32.6

Ok, some crappiness for June.  Because thirty-two+ miles is, well, a big load of crap.  I checked my fitness log though and for being on 6 flights, traveling over 10,000 miles and still working out 14 out of 30 days, I am not overly sad about my lackluster mileage this month.

So the plan for July is to get that mileage number up near 50 and to keep lifting/interval training 2-3 times per week.  No travel plans, so it should be easy right?

Also I feel I should bake more and keep giving it away, I’ve done cupcakes and a lot of lemon…what should be next?

Growing Pains

It’s time.

With the Stove’s arrival, it’s time.

It’s time to branch out and start a new blog.

Baby Banana isn’t going anywhere but now there is a new venue for all things Marci bakes.

Ready?

Mmm…BAKED! is the internet’s newest destination for all things oven-made.

Check it out.

A christening

There are just over two weeks before the new stove is delivered.  Outside of the obvious questions…will it fit (pertinent because not even the old stove fits properly)?, will it work?, or will it even arrive?…there is the glaring one of what flour & sugar confection will be chosen to christen the new appliance?

~Cookies? And if cookies, do I make am old stand-by or something new and fancy?

~Cake?

~Tart or pie? And then,  fruit or cream-based?

~Cheesecake?

Long time, no bake

You know how long it’s been since I baked some sort of confection from scratch? January. That’s eight whole months.  Does anyone realize that my only real stress relievers are running (currently limited), baking (non-existent) and drinking with friends (and there’s only so much vodka in the world)?  Given this state of affairs, I am sure you can imagine how off I feel.  It’s funny, I hadn’t realized how much this affects me until I started to get really excited about having my stove hooked up again  and then realizing my excitement stemmed not only from having a lovely new kitchen floor and the ability to boil water and thusly make coffee again, but also so I could start churning out some freaking cookies and cakes.  Oh happy day.  Now I just need to move my accoutrement and ingredients back in my kitchen and we’ll be ret to go.

Although there is talk about replacing the stove. It is an eyesore, but it cooks true.  Dilemma, do I go for the pretty over the function?

The area where a stove should be. Also a very savvy way to protect oneself from an open gas line.

Baby Banana (still) Bakes

For Valentine’s day this year, I thought my wife and her our lover, Jen, needed some chocolate goodness to show them how much I care.

Witness: The Death by Chocolate Cupcake

This ain’t no joke, I started with 4oz. of chopped unsweetened chocolate.

Which was carefully melted over a double boiler.

And after mixing in the usual suspects: sugar, flour, baking soda, eggs, yogurt, the batter was poured and set in the oven to bake. Once cooled, the cupcake tops depress a bit which makes them easier to cut in half for the filling.

The filling consisted of semi-sweet chocolate, heavy cream, vanilla and a few pats of butter, chilled and then whipped.

Once the cupcakes were filled and had time to set, they were turned upside down and doused in chocolate ganache, a very messy job.

Another hour or so of setting, and a fresh strawberry coulis, we have the finished product.

Ah, love.

I’m stupid

No really, I am dumb…as in, not smart.

So I was having trouble deciding which dessert to bake and after reading comments and deciding that Buggie’s vote counted most, I settled on a lemon curd tart. I went to the store and bought lemons. Because, lo, lemon curd requires a lot of them.

Upon returning home from the store I began the baking process, squeezing out over a cup of lemon juice and a 1/4 cup of lemon zest.  Seriously lemony stuff I am talking about here.

Then, there is sugar, butter and eggs to add and whisking, lots of whisking.

And what next you ask?  Well this is when I chop up the shortbread and ginger snap cookies to make the crust and as I get ready to bake said crust I realize that the specific pan used to bake this crust and eventual lemon confection, the unreplicatable springform pan,  is currently taking up residence at a friend’s place. So I curse myself (a hundred times over), eat spoonfulls of plain, fresh lemon curd and go to bed.

In the morning I asses the damage over a short run and decide to use nearly every ounce of chocolate in the house to make a chocolate cake on the fly.

After flouring the pans, I start chopping chocolate to melt over a double boiler.

And now, not able to post any more photos (what up WordPres?), I end this stupid post.

But if you want to know how to make the easiest (seriously!) and perfectly tartly sweet lemon curd, here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice + two tablespoons
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest  + two teaspoons
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

DIRECTIONS:
In a 2 quart saucepan combine lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, eggs and butter (adding each ingredient one at time and lightly whisking each egg until it is just incorporated before adding the next).  Cook over medium-low heat, whisking frequently but lightly, until sauce is thick enough to hold marks from the whist and the first bubbles appear on the surface–approx. 6 minutes.  Cook and whisk longer (up to four minutes) to make a thicker curd.  Chill.

Your Just Desserts

So…say you had the option of eating one of the following sweet treats, which would you prefer?  And you know there will be Banana Baking Segment to follow!

~Creamy Lemon Tart with Rhubarb compote

~Lemon Curd Mousse Cake

~Apple Almond Cheesecake

~White Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake

~Almond Praline Cake with Marscapone Frosting

Pumpkin and bourbon and caramel…OH MY!

It’s time for another Baby Bananas Baking Segment! Previously, we’ve had a Mother’s Day Lemon Supreme pie, a Father’s Day Carrot Cake, and some dirty-minded sugar cookies. Today’s delectable comes in the form of Pumpkin Cheescake with Bourbon-Pecan Caramel Sauce. Made especially for the celebration of Hanumas.

Here we have the ingredients assembled so as to make sure that I have everything on hand, because believe me when I say it’s a pain in the ass to start baking something only to realize that you only have two eggs when the recipe calls for four.

Crushed ginger snaps and toasted pecans mixed with melted butter will eventually lead to…

…the crust of the cheesecake, seen here just prior to it’s baking.

 

Now it’s time for the fun part – beating (oh how I heart my Kitchen Aid mixer). Sugar, cream cheese and lemon zest are mixed together. The lemon will help to heighten the pumpkin flavor…otherwise it could get lost in the general creaminess that is cheesecake.

 

Once you add the eggs and vanilla you get a really fluffy batter to which you will add the pumpkin. Oh glorious pumpkin. Do you know how hard it was for me to not put in twice the called for amount?

 

I can tell you that even at this stage, it tasted pretty damn good.

 

But there is a purpose to all this, time to add the cream cheese mixture to the crust for what will hopefully be a damn tasty cheesecake.

 

I am scared I will over bake it…here you can see it baking in it’s water bath, all wrapped in foil. The foil keeps the water from seeping in and ruining the crust. The water bath ensures even heating (no hard edges) and helps to avoid cracks in the top of the finished product.

 

Time to chill out, for four, long hours!

 

Now it’s chilled and crumbed out with crushed ginger snaps around the edges (I confess, I did that to hide the mess I made of the edges trying to loosen the cake from the pan).

The only thing that is missing now is the caramel bourbon-pecan sauce and the people to eat it! Unfortunately, that photo resides on Buggie’s camera

My just desserts

So the possibly-psuedo-to-you-but-real-for-me holiday known as Hanumas is approaching this weekend. I’ve charged myself with making dessert for the fesivities and being that I received two, shiny-new springform pans I’d like to attempt something I’ve never baked before. Problem is, I can’t decide what to make. Here are just some of the delectables I am debating over: ~Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Torte with Caramel-Pecan Topping ~Layerd Mocha Cream Torte ~Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake ~Christmas Cheesecake with English Toffee Filling ~Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel-Bourbon Sauce Decisons…decisions…

An eruption of sweetness

A very sweet weekend indeed.

For those that happened to not be present at Law-ruh’s pad this Friday night, you should be acutely aware that the horror and all-around scary movies of your childhood are no longer scary. It’s a fact. I’ve tried many times now to scare the beejesus out of myself by viewing some classic scary movies to no avail (most recently Halloween and Children of the Corn). But if you get the chance to eat Law-ruh’s homemade ice cream while watching Isaac come back from the dead to bring Malachai with him…do it.

In unrelated news, in case you ever wondered, melted frosting oozes just like lava. I don’t know why you would wonder about this, but you might. Perhaps if you knew of a 12-year old’s luau-themed birthday party in which you were slated to make the official birthday cakes…then perhaps you would put thought into this kind of thing. I know I never pondered a situation such as this before this weekend. But alas, melted frosting (slightly cooled) will ooze just like molten lava when poured over a towering mountain (aka volcano) of chocolate cake.

I just feel bad for Tyra (Tricia’s twin sister) who opted for the non-surprise luau cake and requested that her giant chocolate chip cookie “cake” be embellished with a toucan…which you might be able to make out in the background here. It was not nearly as festive and “ooooh…ahhhh” inspiring as the volcano cake and for this I am sorry. But Tricia picked the surprise cake behind door number 2 and made out with this lovely specimen (if I do say so myself). I think this was the most fun I ever had making a cake. So if anyone out there ever has a hankering for an eruption of frosting, let me know because I will be more than willing to put an edible volcano together for you.