Nothing Holds Up Baking...

...like an oven full of burnt.  Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, the burnt part wasn't my fault.  I've burned this before (Remember the muffin paperweights?  That was burning of epic proportions!), but this is like caked-on carbon in the bottom of the oven.

I would bake regardless, however, I have had the unpleasant experience of burning something on the stove top (it was underneath the pot, this is not a habit of mine!) and having to fan the fire alarm to appease it once more.  The burning smell went away and didn't settle on anything.  On one hand, I now know for sure that my fire alarm certainly works; I don't have to press the test button and then scramble to figure out how to turn it off.

So, in the hopes of saving myself quite the scramble, I have swiped the Easy-Off from my mum and now just have to get some really old clothes to conquer the burnt.  I have, so far, had the Easy-Off for about a week now and have not made the slightest effort to clean it.  I'm still working on the clothes (apparently this cleaning business is quite messy!).

I am committed to getting this done, though, and am hoping to have good news soon!  If anything, I have to absolutely get it taken care of before Nov. 3.  Why?  Because Nov. 5th marks six weeks until Christmas.

And Christmas means lots and lots of glorious cookies for all!  ^_^

The stove seems so harmless, sitting there with its novelty spoon (left), but what ominous things it contains!  See that black cloud?  I daresay burnt is the enemy of baking if such a thing even exists (right).

The Dreaded First Post

So, maybe I’m making a big deal about this whole thing.  No, scrap the previous thought.  I’m definitely making a big deal about this whole thing.  I’m thinking some people take to this blogging thing like chocolate and mint but, as I’m sure you’ll figure out soon enough, I’m not exactly the best at checking in regularly.  Geez, if the children of my children ever find my diary attempt and get all hopeful because they want to glean something new about me, they will find I age about a year between entries.  How is that for anti-climatic?  My life is going to seem like a goat-song!



Its not, by the by.  Just, you know, for clarification.


Anyway, why put off the first post?  Well, I was going to wait until I had the chance to bake something, take a picture and yak about how the whole experience went for me.  However, I was getting antsy just looking at the blank page from before.  Driven by the haunting image of the empty page, I cracked open my baking book to see what recipes I had to share.  


There are quite a few that I like, and I have a feeling they are going to pop up sooner or later, but, for now, let’s talk box cake mix.  Easy to use, pretty good flavor (on average – I’ve had some pretty foul ones, not going to lie) and everything is mixed up for you already (i.e. no Bulk Barn trip).  Have you ever tried to bake with them a little bit outside of the rules on the side?  I have!  A few times, in fact, but none so good as blueberries, almonds and vanilla.


I obtained the recipe off of my mother who had had it since I was a little girl and in Brownies (or maybe it was Sparks, not sure) though I had never really taken a crack at it until I had to attend a Baby Shower Potluck.  


The whole week leading up to the shower I had been staying up super late (and, yes, it definitely started to show) so I didn’t have a lot of time to bake anything really complicated.  The night before the shower, I blew in from work, got washed up and baked this awesomeness in the oven.  The entire kitchen (and my bedroom, by extension) smelled ah-mazing (with a definite syllable-separation necessary).  I made the icing before leaving the next day and headed on my way.


I’m happy to report that the cake survive the 15 min bus ride and the block and a half walked to get there, though things were looking a little bit questionable when I nearly got attacked by a flock of geese.  You laugh, but those things are mighty vicious; they hiss and are just all manner of unpleasant.  


At the end of the day, I was still in one piece and the cake was completely gone!  I’d say that’s the highest compliment to be had ever!


Success! ^__^

Betty Crocker, Blueberries and I 

(or, Cheat Blueberry Almond Cake)

What looks like tar is actually baked blueberry glory.  For the win!

You will need:

For the goods:

• 1 cup of dairy sour cream (the low fat stuff works totally fine, no worries).
• 2 tbsp water
• 3 eggs
• 1 package of Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla Cake Mix (See?  Cheating!)
• 1 19-oz can of Blueberry pie filling (More cheating!  And, what’s more, is that it doesn’t matter what flavor of filling you use.  Apple, strawberry, cherry… I’m pretty sure they have a pie filling for everything imaginable).
• 1/3 cup toasted almonds, sliced (“But, Liser, why aren’t they on the cake in the picture?” you ask.  Funny story: I didn’t have the recipe on me, bought the wrong ones, was too lazy to toast them myself and so omitted.  It worked out okay, though; you can never be sure with people and allergies these days and I don’t like to disclude people.  That’s just not cool).

To glaze the thing:

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk

How it’s done:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Grease yourself up a pan to put the batter in.
3. Mix the sour cream, water and eggs together.
4. Stir in the cake mix from the package and stir until moistened.  The batter’s going to be a little lumpy but don’t worry about it.
5. Spread the cake into your greased pan.
6. Using a Goldilocks-sized spoon (not too big, not too small), drop the filling by the spoonful onto the batter.  (Okay, the recipe says 19-oz but, man, I don’t know if you’ve ever cracked one of those open but that’s a lot of filling!  What size pan were they using?  Long story short, having left over filling is totally okay; go with your gut when adding the filling.  Maybe you’re just ape for apples, who knows? ^_^).
7. Bake until cake springs back; approx. 25-30 minutes.  (I used the time-honored poke-it-with-a-toothpick technique to test; you want to see that it comes out clean before pulling the cake on out).
8. Pull the cake out and sprinkle with almonds.  (Or not, if you’re like me and bought the wrong ones!  I’m not perfect, what can I say?).
9. While your cake is cooling, prepare the glaze by adding the milk to the sugar and mixing until smooth.
10. Drizzle the top of the cake with glaze.  (If you make it and store it in the fridge, it may separate.  If this happens, make sure that its totally mixed up before you use it).
11. Cut the cake into squares, serve and enjoy!

On writing this, I don’t know where this recipes comes from so I can’t reference properly.  My mom and I believe that it might come from a Betty Crocker Cookbook, given the simplicity of using a boxed cake mix.  Just because its simple, though, doesn’t mean it isn’t yummy!