Side Bag

This is really only minimally food-related but was so funny to me that I had to post it somewheres.

Yesterday, my sister performed a beautiful piece with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Many members of our family were in attendance including my nephew Henry. He came to the show with an old Kodak camera bag slung across his body and so we had this little exchange right before going into the concert hall.

Me: "Hey Hen, did you bring a camera? We should take some pictures."
Henry (sly): "Ummm...not really."

He digs around in there for a little bit and produces a doughnut, which he informs me he is saving for intermission. I really like his style.

Later over dinner his mother told me he has been calling this camera case his "side bag" and she believes it to be Indiana Jones inspired. I don't think Indy had cinnamon-sugar in his pouch but whatever I LOVE the interpretation.

Rant - Buttercream Frosting is Difficult

It took me nearly twice the amount of time to make and deal with this frosting as it did to make and bake the cake part AND buy the carrier that totes two dozen cupcakes. I have always wanted one of these things and I will tell you that if you show up at a party with this carrier in hand, whatever you have inside will undoubtedly go to the highest bidder. Or drunkest, as it were.

I opted to make the chocolate variety so the first step was to melt chocolate. Fine.
Then you make simple syrup and add cream of tartar. Fine.
It gets somewhat complicated hereafter. I am still finding bits of chocolate and egg underneath my counters and on my clothes.

You have to beat eggs constantly in a stainless steel bowl in a water bath until they hit 120 then pour in syrup in a steady stream beating constantly. Then remove from heat and beat mixture constantly until in comes to room temp. Finally you add in 3 sticks of butter one tablespoon at a time at perfect temperature so that mixture is neither too thick or too runny. If either situation occurs you have to refrigerate or re-cook. I did both after I added in the chocolate because when I tried to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, the moisture separated from the fat and looked like total shit.

Everyone said it tasted really good, but there must be an easier way to achieve this result. Perhaps I do have to invest in a candy thermometer.

A Baker's Hats Off to YUM!

Dudes, this place is kind of out of the way for most people and, not to sound like some crabby hipster, but I do generally prefer kind of Mom and Pop bakeries instead of these cutesy ones...but this place has good food (excellent fries, simple delicious sandwiches) and SUPER good frosting.

Check it out.

Shockingly, Martha Has No Sense of Humor

What is a Jamaican Dessert?

Two dear friends of mine recently started a supper club and asked me to join. The deal is supposed to be that once a month they pick a theme and then one person is assigned to drinks, one to appetizers, one to side, one to entree, and one to dessert. So far we have only done it once and the theme they picked was Jamaica and I drew dessert. Even after doing a decent amount of research, I was still kind of at a loss because I needed something that would be, at least, somewhat portable. Most of the suggestions for traditional Jamaican desserts were some type of fruitcake that looked really unappealing or homemade ice creams with fresh fruit. The latter sounded great but I have no churner, and the availability of fresh tropical fruits is mediocre at best in the NE Rainbow.

In the end, I took a bunch of ingredients that are stereotypically associated with Jamaica and made the following cake which had too much rum in it...but it was pretty. I'll retrieve a picture to insert later. In the meantime try:

Like A Carrot Cake Only Drunker - serves 8

4 egg whites
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup Meyers rum (originally I used 1 1/2 cups and that was way too much, but whatever floats your boat. you could use light rum too.)
8 oz. fresh or canned pineapple (fresh probably tastes better but canned adds more moisture)
1/3 cup coconut, flaked, plus extra for toasting

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 cup white sugar
Pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipped heavy cream


Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour two round cake pans.
Separate four egg whites into a bowl.
Sift 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. powder, ½ tsp soda and pinch salt.
Beat ½ cup shortening, 1 ¾ cup of sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla.
Pour rum and 8 oz pineapple chunks and some coconut into wet ingredients.
Then add egg whites, and flour mixture. Beat.

Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes until tops become golden. Cool and invert.

Put 1/3 of the frosting in between the two cake layers and finish off the top and sides of the cake with the remaining 2/3.



Toast coconut at 250 for about 10 minutes until golden and sprinkle atop the cake.

Note: You could definitely substitute butter for the shortening in this recipe, but I figured it had plenty of animal fat as it was and I had some Crisco on hand.

Next month I am doing Lebanese appetizers for supper club and am certainly open to suggestions.