As we know, last year I participated in the tail end of a bake along with the Heavenly Cake Bakers. It was great fun. I learnt a lot about baking cakes and I met some really lovely, supportive people who were also finishing off their commitment to a list of 200 cakes. In the period that I joined the group, I managed to make 16 of the 21 remaining cakes. There were some free choice weeks added in so, of the complete list of 200 cakes, I made 22 cakes. When we finished in December 2011, I made a list 'to be baked' which included about 40 cakes that I thought were my style, my families style and could perhaps be included in my already busy life. When I make the effort to enter into HCB territory, I'll try and post about it so I can keep a bit of a record of my progress.
This Chocolate Streusal Coffee Cake was fantastic and is definitely on the list of cakes to make again. It is light and the crumb is soft and melty and crumbly. I like it that way. It isn't too sweet and works really well with a cup of tea.
I made this cake awhile back. I had been in my new job about a month and it was my turn to provide morning tea. I remember feeling quietly optimistic about my new job and so wanted to make an effort to be friendly to my new team. I generally don't like to add baking to my long list of things I must do. I find the life of a working mother busy enough with work commitments, children's commitments, adjusting to the things that life is throwing at me, the idea that I should also feel obligated to cook or bake on demand, never really thrills me.
Don't get me wrong, I do love cooking and baking. I have shelves full of cookbooks that I use all of the time. I am way too practical to be one of those people who buys glossy cookbooks, drools and dreams over them and then puts them on the shelf. No, I am happy to go to great efforts on a daily basis. I make a weekly menu for my family, taking into account our after school activities - who needs to be where at what time of afternoon/evening. I cook everything from first principles - no pre-packaged pasta sauces or curry sauces or E substances for us. I am concerned about my families nutrition and make sure I have organic vegetables and a variety of foods available. I know my efforts are well appreciated by my life partner. He regularly comments on how much he enjoys our lifestyle. That keeps my spirits up and with the children...well...lets just say their tastes are maturing as they get older. I get them to rate a meal with a star if they liked it and a meal must have at least 3 stars to stay on the menu.
So after homework time, I pulled out Rose LB and cranked up the oven. This cake had been on my list of cakes to make for the family. Many of the cakes in the book are rich and specialised. Some of them have complex baking procedures and lots of stages. I had worked my way through the book to choose the easier cakes and had put them on the list. I had also added a few complex ones that I knew we'd love. Anyway, this is one of Rose's easier cakes.
You do the usual things of butter and sugar and then mix in the chocolate ingredients and swirl them into the batter. it doesn't quite fill the pan, in fact only about half fills the pan. A smaller cake can of course be a good thing, depending on the event.
It is a marbled cake and had caught the eye of my first born, so I added
it to the list for him. I have to do most of my baking quite late at
night, after homework time so he had gone to bed by the
time I finished. I never got a chance to tell him it was for my work colleagues. In the morning he got up, found the cake in the kitchen and cut himself a piece for breakfast. As you do. I was actually glad he did cut it open and gave some feedback before I took it in.
In the photo below you will see it packaged and ready for work, minus one slice. My colleagues loved it and I was quite a hit in my little team and rode the wave of cake approval for some time. One of the funnier members of the team said "I wont go all Masterchefy on you but this is really good". Rose wins the day.
I was also sending a book to a friend in Sydney and had it ready to
address and send on its way. Stravinsky's Lunch - an excellent book. Its
all about feminism and art. Stravinsky had a large family and insisted
his wife keep the children completely quiet while he was composing in
his study and if he came to lunch and 'needed' silence to continue his
thought processes, the children and wife were to remain silent through
lunch. The book is about whether we have different expectations of
female artists to male artists. Are female artists (and composers) still
expected to be a wife and mother or can they insist on complete silence
in the house while their genius is at work? Or do they in fact have to sacrifice being a wife or mother in order to pursue their artistic goals?
