Happy belated 4th of July! I love the 4th of July–nothing says celebrating your country’s independence like too much food, booze, and explosions. It’s the American Way.

All kidding aside, I really do love the 4th. My friend Rabbit holds a potluck, then we all walk down to the Berkeley Marina to watch the fireworks. This is the 2nd year in a row I’ve been, and I always remember on the walk down how horribly painful the walk back will be. I really should contemplate that sooner in the future. But I probably won’t.

For my contribution, I baked a southern coconut cake. The theme was bringing a traditional dish from your family/heritage. I was horribly tempted to really go what would be traditional for my family and do the cheating version, made with boxed cake mix and cool whip. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I used this recipe from Tender Crumb.

It turned out really well. We also had real NC BBQ (pulled pork, vinegar sauce), fried pickles and potato salad. I was very, very happy. I could eat like that all the time and be perfectly content. Gives me some ideas for planning what to cook next week, that’s for sure.

I wound up working a strange schedule this past weekend, due to some things that came up, so I ended up having half of Monday off. It’s thrown me off a little–what day is it? how many weeks have their been?–but I also took the opportunity to get some things done!

Things like washing the fabric mountain of doom. (Large Cat provided for scale.) I swear, it did not look this big when I took it down to the wash, but by the time I took it out of the dryer, it had morphed into some sort of looming mountian of future craft projects. Also, I should probably move onto the ironing stage at some point.

But then…I baked! I made a delicious Raspberry Buttermilk Cake from Smitten Kitchen for a potluck I was headed to that night.

Then while I was at it, I made a second one, plus a Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake, also from Smitten Kitchen, to take into work. Sadly, I did not get a chance to snap a photo before I took this in, and it was devoured before I had a chance.

This was all that was left of the raspberry cake. It turned out really fantastic, and was super quick and easy. In fact, I’m planning on making another one tonight, as I’m having a friend over for dinner and indoctrination into the wonderful world of Battlestar, Galactica.

Because you know what? There’s nothing that cheers up  a week like cake.

It always seems a bit strange to celebrate Imbolc here in California. I always envision it as the first stirrings of new life and growth under a blanket of snow, the first stirrings of spring that we can’t see but know  are there. Of course, here it was 57F yesterday, I didn’t even need a jacket, and even managed to open the windows for a bit, much to the delight of the cats.

But Imbolc it is–a time of the first stirrings of new growth and community, and a time to celebrate! As seems to be habit with me, I had lots of plans and ideas that I didn’t quite have time to follow through on. Alas–but tht doesn’t mean I can’t do something! CAYA Coven’s big Imbolc ritual was on Saturday, so I whipped up some cupcakes. Chai latte for the vegans (one of my favorites, because they are both delicious and simple) and the aggressively non-vegan tres leches cupcakes for everyone else!

I’d never made Tres Leches cupcakes before, but they turned out very well. All oozing with delicious sweet milk and cream, and topped with homemade whipped cream.

The chai latte were delcious as always, though the powdered sugar melted disappointingly quickly. I wish I’d had time to let them cool longer.

A fitting way to celebrate Imbolc, I think! Of course, there’s still today and tomorrow to celebrate. I think I’ll make a quiche tonight, maybe, and work on some cleaning. The original plan was to get everything cleaned up and do a ritual cleaning/floor wash deal but that just didn’t happen. Of course, doesn’t mean I can’t still make progress.

Happy Imbolc, all!

Yeah, I know it’s 2010 already so I’m a little bit late with this, but it seems fitting to reflect back on my crafty accomplishments from 2009 as I move into 2010.

Knitting-wise, it was a pretty decent year. I finished 18 projects. (One not pictured here, as I forgot to take a picture before giving it away. But I promise it wound up being cute!) Two of these are WIP shots, I realize, but I haven’t had a chance to set up a session to take photos of the finished objects.

All told, I completed six adult sweaters, two baby sweaters (one not pictured), one ornament, one shawl, one cowl, one scarf, and five pairs of adult socks. Not bad!

I also managed to bake up quite a storm! Not everything is pictured, but I thought I’d take a look at all the yummy baked goods I embarked upon.

Mmm…cupcakes.

Now, onto 2010! With more knitting, more cupcakes, and more fun!

Amazingly enough, I have yet another finished object to share! There may have been much cursing and gnashing of teeth, but I finished my Yule socks! In time for Yule, even!

The pattern is the Spiral Coriolis from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways in Sock Knitting. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Sock. After making the pair, I definitely have a better feel for how the patterns in this book are structured and work; I still don’t understand *why* they work but I think at some point I’m just going to have to let that one go.

The socks are lovely and cozy; they make me want to curl up in front of a cozy fire drinking hot cocoa while it snows outside. Never mind that I don’t have snow or a fireplace, or anyone to curl up in front of it with. I can dream, can’t I? (Or at least make some cocoa.)

I also made more cupcakes.

Yesterday’s cupcake adventure was hauled to my office via BART and MUNI–and frankly, I wasn’t entirely sure the cupcakes were going to make that whole trip without getting stolen by ravenous commuters–and promptly devoured. (And, I hope, enjoyed.) Today’s batch is meant for CAYA’s Amazon Yule; I don’t usually bake for Friday circles, but in a rare fit of not being involved in planning anything at all, I actually have time to stop by my apartment and pick up baked goods before I go.

For this batch, I made more lemony gingerbread. These seem to be clear winners; they went the fastest at work, much to my surprise. I would have pegged the peppermint mocha as the front runners.

I also made maple cupcakes with maple frosting. The cupcake recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but sans sugared walnuts. I meant to do those, but wound up going to The Sacred Well and chatting with Iris and Molly instead of having time to make the walnuts. Oops? The frosting is adapted from a maple buttercream I found online, since I couldn’t find powdered soy milk to make the frosting from the book.

Pretty good for a Friday, right?

I think I’m developing a dangerous trend of upping my game every time I bake cupcakes. I broke out the patstry bag and star tip this time, and I think these may be my prettiest cupcakes yet.

The icing is all swirly, and I even added cute garnishes.

Did I mention I was frosting these at 7 am, before work? Becuase I was. That explains why they aren’t all quite perfect.

It’s the holidays, so I made Peppermint Mocha. The cake is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and it’s the mocha modification to their standard chocolate cucpake. The frosting is the Vegan Cream Cheese frosting, but with half the vanilla added, and the difference made up with peppermint extract.

I also made Lemony Gingerbread cupcakes, also from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I used the lemony cream cheese frosting option; I have to say that I think I prefer cream cheese frostings that don’t use half butter or margarine both for taste and color (I had to tint both of these because I didn’t like the off-white tint.) The garnish is crystallized ginger.

Still…I think these might just be my prettiest cupcakes yet.

What did I do this long weekend? I made cake.

Lots  and lots of cake.

That’s five–count ‘em, five–birthday cakes for a gigantic Virgo birthday celebration. It was actually really enjoyable, aside from the disasterous, powdered sugar-covered state of my kitchen at the end. (Not that my kitchen was a paragon of organization before, and Thora was kind enough to come and help me clean up today. I would have been thrilled just to get the cake dishes cleaned up, but by the time she left my there were 3/4 fewer dirty dishes, the floor was clear and swept, an entirely new work surface had been uncovered, and my pantry was organized. And that was only an hour and a half. I love Virgoes.)

That’s what my apartment looked like on Saturday night. The cakes are on top of my bookshelves because there isn’t enough counter space in the kitchen, and it’s one of the few places my cats aren’t interested in jumping on top of.  I baked the cakes on Saturday, and did the icing and decorating on Sunday for the party that afternoon. Ideally, I’d have the cakes wrapped in the freezer, but they can survive this way too. Freezing them would enable me to bake them earlier in the week, but then I’d also have to have room in my freezer.

So, here’s a run down of the cake, for the curious.

Maia’s birthday cake was rosewater cake, with rosewater buttercream. The recipe is adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World; I left out the pistachios because I haven’t found a source for pre-shelled pistachios and shelling that many is just not going to happen for me. This was one of the vegan cakes.

Abby’s cake was my take on a Tennessee Jam Cake. I used the vegan spice cake recipe from Cookie Madness, blackberry jam for filling, and adapted this caramel frosting from RecipeZaar to be vegan. The vegan spice cake was amazing–I’m definitely keeping that one around–but the caramel frosting proved too much for it and the cake cracked into thirds. No one seemed to mind, but I think next time I’ll look for a caramel buttercream; the strictly caramel frosting is a little too much for vegan cake, which tends to be moister.

Ladybug’s cake was a hazelnut chocolate cake. I used yellow cake and chocolate buttercream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and hazelnut ganache from brown-eyed baker. This was non-vegan, owing to the ganache, as I haven’t yet figured out a good sub for heavy cream. I also think it could be improved by using a dark chocolate frosting, rather than the buttercream, which I chose for expediency’s sake.

Thora’s cake was a pineapple cake. I modified the Pineapple Rightside Up Cakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (why yes, I do love that book quite a bit) and used the pineapple topping as a filling. I frosted it with a rum cream cheese frosting, modified from this cream cheese frosting recipe. I wound up using a LOT of powdered sugar due to the addition of rum; I think I’d cut down on the margarine and omit the vanilla next time. I have a LOT of frosting left over.

Kismet’s cake was a choclate cake with chocolate buttercream, both from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, with a raspberry jam filling. This was one of the most straightforward cakes, but still turned out really nice.

Clearly, my decorating skills are a little rusty, and the warm weather (NOW you decided to warm up, Oakland, sure) didn’t do too many favors for my icing. I also learned a few valuable lessons:
* Waxed paper strips under the cake while you’re icing it? Really do help things look nice and professional
* Cake levelers are a rip off, especially with moist cakes. Use a long, serrated knife.
* You know how they say you should pipe a circle of icing around the outside of the cake if you’re using a filling, to create a dam? Don’t ignore that like I did.
* Most tasty icing sucks for decorating. Rather than try, next time I’ll just make up a batch of the super sweet, kind of gross, stiff Wilton icing for decorating purposes only.
* Beg for helpers, at least for the icing stage. (That’s when the organization always goes south for me.) People like cake. A lot. I’m sure minions will be easy to find.

Regardless, the four birthday girls that were able to attend seemed happy with their cake! As did the rest of the party.  I still have some leftover rum cream cheese and chocolate frosting in my fridge–if I feel up to it, I might try to bake some cupcakes. I feel bad tossing it, but we’ll see…maybe I’ll feel motivated in the next few days. If not, I can always toss it later.

Now that that’s over…who’s planning the Libra party?

So, I’ve got another crazy-ass baking project in the works. I’m calling this one Cakeapalooza, becaue making up names for my insanity somehow makes me feel better about it.
We all have our quirks.

I’m actually really excited about this; I can’t post too much detail here yet, but I love getting a chance to play with new and different flavors. There are so many different things to do outside the realm of basic cake. (Have I ever even made basic cake? Well, I made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes a while back but that was only because I made up my mind last minute and had to make do with what I had at home. I need to come up with a better stocked baking shelf in my pantry.)

I also go my first produce delivery this morning! I’ve signed up for a produce delivery service/CSA. I got the small box, but I’m actually thinking I could have gone with the regular since I’m trying to eat less meat.

My small box included
–2 giant (1 lb each) heirloom tomatoes (one not quite ripe, it’s in my windowsill to ripen up)
–2 pears
–1 bunch of grapes
–1 heat of lettuce
–1 basket of cherry tomatoes
–2 red bell peppers
–1 bunch of parsley

I’m already planning what I can do with these for next week. I think the big tomatoes will become tomato sauce (probably rounded out with some canned tomato, fresh herbs from my patio garden, and mushrooms), and the lettuce and cherry tomatoes will become salad. (Yes. You heard me. I’m going to eat salad. Theoretically.) I was planning on stuffed peppers, but my peppers are kind of wonky so I’m thinking I might roast them and make up a roast red pepper risotto. The parsley is another tricky one, but I’ve got a lot of chicken (I’m planning on making Chicken Tikka Masala) so I’m thinking I might make some gremolata.  And the pears–well, I’m sure I can find a desert or baked good inolving pears. Mmm, pear.

It’s so exciting to hae this again; if I manage to use up the small box and still find I’m buying lots of groceries, I might have to step up to the regular box!

Amazingly enough, the Great Cupcake Caper of Ostara ’09 went off very smoothly. Just in the nick of time, but everything was baked, frosted, transported and consumed. I didn’t get to try them all, but I did try to collect opinions! So…what did I make?

Lemon Honey Cupcakes

These turned out pretty well. The cake was a little dry, but the frosting was a big hit! I didn’t think the honey flavor was strong enough–there are a few honey cake recipes out there that I think I’d like to adapt to cupcake form, and top with some sort of glaze for as stronger flavor.

Lemon Rosemary

These were my least favorite. I loved the idea, but not the execution. Partially my fault–the rosemary wasn’t chopped fine enough (I need better kitchen tools) but they were also disappointingly dry. I think I’m going to tinker around with adding more oil, or possibly soaking the cornmeal to ease the grittiness.

Coconut Key Lime

I didn’t try these, but I heard good things. I did try the frosting–very good. But next time I hope that I can find key lime juice, because squeezing the little buggers was awful. Note to self: get citrus juicer. Really, though, how can you go wrong with coconut and key lime?

Apricot Almond

One word: sticky! But delicous. I liked these, and everyone else seemed to as well. Though in the future, I might go to the extra work of filling them afterwards, instead of baking the jam in. Because I’m that obsessed with things looking pretty.

Pistachio Rosewater

These smelled divine when you ate them. These are definitely on the make-again list. So delicate and fragrant, and I felt so pampered, eating something that smelled deliciously of roses. These would be great for a wedding or bridal shower, I think. Very romantic and girly.

Chai Latte

I have to say, these were my favorite. I’m not a huge frosting fan, so dusted with powdered sugar was perfect. I think I’ll actually be making some for breakfast–they’re almost muffin-y. And they made my apartment smell amazing while they were baking. Definitely a recipe to  hang on to!

The most amazing thing about this was that I’m not totally sick of baking! I do need to clean my kitchen up a bit more before I do any more, but this was not as hard as it sounds. Most of the recipes were super  quick to make, and once I get organized, it will only get easier. Though if I agree to make quite this many again, I think I’ll enlist helpers…

The Great Cupcake Caper of Ostara ’09 has officially commenced. Last night I began the actual baking.

These are coconut lime vegan cupcakes (on the left) and apricot almond vegan cupcakes (on the right). The coconut ones will be iced and topped with coconut later, and the almond ones will be glazed.

I’m being good, and not taste-testing, but the batter was delicious for both! My only disappointment is that the coconut ones didn’t rise as much as I’d hoped–I can’t tell if that’s because they are vegan, or because my baking powder is kind of old. Probably the baking powder.

So far, I’m right on schedule–so onward I go!

Tarot Card of the Day: Six of Pentacles