegetable oil

2 large eggs, at room temperature (I took them out, then went shopping for the rest of the ingredients, then they were fine. Not sure what temperature has to do with anything)

1/4 c buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Candied Carrots are optional. I optioned not to use them. They seem complicated.

Method:

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. LIne a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

Ok, this was pretty easy. Just had to buy the liners. They should have them in the ingredient list.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Easy enough. I used a real whisk. None of this fancy electronic mixing gadget for me. See previous cake post about how I wish I owned a kitchen aid.

In another bowl, whisk together the grated carrots, sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until completely combine.

Ok, how do you grate a cup and a half of carrot? Well, first, your wonderful husband gets a little over excited and buys WAY TOO MANY carrots. We had 3 different recipes on the week's menu plan that called for carrots. But only 2-3 carrots each. So that's 6-9 carrots (I have a Ph.D!). If I am not incorrect, the bag in the picture has roughly 39 carrots in it (I have a Ph.D!). Too many carrots.

However, regardless of the number of carrots, they must be grated.

So, I start with the set up to the left. Grater, check.

Something to catch the carrots in, check. Let's get going! Well, I grate. And grate. And grate. And after 5 minutes of grating, I have roughly..... 1/4 C of carrot. I need 6 times that amount (I have a Ph.D!). So, I think to myself. How can I get grated carrot? Finely chopped carrot? Small pieces of carrot? And preferably have a machine do it for me? (I take back what I previously said about machines).

CUISINART!

Oh, cuisinart, how I love you. You make quick work of 3 carrots and I end up with more than enough, and it is awesome.

Now I have two bowls of deliciousness, and I combine them with a spatula, and I'm just hoping the consistency is correct, because given that these are my first cupcakes ever, I have no idea what the consistency of the batter is supposed to look like.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3rds full.

OK. What is the best way to get the batter from the beautifully combined bowls into the muffin tin? Big measuring spoon? Little measuring spoon? Actual spoon? Ladle? Other type of cooking utensil? I have no idea. I lay them all out in front of me, and not just to get a good picture for the blog.

I think about the consistency of the batter, the size of the muffin tin, my ability to move liquids from one container to another without spilling, and go with the small measuring cup.

It's a good choice. I easily get the batter into the cupcake tin, and then am faced with a little leftover. Not wanting to cause a problem with overfilling, I put the leftovers into a separate container, and put the whole thing into the oven. Now on to the next challenge: FROSTING!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients: (Makes 2 c)

12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

6tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1c confectioners' sugar, sifted

Method:

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar and mix until thoroughly combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

OK, so as I have mentioned too many times, all I have is a rinky dink hand mixer. I am suspicious that this will not be strong enough to get the frosting going. Happily, I am wrong! The frosting becomes more and more whipped and lighter and fluffier as the time progresses. However, I also proceed to get powdered sugar all over my shirt, pants, floor, cabinets and countertop. This would not have happened with a real mixer, but what can you do?

Use right away, or if the consistency is too soft, refrigerate until the frosting is spreadable, about 15 minutes.

I take the cupcakes out of the oven and test them to make sure they are cooked through. Unlike with my pecan pie a few weeks ago (desserts are difficult!), I seem to have cooked these through. I remove them from the pan and set them to cool for a bit.

So, the next big question is: how much frosting to put on the cupcake itself? And, also, how the heck do you get the frosting on there in the first place? Spoon? Spatula? Fingers?

I try a spatula, with a "glob and spread" technique. Yes, I am very scientific. I put a bunch of frosting in the center of the cupcake and then spread it around until it doesn't look too bad.

Then, because I have a Ph.D, I remember that my mother gave us some candied nuts for Christmas. I think, perhaps these nuts will add deliciousness to the cupcakes... and they do! Look at me, all dessert-fu. Next thing you know, I'll be buying really expensive furniture to support my baking habit. (Ok, not really, but at least I'll bake a bit more?) Delicious!

Thalia Learns to Cook: Fish is dangerous.

Thalia Learns to Cook: Fish is dangerous.

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make! Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

Today with bonus horror story of epic proportions.

So I have a bit of time this week (finally!) and have actually remembered to take pictures while cooking. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking. In fact, I’ve been cooking a good amount. It’s just that two things have gotten in the way of my putting together fabulous blog posts. 1) I haven’t been experimenting or trying anything new. Everything I made is something I’ve made a bunch before. So, it’s not really that interesting in my opinion. Which brings up a slight digression- once you really get in to cooking- once you know what you are doing and how to do it- cooking takes on a more meditative state. It’s not an actively attention needing activity. Instead, you can ease into it, do it while doing something else simultaneously, and then move on. Not very interesting to write blog posts about. So, you can blame my not providing you with any new content at all on my not wanting to provide you with boring content. It’s you I’m thinking of!

OK, and 2) when I have attempted something new, or something has gone horribly wrong, which would make a good post, I didn’t take pictures. And what is a blog, dear reader, without pictures? Nothing. So, yeah, sorry about that.

But now! I have made something new! Fish! Specifically, bluefish with herb, lemon and olive oil. And it was dangerous. In fact, it recalled a little too specifically, my most dangerous cooking experience ever.

Ingredients: (recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)

Bluefish fillet (although the recipe says mackerel will work as well)

Lemon

Fresh herbs. I used Rosemary, Sage and Tarragon, but others such as Chives, Parsley, etc will work well.

Olive oil

Special Tools: (If you want to be all fancy about it. I’m sure you could figure out other ways to get around having to use these).

Microplane zester

Sillicone brush

Method:

Zest the lemon into a bowl. I love the microplane zester. Although I don’t think I use it correctly. (I can never remember if you’re supposed to move the food or the zester. I do some combination).

Add 3 tablespoons of EVOO.

Juice the lemon into the bowl. Fun tip: Cut the lemon the long way. I used to cut it the short way, despite my husband’s many protestations. Don’t know why it made more sense to me at the time, but now that I have learned to cut lemons and limes the long way, it makes much much more sense.

Cut up the herbs.

Fun tip! If you just take all the fresh herbs and roll them together, you can cut them up really easily. No more chopping and chopping and chopping required. Hooray! Unless that’s how you get your frustrations out. Then, go forth.

Mix together the herbs, lemon, lemon juice, olive oil, creating sort of a paste/ sauce.

Spread the mixture on to the fish. First on the skin, then flip it over and put a lot on the flesh side.

OK, here’s where it gets dangerous. This is the part of the post you came to see.

There has been, for 12 years now, a word that strikes fear into my heart. I quiver when I read it in a recipe. And that word is: BROIL. (ugh).

Here’s why.

----

When I was but a wee college student- a sophomore – I had my first off campus apartment with two good friends (to protect the innocent- “J” and “S”). Being the mature and sophisticated ladies that we were, we decided to make ourselves a delicious dinner before the start of classes. I should pause here and say that my roommates both cooked regularly. At that time I was still in overcooked pasta and grocery store sushi- land. I hated cooking because I was terrible at it.

So, I was (for some unfathomable reason) put in charge of the main dish. We decided on Salmon broiled with Lime and Pear. Sounds delicious!

Think to yourselves about college off campus apartments. Not the most well kept of places. Not that this matters too much in the story, but just to set the scene.

I can’t remember almost anything about the recipe. It involved using lime juice on the fish, and then putting limes and pears in the pan with the fish that went into the oven. To broil, specifically. So, I followed the recipe to the best of my ability, until it came time to put it in the oven. 6 inches below the broiler using a broiler pan. The problem? We did not own, or really even know, what a broiler pan was. We think it must be close to a regular cookie sheet or something, and we use that.

We put the salmon, limes with juice and pears into the oven. And confidently close the door all the way. A few minutes later, the smoke alarm goes off. This being a college apartment, the smoke alarm goes off when someone boils water. We ignore it. A few minutes later, it goes off again and we smell a bit of smoke, so someone asks if perhaps checking the salmon would be a good idea.

I check the salmon. I gingerly open the oven door.

FLAMES SHOOT OUT.

AHHH!!! The salmon is on fire! We quickly scream, turn off the oven, and open the oven door completely. The entire pan is on fire. We start to panic. We open the front door to try and get out some of the smoke.

As this happens, our next door neighbors are coming home. They see through the now open door that we may be having a bit of trouble with our dinner. They come in to try to help.

Grabbing some towels, next door neighbor is about to put the still on fire pan under water, until someone smart remembers that grease fires will only get terribly terribly worse if put under water. We all yell, and he stops.

J pulls out the fire extinguisher, since the pan is still on fire.

“Wait!” S says. “That fish was really expensive! Don’t use the fire extinguisher, you’ll ruin it!” She has a point.

We decide to put another pan on top of the STILL ON FIRE pan to try and quash it. At this point, the fire goes out and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Except the next door neighbors. They laugh at us like the idiots we are, and go back to their apartment. We never really speak to them again, except to leave them brownies as thanks. It was awkward.

In the end, we scrape off the burnt part of the salmon, which actually wasn’t that deep (it was mostly lime juice and olive oil that was on fire, and it burned away) and eat our fancy dinner. It turned out to be pretty good. We don’t attempt another fancy meal the rest of the time we live in the apartment. This episode remains one of our favorite stories- the Flaming Salmon Dinner.

---

So what does this have to do with dinner last night? This recipe should also be broiled. I decide to risk it. This time, I put a rack on top of a pan and place the fish on the rack. This way, drippings drip through and don’t stay so close to the heat source.

I also only put the fish in for three minutes before I check it.

HOWEVER, before I even check it the first time, I start to hear some… noises. Pops. Flashes. Small explosions. Yeah, the fish is sparking. It’s not on fire yet. But yet is the key word in that sentence.

Crap.

I turn off the oven. Ed pulls out the fish. We decide baking is just as good as broiling. We put the fish back into the nice center of the oven, and turn it on “bake” rather than “broil”. We bake it for 15 minutes.

Then we add some cherry tomatoes and roast them briefly in the oven.

It’s delicious.

I’m still afraid of broiling.

Serve with quinoa and salad.

Thalia Learns to Cook: Guacamole!

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make! Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

Guacamole. Food of the gods.

OK, that might be hyperbole, but it is super delicious, a great snack and a fun color. I love guacamole deeply, but it's only been recently that I've been making it regularly. Probably because I hate having to buy avocados, bring them home, and then wait for 3-5 days for them to be ripe enough to make guacamole. And yes, you do have to wait that long. Unripe avocado is a shame, has almost no flavor, and will ruin an otherwise perfectly delicious Mexican feast. However! Once you have ripe avocados (how can you tell they are ripe? When you squeeze them, they smush ever so slightly beneath your fingers. Not too much, not mushy, but a slight give), sorry, once you have ripe avocados, making the actual green dip is easy!

Ingredients:

2 Avocados (ripe! Buy them ahead of time! Put them in a paper bag on your counter! Bring them out three days later!)

1 clove Garlic

1/2 a small Red Onion

Tomato (if it's in season, otherwise don't bother)

Jalapeno (if you're feeling a bit crazy)

Large splash of lemon juice

Sprinkling of cayenne pepper

Sprinkling of chili pepper

Sprinkling of cumin (if you're feeling it)

Salt (I like seat salt)

Pepper

Method:

Cut up red onion, smash and cut up garlic, cut up tomato, cut up jalapeno (note: the seeds make it hot. If you keep the seeds in the jalapeno, it will get hot. If you take the seeds out, you will have a subtle pleasant tang but not feel like your mouth requires good-looking and many manly firemen to rescue it. But I digress).

You want everything to be in relatively small pieces, so that it's evenly distributed throughout the dip and you can get some in every bite.

Cut up avocado: If it's ripe enough, this should be very easy. Slice in half and do a little twisting motion to separate one half from the core. Then, stick your knife into the core like so: (this part is fun)

Pull the knife and core out of the avocado half. Then, it should be easy to scoop out the avocado from its peel with a fork or spoon. If you have problems with any of this, it means your avocados were not ripe enough. There's nothing to be done about it now, unfortunately, but good to know for the future.

Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl:

Start smashing everything together with a fork. Add lemon juice and all remaining spices, salt and pepper. When it's at a nice creamy consistency, taste.

This is when you can add more lemon juice, or more salt, or more spices. I usually have to add a bit more salt a lot more pepper and a small touch of lemon juice. Taste again.

Keep tasting until you get it right.

Delicious! Now try not to eat the whole thing before your husband gets out of the shower and looks at you with puppy dog eyes because you ate all the guacamole. (But again, I digress).

Thalia Learns to Cook: Ellen's Strawberry Cake!

Recipes and examples of dishes I can now make! Taken from a variety of sources and changed according to my abilities, needs, and dislike of doing dishes.

I recently had the opportunity to attempt my very first cake. And happily, it was for Ellen’s birthday! Therefore, I decided what better cake to try, what better occasion, than to make the famous* “Cake the started it all!”

*your definition of famous may vary.

Below is my annotated version of Ellen’s cake recipe from this very blog! That’s right, I followed the recipe from this blog to moderately positive effects, and you can too!

Ok, ingredients. I know from my previous non-dessert training that getting all the ingredients ahead of time is an important step before attempting any dish. Luckily, I have a full pantry, and an overflowing refrigerator….

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 3-oz box strawberry jello
1 10-12 oz pkg of frozen strawberries (or 2 pints of fresh strawberries)
½ c water
½ c oil
4 eggs
1 box (4 cups) powdered sugar (+ up to about a cup or so more,
depending on how thick you want the icing)
1 stick melted butter

Wait a minute! I don’t have any of these ingredients! Well, I have some eggs and oil (I am assuming canola oil, since that what it says on the box and olive oil might taste a bit strange?) I also don’t have enough butter, since we use a lot of EVOO. OK, off the store, back in a bit.

Preheat your oven to 350.

This I can do.

If you’re making this recipe with fresh strawberries, the recipe will be a little bit different than if you’re making it with frozen berries. If you’re using frozen berries, let them thaw over a strainer placed over a measuring cup.

Thaw until you get about 1 c of juice.

Hmmm…. I decide to go with frozen strawberries so as to more easily control portion size. However, I don’t have a properly sized sieve that will go over a measuring cup. I therefore go for this set up.

Seems to be working. I’ll just leave it alone for a while.

If you’re using fresh strawberries, hull about half a pint of them, then liquefy them in a blender. You want to have about a cup here too, so add strawberries as necessary until you get to a cup.

OK, here’s where I run into my first problem. After 1 hour of waiting for the strawberries to melt into juice, there is no juice. And I have a party to get to!

So, I make an executive decision: I shall squish the strawberries so as to attempt to get out some juice. I use a potato masher. Seems a good deal.

Get some juice, pour it from bowl into measuring cup and…. no dice.

Ok, rethinking my plan. If Ellen says it’s ok to puree fresh strawberries, then perhaps it’s also ok to puree frozen strawberries? Either way, gotta get moving! So, I puree some of the frozen strawberries and I get a cup of frozen strawberry juice/ puree and away we go!

Now, combine cake mix, strawberry jello, strawberry juice / puree, water, oil, and eggs. Mix thoroughly.

Oh! It’s so pretty! And pink! And it smells like childhood! Excellent! And now I run into another problem. I don’t own a “real” mixer. I dream of a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I register for them, I enter competitions to win them. To be honest, I could just go out and buy myself one, but what’s the fun in that? So, I don’t own one and therefore I improvise using this rinky dink thing. It throws cake mix all over the kitchen and me, but otherwise seems to be doing its job.

Prepare 3 – 8” round pans (or you can use a 9X13, or, if you’re going to a picnic like me, you could go with jars!) by spraying with cake release, or buttering/flouring them.

Hmm… several problems here.

1) I don’t own 3 – 8 inch pans. I own 2- 9inch pans. That I got when I got married 3 years ago and have not yet used. So, I dust them off, take off the wrapping, wash them and here we go! I also think I can pour any left over cake mix into a loaf pan (which I also own) and eat it on the sly.

2) I don’t own any cake release! It wasn’t in the list of ingredients. So I decide to do something that I think I remember either my mother doing or seeing on a tv show. It comes from the depths of my unconscious combined with Ellen’s instruction to butter and flour the pans. I rub some butter on them, then I pour some flour on them. Then I tap the pans around to get the excess flour out of them. This seems to provide a thin layer of flour. So, I say let’s go for it.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes (depending on your pan size) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (or with a few crumbs).

Eeek! I don’t own any toothpicks! Ok, I think a fork will work.

Here’s another issue. I have NO IDEA how full to make the pans. If the recipe is meant to go into three pans and I only own two and perhaps a bit on the side, I reason that I should not fill the pans up all the way. And good thing, too. I fill them up half way, and as I turn the light on in the oven, I notice that the cakes have begun to rise up. At an alarming rate. At least if they spill over, it will make a funny blog post. But happily they do not spill over and I continue on my way. The blog post suffers accordingly.

After 20 minutes I pull out the rack with the cakes and they are distinctly wobbly. So I go with another 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I stick in a fork and it comes out pink and covered in half baked cake. After another 3 minutes, the same thing happens. 2 minutes after that I get impatient again and pull the cakes out to start the cooling process. I take a shower to avoid futzing with the cakes for at least 15 minutes.

If you’re doing a layer cake, or baking your cakes in jars, cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then slide a knife around the edge of the cake, place a cooling rack on top of the cake, and invert. Then take a second cooling rack and flip it again so the top of the cake is
facing upward.

Yeah, I don’t own 2 cooling racks. Actually I don’t own 1 cooling rack. So instead I pop the cake out onto my hand to then put on a plate.

This does not go so well. So I pop the cake onto one plate and then flip back onto another plate and then set about making the icing.

I cut my little jar cakes in half to simulate a layer cake, feel free to do whatever you want! Let your cake cool to room temperature, and while it’s doing so, you can go ahead and make the frosting. To do this, mix the powdered sugar melted butter and strawberries, adding more powdered sugar until you get an icing of your desired consistency.

I have no clue what my desired consistency of icing is. Making icing like the extremely thick and sweet sweet nector of grocery store yellow cake of my childhood seems unlikely. So, I just use the whole package of powdered sugar (that’s the same thing as confectioner’s sugar, right?) and the butter and some more strawberries. Again, I do not own a mixer so I make do with the same rinky dink hand mixer as before, only this time I manage to get powdered sugar all over myself and the floor.

In the end, I have a huge amount of bright pink frosting.

Ice the cake! Note, this icing is a little bit on the runny side, so you’ll want to thicken it up a lot or consider cutting back on the butter if you’re making a layer cake.

Oops! I should have cut back on the butter! Oh well. I glop the frosting onto layer 1, call over my husband to flip layer 2 on top (I’m scared of cake disaster and he’s better and both spatial intelligence and physics) and glop frosting over layer 2! (not the most appetizing sound in the world.) I then realize I have a full cup of frosting left over, and if I put any more onto this cake, it will simply continue to run down the sides. So, I pour it into a cup and that’s that. People can add more frosting if they so desire.

Final issue: transportation. We have to drive 45 minutes to get to this party. We do not own a fancy cake transportation system, this being the first cake I’ve ever made and all. And, it’s too late to transfer the cake to another surface anyway. It’s glued to the place with frosting. So I take the bottom of my salad spinner (don’t worry, there was no kale residue), and I place it over top. Voila! Cake! It was tasty and an overall positive experience.

Could this be the beginning of a new foray in to Thalia Learns to Cook: Desserts? Stay tuned!