Made my cake and ate it too

There can be nothing more nerve wracking (for me) than taking something to a pot providence (I don't believe in luck). Last Sunday, I went to my first pot providence at my new church, and I was SO nervous! I spent all week fretting over what to bring. I don't know about you, but I always like to bring something different to pot providences. Something I wouldn't normally eat or at least something I haven't eatten in a while. I love pot providences for the most part, and it's kind of funny that no matter where you are, it seems there's someone who brings fried chicken and green bean casserole. Mind you, this isn't a complaint, just a joyful observation.

I figured I should bring a cake of some kind. After deciding to make cake, I then was plagued by the nearly endless possibilities of the cake world. For an Easter gathering, I made a lavender-almond bundt cake with a green tea-poppyseed glaze. It was fine, but not suitable for this larger gathering. As I was wandering the aisles of a store, looking for inspiration, I came across some amaretti cookies that were only $1.50 a package. Woohoo! Hello inspriation! After grabbing the bag, I vacated the store (everything else was so overpriced, I couldn't stand to be in there another second), and went to a more reasonable grocery store with variety.

I'd never actually had amaretti cookies, but I had a "feel" for how they would taste, so I worked off of that. This is the flavor palate I worked up in my head: almond, apricot, chocolate and maybe coffee. I got regular chocolate cake mix (forgive me, but I just didn't feel like putting forth the effort to do it from scratch), a jar of apricot spreadable fruit (not the sugary jam or preserves), chocolate frosting, and almond extract. Once home, I made the cake according to the package.

Once I pulled them out and let them cool, I spread the apricot filling over the top of one layer, sprinkled them with crushed amaretti.

The second layer then went on and everything was given a chocolate frosting bath. To trim the cake, I made an almond buttercream. Just as I was getting ready to practice making nice buttercream shells around the boarder of the cake, I discoverd that I left all of my decorating tips in Waco. SIGH. I just loaded a bag with the frosting, cut the tip and hoped for the best. It didn't turn out too badly (I think).


Side veiw


Much to my relief, the cake was a hit...or at least the people at church are very nice. ;)

Tools for tots

This, my dears, was one of my favorite "toys" as a child. Yes, it is a meat cleaver that's over 20 years old. Before you label my parents as terrible terrible people let me explain.

Yes, knives, can be extremely dangerous and should not be handed to children without proper training and not before they're mature enough to handle it. I started using this beauty when I was around 4 years old. My mother was always willing to let me help her in the kitchen. She didn't hesitate to let me hold the knives, but before she did, she showed me how to use them. That's the difference right there. Rather than try to make me afraid of the knives, or make them seem like forbidden fruit, she showed me how to use them! I immediately fell in love with the cleaver, of course, since it was so big and looks SO COOL (okay, so I still love big knives...). As far as I can remember, I only cut myself a couple of times with the knives, and that was because they'd gotten a bit dull and slipped. As a small child, I loved grabbing the cleaver and carefully and meticulously chopping the veggies for meals. I don't condone handing any random child a knife and letting them go to town, but I do recommend educating your children on how to use things that are potentially dangerous, so that they don't hurt themselves out of curiosity mixed with ignorance. My mother explained that the knife is sharp and can hurt you badly, but if you use it properly and don't treat it like a toy, it won't give you problems. She showed me how to sharpen it, and told me that dull knives are more likely to hurt you. All of this at 4. I remember every bit of it, even now.

Momma built my confidence, rather than instilling fear. Those initial lessons are the reason why you're here visiting this blog (thanks for that, by the way). For me, learning how to chop stuff up was one of the first steps along the way to becoming a foodie. Being part of creating the meals that fed our family made me fall in love with food. Even the youngest little chefs can get busy in the kitchen. 2 year olds can wash veggies, 3 year olds can tear lettuce for a salad, the possibilities are endless! Heck you can utilize a toddler's love for throwing and shaking things and have them mix up some yummy salad dressing sealed tightly in a plastic jar. Get your babies in the kitchen, you'll never regret it. Years from now, you could be relaxing on the couch watching your favorite TV show while pots and pans are banging together in the kitchen and a FEAST is being prepared in your honor by that very chef YOU trained.

I'd rather eat cake

Somehow, I've managed to land a job as a baker. Of all things, a baker! It's not a bad job, and can lend itself to creativity. My sweet tooth is quickly decaying. I've never been a fan of cookies, I just don't see the point in their existence. How...HOW can a cookie be more or just as satisfying as a slice of pie or cake? I dare not even put them in the same sentence as cupcakes! Cookie recipes are fairly easy to manipulate, so it's a great way to combine lots of random flavors with little effort, but that's about all cookies have going for them...unless they're covered in frosting. Frosting makes everything better.

Anywho, I got to work on a huge order this week and made 350 cookies. In the pictures are the following types of cookies:

Walnut-chocolate chip
White chocolate orange
Cranberry orange w/orange glaze
Soft molasses
Peanut butter
Oatmeal raisin
Cowboy


Enjoy...I ate about a bite out of one of the white chocolate-orange cookies that fell apart. Eh...still a cake woman.