Curdtastic

I've been super busy in the kitchen lately. But I've also been super busy with Thanksgiving, birthdays, Christmas, travels, work, and other projects that seem to keep coming up. Even as I type this on New Year's Eve, my apartment is a wreck, but I've done so much baking and I'm so behind on blogging that I just have to get something up on here.

Last month, I did a major stenciling project for my pal Ed for the release party for his new book, Stencil 101. In fact, you can see a pretty cool photo on this page of some of the work I did for that event. That project took a lot of trial and error and resulted in many unused, ugly-ass cookie-stencil experiments, but in the end, it all looked really great. I was proud of my work. I'll be putting together a long, photo-intensive post on this blog about that project soon, but for now, I'm going with something a bit easier.

My pal Charlie turned 30 a few weeks ago, so I made him a cake. I was going to make him the sweet and salty cake, so I bought everything for that. Then, girl tells me she don't really like chocolate cake. What?! That's news to me. Girl wants a lemon cake. Grrrrr...

So at the last minute, and in the midst of making all the food for his party (which I love doing - don't worry Charlie), I ran out to get everything for the lemon cake. I used the recipe in the Baked book, since everything I've made from that book has worked so well. I didn't photograph the process too well because I was simultaneously making hors d-oeuvres for 25 people.

Anyway, the cake came out really well:


It looked perfect, and I was thrilled with the icing. It was lemon buttercream, but also had a bit of flour that was boiled into the cream. It was smooth and flavorful, and it spread on like spackle and held its shape PERFECTLY. I think this could be the heat-resistant buttercream icing recipe I've been looking for. It's sturdy, transports easily, and has a sculptural quality that makes it fun to work with.

I accidentally added coconut extract to the cake instead of vanilla. Oops! But it turns out that the flavors go really, really well together. I amended the recipe in the book for the next time I make this cake.

Here's a cross section:


Here's Ashton, Randy, and Eddie having a slice:


Brian likes it, I think. He always gives good "attitude face."


Brian's boyf Matt seemed to enjoy it, too.


This was a great cake, made all the more great to me because I made it in 4 hours flat and was very proud of the look and the taste of it.

I guess this is my last post of 2008. I'll get that stencil stuff up soon. To everyone who reads this inane drivel, thank you. I always get such nice compliments from people about my blog. It warms this old man's heart. Seriously, thanks for bothering to look. I really appreciate it.

Now go get the Baked cookbook. Happy New Year!!