Tips: The Food Explorer Helps This Rusty Cook Bake a Birthday Cake
What do Rusty Cooks have in common? We flounder, we fluster easily, sometimes we’re in over our heads. Are you a Regular Cook? If seeing a grown woman flounder in the kitchen makes you laugh, you should have been in our kitchen a couple days ago when I baked a birthday cake for youngest daughter Heather. She’s our designated cook and baker here—but on her birthday, I love donning an apron and cracking open my trusty egg-and-flour-spattered cookbook to whip up a delightful treat for her. For the past two years, the cake of choice was a fresh peach cake cuz Heather loves fresh peaches, so that made it a worthy choice. Delicious! I dream about that cake. (I love peaches, too!)
But three years in a row? Couldn’t do it. I narrowed the selection down to three cakes I knew she’d love, and picked the orange lemon layer cake. It sounded very special. Had to be, to both celebrate a joyous occasion and to soothe news she’d been dreading—the announcement that her favorite NHL player, Mike Modano, is retiring from the game. Sniffles all around. (I liked watching him play, too.)
Once I got into it, I felt the orange lemon layer cake was out of my league, being rusty and all. But I gave it my best shot—did everything it called for, from zesting a whole orange and a whole lemon (both organic), to a task I really detest—greasing and flouring the cake pans. (Sprays work better.)
Heather was just a room away while I tried working magic in the kitchen. She untangled a couple snags I ran into, and maybe they’re ones that you Rusty Cook sisters might run into, as well. Let me share a couple of them:
- The recipe told me to alternately add dry ingredients and wet ones. Heather said to start and end with dry ingredients, three dry, two wet.
- Measure the flour. Seems like a no-brainer, but Heather says to always, always, always spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Scooping flour directly into the measuring cup packs it in, and you can end up with more flour than the recipe calls for—-and that can throw off the results.
Heather says she felt bossy giving me these tips, but I’m so glad she spoke up! She’s amassed a lot of know-how in the seven years she’s been cooking/baking, and, for three of those years, she’s put her talents to work as the Food Explorer for the Central Minnesota Women Magazine. (Shouldn’t she write a book for newby cooks and bakers and Rusty Cooks?)
When it came out of the oven, the cake smelled pretty darned good. I hoped it would please the birthday girl.
Happy Birthday Heather cake. It's orangey and lemony, and edible! Heart-shaped sprinkles came from daughter Robin.
Mission accomplished! The cake was edible, brought a smile to Heather’s face. The Rusty Cook can now retire for another 364 days.
If you’ve got a cooking or baking question, why not ask Heather ? Maybe she can help. Leave a question in the comment section.
Natalie M. Rotunda's Organic Pantry Blog 
Recent Comments