Cake Week 9:
STranger in a hot land
Cake Week Nine was the first Cake Week in our new home. Eyes had not found their ways onto cakes (yet), but the final cake gave a hint of things to come.
Other things that came to me this Cake Week was the incredible, headache inducing, inescapable heat of the home my husband and I had moved into the previous fall.
There are a few things to know about me and heat:
I am painfully fragile when it comes to heat. If it is above eighty degrees and at all humid, I WILL sweat through my clothes. I’m not just talking T-shirt here, I’m talking shorts. I’m talking canvas shoes. I’m talking people asking me if I’m okay.
I have lived in incredible hot places. I’ve lived in DC where I walked to work in the summer. I’ve lived in NYC without AC. I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi where the heat index gets to 128 degrees.
So I’ve always had a hate-hate relationship with heat, and yet heat has been a constant companion since I left the gloriously brisk environs of my native Minnesota.
For the heat and the unfamiliarity of my new community, Cake Week Nine was a labor of love… and frustration… and swollen rage.
Cake One: The dryest Lady Baltimore cake that ever was. If making a Lady Baltimore, please, please double the nut filling.
Cake Two: S'Mores Cake from Angel Food Bakery in Minneapolis. The best part of Cake Week is welcoming friends and family into the indulgences. (Thanks Katie and Adam!)
Cake Three: New community, who dis closing down during Cake Week? Today was supposed to be my two pies day... and my local pie shop was closed. Closed. I had to scramble.
Cake Three: The Carrot Cake slab. I begged a local bakery (since closed) to cut me an extra large slice of their display cake. It... was not as good as Dorie Greenspan's.
Cake(s) Four: Lady M Cake Boutique. These were all fluffy, fun, earthy, and way more precious than anything I'll ever be able to make.
Cake(s) Four: Since the Lady M boutique has such a small menu, we obviously had to try them all. Still fluffy. Still earthy. Still precious.
Cake Five: I had another plan for this cake, and then I woke up in a puddle of my own sweat and drove to Cold Stone.
Cake Five: It was over ninety degrees in our house on this day. Ninety degree. Inside. I devoured this Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake from Cold Stone with no remorse.
"Cake" Six: Grocery store chocolate cream pie. I had come to a point where my plans were falling apart. Local bakeries were closed. No one had full pies or cakes for sale (truly an epidemic). To be honest... this was delicious, as almost all grocery store baked goods are. Not precious. Super sweet. Dense. The right kind of too much.
"Cake" Six: Hyper sweet fruit tart from a grocery store. I took what I could get at this point. And take it I did. Extra creamy and full of so many stabilizers it would probably still be "fresh" if I hadn't swallowed it whole. Delicious.
Cake Seven: Is this the first cake with a face? Maybe... maybe... German Chocolate Cake that ended Cake Week Nine with eight pounds (I weighed it) of chocolate, coconut, and sugar.
Cake Seven: German Chocolate cake that both broke me and rewarded me for making it through, shiny and swollen.