I rarely bake any longer.
\nIn my twenties, I made bread from scratch. This was before the invention of bread machines. I baked an occasional cake, and made pies and cobblers. We have a refrigerated dough crescent roll that is served at every Thanksgiving dinner, and a pastry called “Sugar Crisp” that’s made each Christmas. For a number of years, the women of my family have been invited to a day of baking cookies in December, to get ready for Christmas.
\nWhen my doctor suggested that I stop baking, I thought he was crazy. I kept on baking, but shared the fruits of my labors. Then….gradually, I started to cut back on my baking.
\nThere are times, though, when I get a taste for a certain dessert, and carve out the time to make it from scratch. Last night, I cleaned the kitchen, put everything away, and then checked to see if I had the ingredients for carrot cake. I needed more oil. I decided to make a quick stop at the grocery store today, and pick up what I needed. I’d still have time to make the cake and cool it before dinner.
\nWith the exception of needing two cups of grated carrots, the recipe is extreemely simple. Some time ago, I discovered that I could use my blender to chop the carrots, so that’s what I did today. I think I must have dirtied every bowl in the kitchen, and several spoons and measuring cups. Why is that? I think there must be an axiom somewhere establishing a relationship between the number of dirtied dishes and how good something tastes.
\nBy noon, I had the cake in the oven, and worked on dinner preparations while it baked. The house smelled wonderful with the scent of cinnamon filling the air.
\nWhen my timer went off, I did the cake test (piercing the cake with a toothpick to determine if the batter has been cooked thoroughly), and set the pan on a rack to cool. When it was cool, I used a knife to release the cake from the edges of the pan, turned the pan over and tapped the bottom to release the cake.
\nTwo thirds……maybe three quarters…..of the cake came out of the pan.
\nI have one lightweight, metal, easy release bundt pan that will be in the recycling bin this evening.
\nIt was incredibly frustrating to have put all that time and effort into making a special dessert and have it look like something that came through an urban war.
\nIt tasted fine. We had carrot cake after dinner. BUT….I knew it wasn’t what it should be, and it bothered me.
\nI think I have one more carrot cake in me, maybe more than one, but I won’t be using that crappy pan, that’s for darn sure. Sur la Table…..Crate and Barrel……Kitchen shops across Illinois….here I come, looking for the definitive Bundt pan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I rarely bake any longer. In my twenties, I made bread from scratch. This was before the invention of bread machines. I baked an occasional cake, and made pies and cobblers. We have a refrigerated dough crescent roll that is … Continue reading