F
irst things first: finals are OVER! It's always a victory when I finish exams - this year, with 1 paper, 1 take-home (72-hour), and 2 full-on 3-hour exams, it was no different. I was exhausted for about three solid days after I finished but the beautiful thing is that I only have four more semesters left! And much fewer exams this summer and fall, so a lot of the hard part is over. It feels good. So good that I'm celebrating by baking, and basking in spring.
Today, the temps are supposed to hit 70+ degrees. And sun, beautiful sun! We finally got out in the yard and cleaned up the weeds, planted tons of veggies (although I may greedily plant one or two more) and we are hoping for some tasty results soon. We've also been biking around - spent a whole day wandering among the cherry blossoms and masses of tourists on our bikes a few weekends ago. The blossoms had already started to drop but it was still really colorful and fun to explore.
With my newfound free time, I've been experimenting in the kitchen with cakes made of fruit. Neither bread, nor fruitcake, these cakes are dense, but work well for breakfast or dessert. The first one was my neighbor's mom's recipe for banana cake...he'd shared some with us during the snowstorm and I thought it would be a good way to use up our many frozen bananas. I don't have photos, since it went really fast, but I modified the recipe a bit (the original was very shortening-heavy) so it's much healthier but still really good. Here's my version:
Banana Cake
Place 1/3c shortening in mixing bowl.
Sift in 2c whole wheat flour and 1/2c regular flour (for 'cakey' results, subtract 2TB flour for each cup). Add 1.5c brown sugar; 1 1/4 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp salt.
Add 2-3 mashed, fully ripe bananas and 2/3c unsweetened applesauce (this balances out the WW flour).
Add 1 1/3c buttermilk. Mix 'til moistened. Add 1/3c buttermilk and 2 eggs. Beat 2 minutes longer. Bake in a greased 9" x 13" pan @ 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or sooner if a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, then remove to cool thoroughly.
Best when served cool!
And what's cake without frosting?
Creamy White Frosting
1c milk, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour. (rounded), 3/4 Stick of butter, 1c sugar, "Dab" of Crisco, 1 TB vanilla
Cook milk and flour on low over the stove until thick and smooth. Set aside to cool.
Beat sugar, Crisco, margarine, and vanilla 'ti1 blended, then add cooled-milk and flour
mixture. Beat, adding 3/4c flour to thicken. Best to cool some before frosting cake. Results: a really great cake for sharing (and yes, for breakfast too... it's still technically banana bread!)
Yesterday, I made Nigella Lawson's famous clementine cake, to use up a bunch of clems on the cusp of turning. It's gluten-free, made with ground almonds and only five other ingredients - really easy to make and it looks impressive. The almond meal makes it super dense though, so this is meant to be eaten in small bites. My only modification was to grate some Maya Gold (dark chocolate w/ orange) on top to finish it off. I didn't notice a huge difference in taste, but it looked nice.
Summer school is only 2.5 weeks away... until then, I've got so many other ideas for free time.. it's amazing how fun it is to simply have three or four hours back in your day for you to spend...however you'd like to! Sometimes it really is the little victories that keep you going, eh?
irst things first: finals are OVER! It's always a victory when I finish exams - this year, with 1 paper, 1 take-home (72-hour), and 2 full-on 3-hour exams, it was no different. I was exhausted for about three solid days after I finished but the beautiful thing is that I only have four more semesters left! And much fewer exams this summer and fall, so a lot of the hard part is over. It feels good. So good that I'm celebrating by baking, and basking in spring.
Today, the temps are supposed to hit 70+ degrees. And sun, beautiful sun! We finally got out in the yard and cleaned up the weeds, planted tons of veggies (although I may greedily plant one or two more) and we are hoping for some tasty results soon. We've also been biking around - spent a whole day wandering among the cherry blossoms and masses of tourists on our bikes a few weekends ago. The blossoms had already started to drop but it was still really colorful and fun to explore.With my newfound free time, I've been experimenting in the kitchen with cakes made of fruit. Neither bread, nor fruitcake, these cakes are dense, but work well for breakfast or dessert. The first one was my neighbor's mom's recipe for banana cake...he'd shared some with us during the snowstorm and I thought it would be a good way to use up our many frozen bananas. I don't have photos, since it went really fast, but I modified the recipe a bit (the original was very shortening-heavy) so it's much healthier but still really good. Here's my version:
Banana Cake Place 1/3c shortening in mixing bowl.
Sift in 2c whole wheat flour and 1/2c regular flour (for 'cakey' results, subtract 2TB flour for each cup). Add 1.5c brown sugar; 1 1/4 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp salt.
Add 2-3 mashed, fully ripe bananas and 2/3c unsweetened applesauce (this balances out the WW flour).
Add 1 1/3c buttermilk. Mix 'til moistened. Add 1/3c buttermilk and 2 eggs. Beat 2 minutes longer. Bake in a greased 9" x 13" pan @ 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or sooner if a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, then remove to cool thoroughly.
Best when served cool!
And what's cake without frosting?
Creamy White Frosting
1c milk, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour. (rounded), 3/4 Stick of butter, 1c sugar, "Dab" of Crisco, 1 TB vanilla
Cook milk and flour on low over the stove until thick and smooth. Set aside to cool.
Beat sugar, Crisco, margarine, and vanilla 'ti1 blended, then add cooled-milk and flour
mixture. Beat, adding 3/4c flour to thicken. Best to cool some before frosting cake. Results: a really great cake for sharing (and yes, for breakfast too... it's still technically banana bread!)
Yesterday, I made Nigella Lawson's famous clementine cake, to use up a bunch of clems on the cusp of turning. It's gluten-free, made with ground almonds and only five other ingredients - really easy to make and it looks impressive. The almond meal makes it super dense though, so this is meant to be eaten in small bites. My only modification was to grate some Maya Gold (dark chocolate w/ orange) on top to finish it off. I didn't notice a huge difference in taste, but it looked nice.Summer school is only 2.5 weeks away... until then, I've got so many other ideas for free time.. it's amazing how fun it is to simply have three or four hours back in your day for you to spend...however you'd like to! Sometimes it really is the little victories that keep you going, eh?
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