The Baking Medic

O Valentine’s Day. The day when couples get disgustingly mushy and singles band together to rejoice in their independence (not that being in a relationship makes you dependent!). Personally, I like the idea of Valentine’s, but not the idea of a Valentine’s Day. Why do we need a specific day to tell our loved ones how awesome we think they are? Why not tell them everyday?

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This cake is a victory cake. Victory in the sense that I have triumphed over my MSA and I am enjoying a few days of well earned freedom (relatively speaking…). This cake is very special to me. I have wanted to make it for a very long time, ever since I saw it on I Am Baker, a simply breathtaking blog that mostly is dedicated to cakes.  It’s so simple, yet eye catching.  I can see it being perfect for a summer celebration or wedding anniversary, yet the snowy white of the roses also remind me of Christmas. However, it has just never been the right time to bake this magnificent cake – until now.

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Canada's best Carrot Cake... dressed as a pumpking!

Well, hello there! It’s been a wee while, but fear not. The baking medic as still been hard at work! So while today I will be only posting about one recipe, I’ll give you a sneak peak at a few of the things I’ve made in the fast few months.

The recipe today is “Canada’s Best” Carrot Cake. Now, that seems like a pretty extravagant claim to make, seeing as Canada is freaking HUGE (geographically speaking…did you know almost 41 UKs would fit that vast country of mine?). However the recipe came from one my much loved magazines, Canadian Living.  This magazine has a lot of memories for me; my mum was always subscribed to it and I remember flicking through the pages at the back, marveling at the beautiful pictures of… food. Even as a kid I had a bit of a one track mind.

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me want cookies!

These cupcakes were so much fun to make! I first saw them a few weeks ago on Facebook.  I thought they looked spectacular and immediately wanted to make some of my own.  So I set about looking for the perfect way to recreate these Cookie Monsters. :)

Firstly, I needed to make them look “fuzzy”.  I opted to use dyed coconut instead of dyed coarse sugar for two reasons.  Firstly, coconut is a lot easier to obtain in St Andrews and secondly, these cupcakes have a generous amount of icing and are topped off with chocolate buttons and a chocolate chip cookie.  I don’t really think they needed the extra sugar. :P

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Now I can’t claim this recipe to be of my own creation, however I did pick and choose bits and pieces from other recipes to come up with this: The Triple Lemon Bundt Cake.  It’s called the Triple Lemon Bundt Cake because a generous amount of lemon zest is added to the cake batter, then when the cake is still warm, a lemon sugar syrup is slowly poured all over its surface, and lastly a glaze with a lot of lemony zip is drizzled over the cooled cake.  So. Wow. Lots of lemon! I had 4 lemons leftover that needed using up and this cake was the perfect use for it.  I have to confess that I had to top up my fresh lemon juice with a bit of the bottled stuff (boohiss) but no one called me out on it, so I guess it’s okay. :)  But knowing that, I would make sure I had 5-6 lemons next time just to be sure I wouldn’t be caught short.

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tada! proof that size matters not!

This recipe proves that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better! I made this cake a few weeks back for my Valentine’s Day dinner with my dear other half.  We decided to have a relaxed night in rather than a sappy and overpriced night out. :)

My dear other half was in charge of the main meal whilst I was given the task of procuring dessert.  Giving my obsession with all things chocolate, I was not terribly troubled by this.  However, I still had to find a cute dessert that be sufficient for the two of us. :)

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As of today, I’ve been at the Lake for a whole week! I’ve nicely settled in, have gotten used to lazy mornings, and really have started to sink my teeth into the Harry Potter books.  I started them two days ago and already I’ve had to sheepishly phone my neighbour twice to ask for the next book in the series.  To be on the safe side, when I came to collect the Prisoner of Azkaban this afternoon I also picked up the Goblet of Fire.  Woo!

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A thing of beauty!

Wait, did she just say… low-fat? Hellz yes I did.  This delicious cake uses a grand total of three tablespoons of canola oil — three! That’s less than a quarter cup, yet the cake manages to stay light and moist.  Dry and crumbly “diet” cakes begone!

Right, and now for an explanation that’s a little less random.

Yes this cake is a low fat version of the popular lemon poppyseed cake.  For a while now I have been wanting to try so called “lite” baking to see how these goods compare to the real deal.  Now as I’ve done some recipe perusing before, I had a vague idea of what ingredients to expect.  Namely, using applesauce as a fat substitute (in place of butter or oil) and egg whites instead of whole eggs. » Read the rest of this entry «

Eating is without a doubt a social activity. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve met my friends at our favourite cheap eats in downtown Toronto, or for a coffee in a number of the charming cafes that St Andrews has to offer. Heck, there was one memorable evening when a friend and I picked up what must have been 15 lbs worth of curry, rice, and naan for a gut-busting, not to mention hilarious dinner with friends (even if we *did* have to drag this curry on a 20 minute walk to get there).

One the principle reasons I love to bake is because sharing food brings people together. There is a special pleasure in making people happy by giving them something tasty to pop in their mouths. Don’t you love to exclaim “ooo! Try this, it’s absolutely delicious!”? I adore this sharing of nourishment and companionship. » Read the rest of this entry «

I said I was a bit behind on my posting, so here’s a quick post to help myself do a little catching up, while tiding you over until the next recipe post.

See the fudginess of these beauties?

These, my friends, are cake truffles.  Recently, in my quest for perfect flat layers and level surfaces, I had shaved off the slightly rounded dome on the top of my Black Magic Cake.  So, I was left with two gloriously level layers but also some “cake scraps”.  Apart from feeding the cake scraps to my father (he was happy to ‘dispose’ of them for me! ^.^), I could turn those odd bits of cake into something different but equally delicious.

Cake truffles are very simply made: you take your left over scraps of cake and mush them up with your leftover icing.  Then, the gooey mass of heaven is scooped up and shaped into small balls.  Chill the truffles-to-be before rolling them in chocolate or another coating of your choice. Let the chocolate set and be prepared to guard them with your life — they’re that good! » Read the rest of this entry «