Week Ten: A Cake to Close the Year

If you've followed along for a few weeks or from the beginning (God bless you), you've watched me burn out on baking (pun intended). I've gone from giddy excitement to busy curiosity to near dread for baking, eating and writing about cake.

J asked me earlier this week "So, what will your last cake be?" I actually flung my head back and groaned out loud, not unlike our 18 month-old. And I had no answer. I'd done no pre-planning and no Pinterest research, much less cracking an actual cookbook.

However, January's Our State magazine (a wonderful periodical about all things North Carolina) included a peanut butter cake recipe. I haven't made a peanut butter cake yet, I had almost all the ingredients already, it required no fancy equipment or talents, and it could be made in a casserole dish without decoration. Sold.

But reading the recipe caption really sealed my choice and is what makes it the perfect way to end both this challenge and the year.

Photo courtesy of Our State magazine

Their beautiful photo is captioned "In grade school, recipe writer developer Lynn Wells always looked forward to peanut butter cake day in the cafeteria. Now, she shares her recipe (for School Days Peanut Butter Cake)." 

I had to do some research. I asked my parents if they remembered eating peanut butter cake at school. My mom was wide-eyed and excited, gushing over her school cakes; then crushed that I hadn't brought her a slice. I also remember hearing both of them talk about amazing cafeteria brownies. Then, because the universe's timing is hilarious, my friends' mother shared a similar recipe ("Lunch Lady Cookie Bars") on facebook and mentioned how much she loved eating this at school as a little girl.

This baffles me. I can't recall anything resembling dessert being served at school (beyond fruit cocktail or the "good" snacks which cost extra) and I was in school pre-Obama lunch rules (seriously, thanks Michelle Obama. I love you.). And I don't remember a single thing that stood out to me as homemade; it all seemed so processed and pre-packaged. 

The majority of my cafeteria memories from elementary school revolved around the tyrannical cafeteria manager, Mrs. Burns. 

Unfortunately, I never encountered her much again after 8th grade and don't know anything about her personal life. But as a kid, she was terrifying. The seemingly ancient lady frequently yelled at us waving a menacing wooden spoon, and gave every appearance of hating her job, and probably us, too.

She was always dressed professionally in crisp white scrubs, there were never major snafus in the lunch line, everyone had enough to eat, and her staff were excellent (good cop/bad cop?). Yet, she was a nightmare.

However, now I'm an adult and a mom and I kinda get it. In hindsight, she was probably approaching retirement age. Mrs. Burns' cafeteria ran like a well-oiled machine because she'd had a lot of practice. She knew what worked and what didn't. But she was probably OVER.IT.

I only have one child and even microwaving a crappy meal usually ends in yelling and/or tears from at least one person. I can't imagine spending a day catering to hundreds of loud, messy, and generally awful picky eaters.

And given what I know now about professional life, being a lunch lady probably provided her little perks. Like being a janitor or secretary, food service can be a really thankless career - especially when you're feeding seemingly ungrateful kids. Despite being one of the most regulated positions in a school, there is little respect from coworkers, the Board of Ed, or State Office of Human Resources (read: K-12 teachers are gods compared to other state employees).

She might have started her career happy, excited to see sweet babies grow up under her care. But by 1993, Mrs. Burns was probably tired, overworked, underpaid, and suffering from a non-stop tension headache following years of lunchroom chatter.

And we've all been there - in our jobs, our relationships, our parenting, or even in our hobbies. The things we loved, that we actually wanted to spend time doing, which we're good at, become burdensome, boring or exhausting. We end up spending more time dreading going to work or yelling at our kids than we do celebrating our accomplishments or making good memories. 

But here we are, approaching a new year where we can re-prioritize our life!

This challenge - to bake a cake every week for ten weeks - has allowed me to see how I need to better manage my time to improve my life. I'm the worst to take on too much and stress. I think I'm so busy, that I never have any time. And sometimes, it's tight. We go and go on the weekends, trying to cram as many chores, trips, and family activities into 2.5 days. Sometimes I push too hard and turn fun into obligation ("WE WILL DO XYZ. IT WILL BE MAGICAL AND WE WILL LOVE IT, DAMNIT.") 

Using Goodreads.com's annual Reading Challenge widget

But then I look back at this year. I've struggled a lot as a new mom to find my groove between getting things done and enjoying myself. But then I see that I did find the time for things that really mattered or made me the happiest. 

Somehow, I managed to bake 10 cakes during the busiest time of year and I wrote about each cake, too! Magically, I was able to read 25 books this year (my long-shot goal was to read 15)! We went to DC for a few days; we took two weeks of  Baby Swim Class; I threw J a great 30th birthday party, the list goes on and on. Because we made time for it; even when it wasn't easy to do so. 

So I encourage you, to take some time to reconnect with the sweetness of life - your kids, your interests, delicious homemade recipes - and savor it. 2018 is sure to have its hardships - every year does - but don't allow yourself to be bogged down in the mire. Seek the passion you had early in your career or marriage, remind yourself of your talents, and make your joy a priority. 

Hopefully, Mrs. Burns was able to find peace and relaxation after my tenure in K-8; but I beg you to not wait that long. 

P.S. Don't take this to mean I'll keep baking a cake every week. Screw that. We are officially out of butter and I quit. 

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I'M FINISHED! Hallelujah! I did it. 

To recap: 

Week 1: Coconut Cream Poke Cake 

Week 2: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 

Week 3: Orange Chiffon Cake with Candied Zest 

Week 4: Upside Down Banana Toffee Cake 

Week 5: Maple Bundt Cake 

Week 6: Little French Fudge Cakes 

Week 7: Tomato Soup Cake 

Week 8: Sufganiyot 

Week 9: Chocolate Yule Log 

Week 10: School Days Peanut Butter Cake from Our State 

I chose this week's recipe on a whim and praise the Lord it turned out to be incredibly easy and wonderfully delicious! I would highly recommend this recipe for any get together and especially for events where you're in a pinch for time and/or money, but need to feed a crowd quickly. This might become my go-to potluck/Church dinner cake. 

The technique is certainly easy and fast, but it is a bit bizarre. For the cake, you melt butter into a saucepan of water and boil. Then you add peanut butter, oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. I'm familiar with the wet into dry ingredient method, but I don't exactly understand the science of the boiling... but whatever, it's pure wizardry. It makes for a very wet, loose batter, but it cooks into a perfect, airy spongey cake. 

Only a few things are worth waking up early:
Cake and WNC sunrises top the list

In my very limited research (ahem just comparing this recipe to the similar 12 Recipes version), I've found a difference in including crunchy peanut butter or sticking only to creamy. I haven't tried creamy-only, but I LOVE the texture the few small peanut bits adds to the cake. I'd expected the crunchy to be used in the frosting, but it's great in the cake itself. 

The frosting also involves a bit of boiling, but it's a breeze to make. Pouring the hot frosting onto the warm cake allows a bit to seep in deeper into the sponge. But as it cools it hardens only a bit - not quite like those amazing fudge icings Southern grandmas can make in their sleep. It's silky and sweet (you could probably cut back on the powdered sugar by 1/2 - 1 c, actually) and is just the right thickness across the cake. 

And I love to be the bearer of wonderful news: this cake is even better the next day. We put ours in the fridge - again, more food science I don't understand: what desserts should/shouldn't go back in the ice box? - and it was terrific the next morning. The frosting got a little crispier and I swear the flavors deepened overnight. 

#NoFilter #Flawless #Awkward

Allegedly this makes 24 pieces of cake; they had to make it go far in a cafeteria (and not pump all the kiddos with sugar and butter midday). But you absolutely have my permission to cut it into 12 pieces...or 6... or sit down with the dish on your lap and a binge-worthy show (oh, these accidental puns). 

Seriously, file this one away, y'all. I think it's in my top three for this challenge. 

Here we are. At the end. My butter, sugar and AP flour stockpiles have been depleted and my energy is spent. I'm relieved and ready to relax for awhile. As this cake cooled, I put on my fleece onesie (stretchy clothes are a must for now), slippers and a carbonated clay face mask (copious amounts of butter = a desperate pore situation) to fully come off of my baking high. 

Thanks for sticking with me for the last ten weeks. I'm proud I got through it and glad you joined me. More to come in 2018! But not cake...or not much.