A Tale of Two Cakes

It all started so innocently.  It always does.  
My Mother-in-laws  birthday was last week and the only thing she wanted from us was a caramel cake.
Done!  Like anyone needs to twist my arm to make a dessert.
I had been eyeing the recipe for Commitment Caramel Cake in Screen Doors and Sweet Tea for quite some time.  The picture in the book is so lovely and I love how cheeky Miss. Martha is in the sidebar: Caramel icing can sense fear.  Do not psych yourself out and it will be perfect.
Maybe that should've been my first clue that perhaps I was getting in over my head.
But, as I so oft tend to do, I just plowed right ahead.
I gathered my ingredients.  Butter (lots of butter), many many eggs,  vanilla extract, almond extract--ah, the batter smelled so divine!!  I carefully poured it into my cake pans and gently set them into the oven.  20 minutes passed.

Wow, this batter seems awfully, well, batter-y.  Lemme give it another 5 minutes...10 minutes...30 minutes.  By this time I was getting a little irked.  WHY IS MY CAKE NOT BAKING???
I turned to the Internet, and looked up other peoples blogs who had made this cake.  HUZZAH!  I was not the only who had cakes that wouldn't bake!  Maybe Miss. Martha used a convection oven and forgot to add that into the directions?  Who knows.  I was a little irritated.  And Jake was done watching Tinkerbell and wanted to play.  I threw the cakes on the counter and said to heck with it.  After the cakes and I cooled down, I took stock of my ingredients and realized I was not going to be able to make another Commitment Caramel Cake.  So I bid adieu to Miss Martha and turned to my other obsession, The Southern Foodways Alliance Cookbook. In it, is a recipe for Revelatory Caramel Cake, and lo and behold I had just enough eggs left to make the recipe.  I did not, however, have any cake flour left.  So I did a little all-purpose flour + cornstarch magic.  I also recruited my sous chef who makes anything an adventure. I took some liberty and added a little almond extract to the batter since it smelled so good.  Popped the cakes in the oven.  30 minutes later, perfectly done cake.  A perfectly white moist cake (no yolks in this recipe).


Hallelujah!


Now, since I abandoned Miss. Martha once she did me wrong with the cake, I decided to go ahead and make the caramel icing that went along with the SFA recipe.   Easy enough, it's caramel right?  I'd made Cracker Crack a million times--how much more difficult could it be?  Well...
pouring caramel on a cracker is a lot, A LOT different than trying to frost a cake with it.  It hardened almost instantly as I poured it on.  Then I dropped the bowl I was using ONTO THE CAKE.


Many expletives.

By this time I had been making cake (or cursing making cake) for about 4 hours.  We were to meet the family for a birthday dinner in approximately 15 minutes.  PLENTY of time to make another batch of caramel, right?  Despite the fact that you are supposed to let the caramel rest for 15 minutes before you whip it into icing.  I hurried through the steps and just poured the whole thing over the cake.  Resulting in the cake plate running over with caramel.

I said a little prayer that it would harden into a beautiful shell, and we ran out the door.

After dinner we headed back to the house for cake and presents.  The cake was...

Not photogenic.

I cut into the cake, or rather sawed through a relatively thick layer of caramel into a fluffy white cake.  Despite the homely appearance of the cake, it tasted pretty good.  

My ever-gracious father-in-law (who honestly declares everything I cook as the best thing he's ever put in his mouth) declared it the best caramel cake he ever put in his mouth.  

For me, the icing was a little thick and maybe diabetes-inducing sweet.  But the cake was moist and perfumed with vanilla and almond.

I'm of the opinion that it's going to take me a few more tries to perfect my caramel cake technique.  And I'm sure I'll adjust and tinker, that's just what I like to do.  I'm definitely going to try Miss. Martha's icing recipe, as she incorporates marshmallows and I imagine that helps keep the icing fluffy and smooth.

Ultimately, the cake ended up in the trash the next day.  

But PattyCake (my son's nickname for my Mother-in-law) arrives home from Charleston today, and there just might be a Caramel Cake waiting on the kitchen counter for her.

Here's a link to the recipe for Revelatory Caramel Cake.

If I'm Lyin', I'm Cryin'

Yesterday was my son's third birthday.  I know it's totally hokey, but it's amazingly unbelievable how fast time flies.
I have a three year old.  And he is the cutest, smartest, coolest dude I know.
I'm not biased or anything.
The kiddo requested a Tow Mater cake.  And of course I obliged.
Now I had the loftiest of intentions.  Homemade pound cake recipe from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea was dogeared, as was a homemade chocolate frosting recipe.
I had planned on making it the night before, but the kid took a super late nap, which turn resulted in a late bedtime.  So after putting together the bike, decorating the living room and admiring our handiwork, it was time for bed.
The birthday dawned.  Presents opened.  Bike ridden.  Breakfast.  (Yes all before breakfast).  Trip to the toy store to pick out one more present.
Home.  Bike riding.  Zingo Playing.
NO NAP.
As the day wore on however, it became apparent that I wasn't going to be making anything from scratch.  So I turned to Duncan Hines.
And it worked out great.
A Mater cake for my baby boy's third birthday!

How to make a kinda-homemade Mater Cake.

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can chocolate frosting
1 tube white frosting
Oreos
M&M's
Chocolate bar
Pretzel Rods

Bake the cake according to the instructions on the box.  Make sure you bake it in a 13x9 pan.
Let cool.
Get out a large platter or cake plate.

After cooling, cut the cake just a little short of in half, width wise.  Turn out that half rounded-side down onto platter.
Put a dab of frosting where you want to position the cab portion of the truck.
Using the rest of the cake cut out a piece of cake to use as the cab.  Place it on the "bed" of the truck, using the frosting as a glue.

Using a serrated knife flatten out the top of the cab.
Use some extra cake pieces  to even out the front of the truck--since it's rounded-side down, to make it flat in the front.
Now, if you're smart (I wasn't), put the cake in the fridge to harden up for about an hour.  I didn't do this--was pressed for time, as we were distracting the kid by watching Tangled upstairs.  So as I frosted the cake it was a little crumby and soft.  In the end it turned out okay, but I'm trying to point you all in the right direction.
Frost the entire cake in the chocolate frosting.

Now using the white frosting draw on the buck teeth and his eyes.  A glass of warm water and a spoon can be used if you need to smooth out the eyes.
Make his wheels by putting the oreos where the wheels would be.
Grab two green M&M's  and dab a bit of chocolate frosting on for the pupils.
Place them on the eyes.
Grab two orange M&M's, glue them on top of each other with a dab of white frosting.  Place them on the top of the cab as his caution light.  Use two orange M&M's on either side of the caution light as the other lights.  I'm not that familiar with car-light terminology.  Sorry.
Now get a yellow M&M and place it on the front of the grille as the headlight.
Grab two squares of chocolate and place them as side-view mirrors.
Using some more extra cake, cut out a circle and place it on the hood as his motor.

Now grab two pretzel rods.  Break them both in half.  Take two and shove them down into the bed of the truck (like towing poles),  using the white frosting glue the other two pretzel rods onto the top of the "towing poles" and rest them on the bed of the truck in a "V" shape.
Remember that you forgot to get the stuff to make the tow hitch.  Hope the kid doesn't notice.
Of course he notices.
Happy Birthday!!!