Thursday, February 10, 2011

A Fool for Cake


Buttermilk Country Cake, or so says the recipe. Pretty good!

I've been on a quest of sorts this week, a fairly unusual quest, for cake. Pancakes, cheesecake, Buttermilk Country Cake. I'm considering the merits of zucchini cupcakes, too. I wonder what all this is about. Cake (as well as all things that include wheat flour) does not agree with me.

I was able to force dinner guests to take home the individually wrapped blueberry pancakes, thank goodness. The cheesecake kind of flopped, so I didn't feel any regret watching it twist and twirl as it went down the garbage disposal. As for the Buttermilk Country Cake - it's almost too good. I'm trying not to eat the whole thing; maybe some of my clients would like a slice or two. You see, this obsession is not about eating cake, it's about baking cake. Weird.

The official, public-relations version of why I'm on this quest goes like this: it's cold outside, too cold for a nice long walk, so I might as well be in the kitchen doing something. Do you buy it? My PR story, that is? Hmmm ...

I have a rather creeping suspicion that my birthday (Sunday) might be partially inspiring the cake-a-thon - though - I've been telling myself that 58 is no big deal. I like the idea of feeling nothing in particular about 58. Makes me feel cool. It would be kind of embarrassing to admit that the impact of my upcoming birthday is producing a cake baking frenzy. That said, baking cakes is better, as a mode of acting out, than shop-lifting or doing drugs, right? Well?

The truth is, I really don't want to have feelings about aging. I want my mind/heart to be light as a feather when contemplating the return of Brother Sun to the place in the sky where he was when I was born. I want to have a sense of humor around it; I would like to be a jolly 58 year old. I really would. I want lightness, I want this birthday to be like ... like ... oh. Like a piece of cake.

Maybe it would be fun to make a chocolate cake, too, do you think? I'm considering it, after the zucchini cupcakes. Maybe I'll have time on Saturday. We shall see.

25 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

Here is a whole blog about cake.

Wow. The woman who writes it is also an Aquarius, so maybe there is a theme here.

debra said...

She finds boxes of old recipes and tries them. Interesting stuff.
have you ever made chocolate-zucchini cake? It's wonderful.

Reya Mellicker said...

Really? Now that's an intriguing idea.

Karen said...

Hee hee--piece of cake. :)

I have never been a very confident baker. I'm okay at cooking--especially with those recipes where I can improvise a little, add something this time, substitute something else the next time, measure the ingredients imprecisely (like pouring some of the spice into my hand and thinking, 'well, that looks about like a half teaspoon'). But baking is like chemistry. It requires precision, and somehow that makes me nervous. So I rarely venture outside of the box-mix kinds of baking.

I have made zucchini bread in the summertime when everyone has zucchini coming out of their ears and people give 'em away, are glad to have you take 'em off their hands. :) It's kind of amazing that you can fit that much vegetable into the batter and still have it taste like cake. :)

Enjoy your baking frenzy! Don't forget to feed the birdies. :)

NanU said...

Sometimes one just has to bake. I myself feel a cornbread mood coming on fast. Muffins, perhaps. Something to put honey on. And the oven just fills the kitchen with warmth, that spills over into the rest of the house with its delicious perfume.

ellen abbott said...

58 is a piece of cake. It's the next two you have to worry about.

The Bug said...

OK, I'm definitely planning a road trip to DC :) I am a cake-a-holic though, so perhaps it wouldn't be such a good idea to head to the land of cake.

The thing about 58 is that you're just so YOUNG. I don't mean those years - because sure you have experience to go with that number. But you're essence is about 25 to me.

Reya Mellicker said...

Ellen - OK then!!!

Bug you are welcome to come visit anytime - though you should know this whole cake thing is an anomaly.

Cornbread muffins? Oh. YUM!!

glnroz said...

yum yum,,,my favortie-like myself, plain not frilly.:) and a Bid Ole Happy Texas Size Birthday to ya! "58 is Great",,,

Jo said...

Yeah, Bug, 25 seems about right to me, too.

Reya, you will always be young, because you have curiosity and openness. The number means nothing.

I love to bake, too, but have grown intolerant of wheat products. (Honestly, I don't think humans are adequately equipped to process much grain...why make our tummies work so hard?)

I made some delicious gluten-free brownies the other day, and I often substitute almond flour (simply ground almonds) for regular flour when baking cookies.
It's so much nicer to our digestive system!

The Buttermilk Country Cake, however, looks DIVINE. May I have a little creme fraiche with mine, please?

Enjoy the weekend, Reya. May it culminate on Sunday with your best birthday ever!

Whitney Lee said...

We'll be baking today too. My baby is having a birthday so his sister and I will be making him cupcakes. I'm not a great baker so I'm glad my audience is non discriminating!

I hope you will enjoy yourself. I think it's okay to have a problem with turning 58. After all, you feel what you feel and you know it's just going to be worse if you fight against your feelings. I've got a big birthday coming up this year and am struggling a bit with it myself. It doesn't matter how much I tell myself it's just a number and doesn't really matter, I still find myself worrying over it a bit. Ah well, beats the alternative.

Reya Mellicker said...

Whitney thanks for understanding. I know I'm supposed to feel good about it, but ... apparently I don't!!

Jo, even the non-wheat flours disagree with me. I think it's too processed no matter its source. Though this buttermilk cake is actually OK.

Glenn, I'm like you, I like unadorned cakes. I really dislike frosting of every kind.

Sarah Knight said...

You can make cake for me any time : )

I hope you have a happy birthday!

Vicki said...

Yummy post today Reya, personally I am an icing fan but your cake looks decandently delicious! Wish I could walk over and have a cup of coffee and visit!

Reya Mellicker said...

Vicki I wish you could, too!

Linda Sue said...

CAKE! Life is CAKE!
I learned how to make cakes in 4-H when I was about eight years old. My cakes are things of beauty...and empty calories- I rarely make them anymore- health, you know...
While we were in Portland it fuggin rained every single moment- I though of you- losing your mind there- I looked for it but it was not to be found...Love th city though- it's pretty damned cool.

Linda Sue said...

Oh, AND wish I could help celebrate Reya on Sunday- I will do so from afar- I will eat cake in your honor and maybe have a margarita as well- Margarita's taste like sunshine.

Rebecca Clayton said...

Let them eat cake!

I've been on a cake bender too, also birthday inspired, I suspect. In my case, I tried a new recipe, which didn't turn out well, so I tried another, and then another. The last one turned out just right, but we were so sick of cake by then we didn't really enjoy it.

My husband's birthday is Monday (Valentine's Day) and he said "PLEASE don't make another cake."

Happy Birthday, Reya!

Pauline said...

Now I'll be baking as well! I found and printed a recipe for buttermilk country cake. I'll stick a candle in it and sing Happy Birthday to you Sunday :)

You're still young - I have a friend who will be 103 in April and she says she plans on living till 106 and if she's still having fun, she may stay around a while longer. She lives alone, plants and tends a garden and gave up driving just last year! To her you'd be just a young 'un :)

Anonymous said...

Like you've always said, sisters. Uncanny. Passed another astral test recently. Scarey, but I was brave. Thought of you...and I'm busy here eating my zuchinni cake, for what it's worth. Seriously.xxx

Reya Mellicker said...

Pam, Rebecca ... (sound of Twilight Zone music in the background). Ha!

Pauline YES

And Linda Sue - thanks for raising a glass on Sunday.

Meri said...

Well, at least you have the grace to bake the cake. I'd just be whipping up batches of cream cheese frosting if it were my birthday galloping up on me.

Nancy said...

I love cake - and it is very comforting on a cold day, night, well anytime. Happy pre-birthday! My favorite is chocolate with white frosting - what is yours?

tam said...

Birthday cake is very important! I made a wheat-free chocolate cake when I was in labour. It took me the entire day, but I did it. Iced it and then went to the clinic. I was so glad of that cake when I got 2am breastfeeding hunger a few days later! Let yourself have cake, Reya, lots of it.

Reya Mellicker said...

The truth is: I don't really like cake. It doesn't agree with me so I mostly avoid it. As of this morning, I've called a moratorium on my cake baking. It was slightly pathological.