Wednesday, April 11, 2018

I made the first of three bundt cakes last night – I can’t even remember how many of these I’ve made since last summer. Several for our Cranberry Day celebration and several more for various Cranberry Hall Presents events. I still have one package of cranberries left so I’ll make another one for the Member Appreciation event at the Hall and then, I think, I’ll never want to see that recipe again.

I was up early and had my next cake in the oven before eight. This time it was a Chocolate Fudge; I’ve never made it before but who wouldn’t want to try a chocolate cake that uses cocoa powder and brewed coffee. My worry with these cakes is that they won’t come out of the pan properly but so far, so good.

Next up was a Lemon Bundt cake, also a new recipe. I miscalculated when I was making my list; somehow I didn’t see the final two ingredients on the sheet and although I had enough eggs I didn’t have enough sour cream. I had some vanilla yogurt so I substituted some of that and, judging from the crumbs I had, it worked out fine. Again it came out of the pan without any problem.

Next up was a “regular” cake that will get iced and stay at the studio for Pat’s birthday. It uses a cake mix and instant pudding mixes so it was easy to put together. Before getting started though I had to run out to Safeway to purchase another dozen eggs due to my earlier mis-count. This cake will stay in the 9″x13″ pan so I didn’t have to worry about getting it out of the pan.

And finally I was on to muffins. I found a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Muffins but I don’t like fruit in my muffins so decided to substitute raisins for the apples. When I was ready to put them into muffin tins I realized my muffin tins (well Mum’s actually) didn’t look so hot so I put them into the recycle bin and decided to make loaves instead. These I’m not so sure turned out well; fortunately there are two of them so I’ll be able to have a taste before deciding whether they are “good enough” or whether I’ll pick some up from the store tomorrow.

And the bonus for all this baking is that as I waited on the timer again and again and again I made good progress on one of my cross-stitched quilt blocks!