I am so excited about all that is going on at the moment- new job, new apartment, new town with my man. But at the same time, I’m totally spinning trying to get everything done. You see, I’m a detail-oriented person to an extreme and when there are so many details- like packing and shutting off utilities and turning on utilities and getting my medical records to a new state and switching banks and getting a new license and plates and at the same time finishing up one job and training for another- yeah… my head hurts.
So in an attempt to shut off the moving chaos and concentrate on my delightful cooking project, last night I made GDL’s Stuffed Mushrooms and Almond Cake.
The Stuffed Mushrooms were easier than I ever imagined they would be. I will definitely be impressing guests in my new apartment with them. Although, I have to admit that they can’t hold a candle to my Aunt Lorraine’s famous stuffed mushrooms that make a welcomed appearance every Christmas Eve. Sorry Giada.
Now a whole cake may seem like a silly thing to make when it’s just me in my apartment alone but hey- sometimes you just need to bake a cake. I bought some of the ingredients for this a week or two ago when I thought I’d make this for Jamie and me but at the time malt balls seemed much easier after a long hard day of window-shopping.
You start by whisking (and you know how much I love whisking!) the dry ingredients together- cornmeal, flour and baking powder and set aside. Then GDL says to use an electric mixer with a paddle attachment to whip the butter and almond paste until light and fluffy. I am sadly without an electric mixer with paddle attachment so I beat the hell out of the mixture with my little rinky-dink hand mixer. It wasn’t exactly fluffy but I was too mesmerized by the almond paste to care.
I’ve never seen almond paste before so when I took the tube out of the box and unwrapped the foil, I imagine it was what scientists feel like upon discovering a new element. It looks like moist packed brown sugar but one whiff and you know its almond. It smells like those fabulous creams you see in spas and I had to stop myself from smearing it all over my skin. Instead I took a little bite and it was so sweet it felt wrong to eat it in its pure form like that.
Moving on, I added vanilla, powdered sugar, egg yolks and the dry ingredients to my buttery almond paste and poured the mixture into my buttered and floured cake pan. It baked for 35 minutes and my whole apartment smelled like a warm buttery bakery. The cake gets dusted with powdered sugar and it supposed to cool but I went in for a slice immediately. The outside has this beautiful golden brown crust to it and the inside is bright yellow and spongy. It reminds me of cornbread but almondy. So warm and lovely.
If only I could have a calming slice every time I get overwhelmed with my move. But if that were the case... we’re going to need a bigger cake.
Mmmm...Cake.
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