Week Five (almost a week late): Maple Bundt Cake (and a BONUS!)

My current feeling about this challenge is so indicative of my life and personality type. 

I am fascinated by personality and learning style quizzes; and also those Buzzfeed gems like "Which pop singer should you listen to based on your favorite Lay's potato chips?"(Apparently, I need more Adele in my life..also, more chips). 

But I haven't really invested much time in them other than taking the ones required by various leadership courses. However, I have a friend who knows her type and is firmly entrinched in her Myers Briggs personality description; so I did some more research a few weeks ago (because I honestly couldn't remember mine -- EN what?). After multiple tests, I kept coming up as ESFJ (T) or what 16Personalities calls "The Counsel." This person is Extroverted, obServant, Feeling, and Judging. All this means we ESFJs enjoy being around people, we love throwing parties and making people happy through "participat(ion) in a meaningful way." 

But that little (T) add-on to the personality is an identity of Turbulence. 

And here we are. I'm determined to work 40 hours a week, be a good mom and wife, do a zillion errands, explode Christmas cheer onto everything and make a cake every week. The cakes are being made but the writing about said cakes is lacking and/or lagging. 

But luckily for this T, my turbulence has chilled out some in motherhood. I'm still self-conscious and sensitve to stress, and my range of emotions has not diminshed. However, my push to be perfect, incredilby well liked (I mean, a couple folks could like me..)  and desire to always improve at everything I do has gone the way of the dinosaur. Sorry folks, park's closed; moose outside should've told you. 

And that just might mean that the blogs aren't written while the cake's still hot or even still in existence. But I'm trying. And I'm determined to complete this challenge, with a wide range of T emotions thrown in!  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, poor attitude aside, here we are: Week Five! Fifty percent completion! 

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 

For Week 5 I made a Maple Bundt cake, another gem from Martha's cookbook, for a work Thanksgiving meal. (P.S. we've made over a dozen recipes from that book in the last month and I will sing its praises forever! Maybe in a blog post later.)

This recipe (like this week's blog post) was incredibly simple - no complicated ingredients, weird preparation, or difficult techniques. And to my great excitement, it looked JUST LIKE the picture! 

I was seeking an autumnal cake for this gathering and maple is such a comforting, warm flavor it saddled up nicely beside other dishes featuring cinnamon and nutmeg. The cake was delicious, but I must say it was very understated and simple. It really is a no-frills pound cake with a hint of maple; the flavor and sweetness of which didn't shine unless you included the suggested topping of whipped cream and a tiny drizzle of extra syrup. Which makes me feel that this is more of a casual dessert, like you might have around for with ladies while drinking tea; it's not a head turning dessert. But as my cousin pointed out today "not everything has to be a showstopper;" if that's not some great bumper sticker life wisdom, I don't know what is. 

Click HERE for Martha's recipe for Maple Bundt Cake

ALSO - despite my current battle with laziness and insane schedule, we managed to make TWO "cakes" last week. I use quotations because despite "cake" being in the name, I don't consider cheesecake to be cake. I think they're pies. I'm sure this is a much contested question, not unlike "is a hot dog a sandwich?" I'm strongly of the opinion that a pie has crust and a filling, while a cake should have an element of bread-iness. Cheesecake is blatantly a pie, but I digress. J made a quick and easy Butter Pecan Cheesecake from Kraft's Food and Family publication for one of our family luncheons over the holiday. It was so pretty and tasted darn good too, especially if you enjoy less-sweet desserts. 

Click HERE for the Butter Pecan Cheesecake Recipe

Thank you dear readers for sticking with me this long. And since I've procrastinated on writing, it's already time to make the cake(s?!) for Week Six. See you again soon!