Cakes & Confessions

Friday night

Me: Tim, how come you didn't finish your cupcake?
Tim: Well, I think I've figured out that I just don't like cupcakes.
Me: Really?! Me neither! Although mine had chocolate on it and in it, so I had to finish it. What about cake - do you like cake? Cause I don't think I like cake either.
Tim: No!! *sitting up in excitement at the discovery of our mutual dislike of cake* Me neither! How great is that?! You never have to bake either because we don't like it!
Me: Excellent. We are a no cake household then. Decided.

Saturday night

Me: Tim, I want to get into the habit of making a yummy dessert for Sundays cause, well, it's Sunday! What should I make?
Tim: Oh, I dunno. Whatever you like, dear.
Me: Hmm...let's see. Well, I don't really feel like running to the grocery store for ingredients, so I'll have to make do with stuff I have in the house. Let's see *rummaging in pantry* I have a cake mix. And butter and icing sugar. I could make a cake!
Tim: Uh...didn't we just decide we didn't like cake?
Me: Good point. I'll look online to see if there's recipes with cake mixes as a base.

Sunday afternoon

Me: Ok! Cake's ready!Tim: Cake?! You made cake?! I thought....
Me: I know, I know. But I found this recipe online and 50 someodd people gave it 5 stars...so I had to try it.
Tim: Alright......*takes a bite*......Jen! This is the best cake! Ever! Can you make this next week too?!Ok. Our conversation didn't go exACTly like that, but it was pretty close! And man, did I ever score on this cake recipe! And since it's nice to share...

White Almond Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x13 inch cake pan.
Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, 4 minutes.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.

(from AllRecipes.com)

And while I'm at it, here's a Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch!) recipe that I've made a number of times before and keep getting requests for. Makes me want to go and make them right now!!

Cinnamon Buns
1/3 cup butter, soft
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 cup milk
1/3 cup nuts (opt. - I never bother)

Directions Cream butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter. Pour milk in all at once, stir to make soft dough. Knead 8-10 times. Roll out on floured surface. Roll up, slice and place into 8x8" greased pan. Bake 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Mmmm, these are so good.

Now. Onto confessions. We received a phone call at 8 o'clock this morning and this person asked if we were up. I couldn't lie. I had to say 'nope. still in bed.' And now, I will confess, I've failed to get up early for 4 days now. 4 days!! My post about the 5AM club...well...I failed to wake up early since I posted it!!

But now that I've made a public confession, I am determined.

6:30am.

Every morning.

Now...there's a slice of cake calling my name...