Chocolate Chip Chai Cake

Chocolate Chip Chai Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Ganache. Sounds pretty good, I know. I found the from-scratch recipe on CakeCentral.com. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's like a Facebook for cake decorators. To be honest with you, they should call it CrackCentral.

My monthly book club was last week, and since I hadn't made a cake for the ladies in several months, I decided I was due. While talking with a friend awhile back, we were searching for flavor ideas online and a chai cake caught our attention. When I found this recipe only days later, I felt the cake gods were smiling on me. I had a dream sequence similar to the one in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie writes a composition about wanting a Red Ryder BB gun. Everyone cheered, applaudeed and carried him around on their shoulders. Although I didn't expect my friends to carry me around on their shoulders (especially since cake decorating has made me fat), I was hoping for a "hip, hip, hooray!" or something of that nature. Instead, they spent several minutes reassuring me that it didn't totally suck while I poked at it with my finger. I have good friends.

We're going to try this one again, but I'll probably just incorporate the chai, chocolate and cinnamon flavors into better recipe. Maybe that cake will be picture-worthy.

I need a job.

"No more cakes until I have a full-time job and am settled into a more permanent residence."

It hasn't been very long since I first made that declaration; about three weeks, in fact. Oh, beloved cakes, I miss you. I need a job for obvious reasons like, you know, to pay bills, but today I'm really wanting one so I can again feel like a contributing member of society. Also, I'd like to use my free time to experiment with baking instead of write cover letters and tweak my resume. Blah.

Perspective employers: I've been in the habit of baking cakes and sharing them with my co-workers. Keep that in mind if you're considering skipping past my resume, please.

I got a new recipe for a better tasting fondant than the one I was using. Bonus. It's much cheaper per pound as well. Double bonus. But instead of merely opening the package, kneading it, coloring, and using it, you have to work a little harder and plan the project a little further in advance. Can't have it all, I guess. I make it sound worse than it is, to be honest. This stuff can be made weeks in advance because it stays fresh-tasting for a long time if stored properly.

The recipe came to me from a co-worker at my part-time job. I don't know what inspired her to take cake decorating classes, but what I do know is that I love having her around at work to talk with and bounce ideas off of. It's like an analog version of CakeCentral.com! Last week, I helped her out with royal icing, and in return, she is helping me with my fondant issues. I couldn't be more excited.

I just might have to break my self-imposed cake ban so I can try it out. I had a request for a small cake for next week, so I think I'm going to do it. I'll just have to keep lying to myself about how much time it's going to consume. Only a couple of hours. Yeah. (Wink, wink.)

A dream come true

You know those bad dreams you have every once and awhile that stick in your head and make you act a little nutty? This was supposed to only be a 2-tier cake, but I woke up in a cold sweat after dreaming we ran out of cake at the party. I could have imagined I was being chased by angry, wine-drinking party people with giant dessert forks, but I can't honestly remember.

My friend from book club asked me to make the cake for her 30th birthday party, and I was so happy to do it! We sat down to talk about what she wanted, and our imaginations carried us away. The design was simple enough. I could handle that, but what stretched me was the new flavors we decided upon.

After a visit to a local restaurant and bakery, we decided I would try my hand at my version of their "Strawberry Wedding Cake." It's a moist, French vanilla-flavored cake with a whipped icing and strawberry slices in the filling. After a couple of test cakes I shared with the girls from work, I came pretty close. So good. I'm definitely going to do another one of those this summer.

The second flavor combo was a pink champagne cake with raspberry cheesecake mousse filling. It was awesome. Talking about that cake has me salivating like Pavlov's dogs. Never before have I had such a...I'm sorry. There aren't words that would do it justice.

(Side Note: I got to drink the leftover pink champagne during the baking and decorating process which made not getting any sleep almost worth it.)