Hello?
Hello, it’s me!!!
It’s been about 2 years since I’ve written a blog post for you, and all I can say is that it’s entirely my Man Candy’s fault.
Yep that’s right. Totally his fault because…
He put a ring on it!
Once he did that, I went into full wedding planning mode for an entire year and some change. Also during that time I got laid off from my job so I was also job hunting, then I got a new job and was back to working 40+hrs per week again, and then my previous job asked me to consult for a big conference type event they were planning, so I was working on top of working on top of wedding planning.
Oh, and the military decided to relocate us across the country one week after our wedding so that was fun, too, because we had to plan for that as well.
So really, it’s all his fault.
And I’m not even mad about it!
But now we’re in Duluth. As in Minnesota. As in the air here can literally kill you.
I feel like I’m in survival mode day in and day out, literally trying to prevent my eyeballs from freezing solid. And if I hear one more person in this frozen tundra advise me to “find what you like to do outside” even though it’s -20*F, that activity I like to do outside just might turn out to rhyme with shmurder.
So I’m resurrecting my blog for the time being because I don’t really WANT to become a… shmurderer.
Plus I put together a bake list recently and I need some motivation to get through it. And although I already have several things on the bake list, please feel free to send some ideas my way - I’m always happy (yet terrified) to be pushed out of my baking comfort zone to do things that I haven’t tried before.
For instance, I was just reading through some of my old posts and came across the time I made a Sorting Hat out of rice cereal treats and brownies for funsies! And the eggnog macarons on the cookie wreath I made for a Christmas party! Ooooh and what about the time that I made that Optical Illusion “cake”. And one of my personal favorites - an anniversary cake for Rebellion Baking that looked like a Flower Bouquet. I had never done anything like those cakes before, and I’m so glad I branched out and got creative.
So here goes nothing! It’s the start of a new year, I’m snowed in with no job and no friends in town, and I have the time and skills to bake, film it, and write about it. Let’s do this!
First up on my bake list is a strawberry crunch cake that I saved almost a year ago. One of the baking forums that I’m on shows people going absolutely gaga over this recipe, and since I am a strawberry lover myself, I wanted to give this one a try. I don’t normally use recipes that call for instant pudding or instant Jello mix, but I figured I would try it out with this one to see what all the fuss is about!
When I find new recipes I want to try, I always follow the recipe as written the first time I make it, even if I have ideas for improvement. I like to have a solid foundational understanding of the recipe so I know where to adjust.
So I made this recipe as is and was… underwhelmed. And pretty surprised about that given how much hype it gets by people who post about it.
Here’s what I would change - first of all the cake recipe is just “meh”. It tastes a little of strawberry but could use some oomph. Next time I make it, I will either incorporate a strawberry extract, or use a strawberry puree or jam as a filling to amp up the flavor. Also this recipe uses a basic American buttercream (ABC) for the frosting which is great for a lot of cakes, but is just too sweet in this instance. I will likely use a French buttercream the next time I make this cake, too. Even though it’s rich, it’s less sweet than ABC and allows for more of the strawberry flavor to shine through.
Lastly, I was really excited about the “crunch” portion of this recipe because I was sure it’s what would put it over the top. The “crunch” is a mixture of crushed up Golden Oreos (“creme” filling removed) and dried strawberries coated in melted butter.
Ok first of all, have you ever eaten a Golden Oreo? I had never had one before this, so while I wasn’t sure what to expect, it seems I had higher expectations than what I got. Again, the best description I have for them is “meh” (although after I made the crunch recipe, which only requires 12 Golden Oreos, I had to figure out what to do with the remaining cookies. At the time, eating the remaining cookies seemed like a good idea, made better [MUCH better] by smearing each of them with a heap of Nutella hazelnut spread). But when I mixed them with dried strawberries and butter it went from “meh” to “huh”.
So after all of that I combined the strawberry cake with the ABC and the strawberry crunch and it made a really pretty dessert for sure! But since I have some tweaks in mind, I will plan to remake this recipe some time soon and share with you what comes of it when I do!
In the meantime, here is the recipe that I used in case you want to try it (don’t worry, it’s in the original Imperical/by volume version that was shared on the forum, not converted to metric/by weight measurements that I use for the recipes on my menu.
Thanks for joining me for my first blog post in two years! I can’t guarantee how long I’ll be able to keep it going this time, but as long as I’m unemployed and/or not working on overdrive like I used to I’d like to share my baking with you!
Happy eating, y’all!
Comentarios