We still cook the majority of our meals at home every week. Whenever we (generally, that means J) cook, the food is good and generally healthy, but our primary concern is convenience. If anything's got to cook low-and-slow, it better be Crock Pot-able and tedious recipes are saved for the weekend when we're both home and can take turns entertaining Little One.
I think this has really affected our relationship with food. We both still love cooking and trying new recipes, but making time for it is so difficult and not always worth the fight with a toddler who'd rather play than sit quietly while we prep. Our meals aren't nearly as diverse as they used to be, and unfortunately we've worn out a few easy, delicious and inexpensive dishes. We've gotten so tired of repeating or riffing on the same handful of (mostly Whole 30 compliant) dishes - chili, wrapperless egg rolls, chicken or ground beef taco salad - that meal planning is a passive aggressive fight just waiting to happen.
And I was heartbroken to see how many "To Try" pins were just lying there...hopeless. So as I searched through the recesses of my pinboards, looking for inspiration for my mom's birthday cake, I made a decision: in the ten remaining weeks of 2017 I intend to bake a cake for every week.
I already have a couple "must bake" items in mind and limited criteria for this exercise in dessert decadence:
- Make a variety of recipes - they can't all be chocolate or pound cakes or include cream cheese icing - they just need to be new-to-me from a reputable source/includes good reviews.
- Try unique recipes but also try more traditional ones, too. One should always have a fancy cake and a "like Grandma used to make" recipe up her sleeve.
- Share as much cake as possible (but still trying each one!) - they're coming to work, to church fellowship meals, to book club etc. WE CANNOT MAKE TEN CAKES AND EAT THEM TOO.
- No offense, y'all, but I'm not really taking suggestions. I'm making the things I've been telling myself to make for years. But you should do you, honey; it's stretchy pants season.
- Document it all on my blog.
Hopefully, this experiment will be a reminder of how much I enjoy cooking and writing. If I can make time once a week to bake a cake, maybe I can make time once a week to try a different type of recipe or for J and I to resume our Date Nights of cooking together. I have derived so much pleasure from cooking in the last decade and either avoiding it or simplifying it to the point of banality has truly affected my happiness.
Join me over the next two months as I cook TEN new cakes! Now, let's jump right in!
WEEK ONE:
Today's my mother's birthday and we are a homemade birthday cake crowd. I've never been disappointed - the cakes are delicious and sometimes outrageously decorated to fit the birthday boy/girl's wishes, even an absurdity like a cat on a surfboard (thanks for the inspo, Beyonce).
Mom asked for something simple - coconut cream pie or cream cake - and even suggested I just buy a frozen pie. GASP. Like is she for real?! Her plain Jane request is what sent me into a Pinterest spiral of cake panic (yes, mother dearest, you're to blame for these upcoming cakes). After a very patient J talked me down from hyperventilating and I agreed that this cake could be simple - I have nine more to make this year, anyway - I decided to go for a tried and true favorite: poke cake.
I've shared my poke cake recipe with you before - my banana pudding version (see below) won me bragging rights at church as the Dessert Queen, so I just jazzed my recipe up to mimic a coconut cream pie. I added about 1/3 of a cup of sweetened coconut each to the cake batter and pudding (I used vanilla pudding because coconut cream pudding doesn't exist anymore? Whaaat? Or is this another case of #smalltownproblems?) and then topped with a border of toasted coconut.
If you're ever in a pinch for something fast - you can have it made in less than 45 minutes - or something you can make ahead - you should cool ideally for at least an hour, but overnight's great too - this is the cake for you. Any boxed cake mix + any instant pudding + whipped cream + lazy garnish. Boom. Done.
The real fun part of Cake #1 is the decor. Mom wanted a simple birthday - take out, cake and binge watching the second season of Stranger Things which was released on her birthday. So we had to give her an appropriate cake.
Wilton Cakes has no instruction manual for fondant demogorgons (but look at this!) and we're fresh out of Eggos, so we did the next best thing. All you need is gel icing in black or old school hunter green (it was the 80's) and 26 primary color plain M&Ms (just eat the brown ones).
It's like a cuter, safer, and more delicious version of Joyce Byers' nervous breakdown!
I hope you enjoy this recipe and stick with me for the next 9-ish weeks. I'll be reporting weekly on the cakexperiment; they may not all be this whimsical, but hopefully they'll all be this delicious.
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Banana Pudding Poke Cake (Award-winning, I might add)
Ingredients:
1 box moist yellow cake mix
ingredients listed on mix to make cake (mine were 3 eggs, 1/2 c oil, 1 c water)
2 boxes instant banana pudding
ingredients to make pudding pouches (mine needed 4 c milk)
1 container whipped cream, thawed
1/2 box Nilla wafers, crushed
Method:
Prepare cake according to box instructions. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon (or small, clean finger) poke holes in the cake about 2 inches apart (if your holes are too close the cake will collapse when cut).
Whisk pudding packets with milk and allow to stand for 2 minutes. Pour pudding over cake; spreading evenly. Place in refrigerator to cool completely (I did this the afternoon before our event and it got nice and soft, I think any more than 24 hours and it might get too mushy, but less time would be fine too your cake will be more firm).
Spread whipped cream over the pudding layer and top with wafer crumbles. Serve cold.
