Bakin' A Cake From Scratch

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the four final things on my bucket list was to bake a cake from scratch.  I've made shortcakes and such in the past, but I wanted to bake a layer cake.  A few years ago, there was an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay that my friend, Amy, watched--I never saw it myself.  But it was a coconut cake throwdown in Charleston SC.  And coconut cake and coconut pie are my favorites.  (By the by, if you ever find yourself in Chicago when Bang Bang Pie Shop is making its coconut pie, RUN to get a piece, it is to die for.)  Anyway, I don't know much about Bobby Flay, but I decided long ago that if ever I made a coconut cake myself, it was going to be this one, as it is supposed to be the ultimate.  (Having not seen the episode, I don't know if he won or lost the challenge, but the idea is, according to the Food Network website, "Chef Bobby Flay is on a secret mission: to challenge the absolute masters in different kinds of cooking – award-winning BBQers, bakers, pizza makers and more. In each episode, one of these cooks thinks Food Network is shooting their profile for a show. What they don't know is that Bobby is going to drop in for a surprise visit and challenge them to an unexpected cook-off. Since they're in their element and Bobby's out of his, prepare for an exciting, tension-filled competition."

So yesterday was the Downton Abbey premiere, and I decided I would tackle this coconut cake for my traditional little tea party I throw myself each season to celebrate its return to television.  I went to the store Saturday and what I needed (I had to go back on Sunday to get more butter--this recipe needs well over a pound of butter) and after church Sunday, I commenced with making this cake.  Now, prior to starting, I hadn't read the recipe over much other than the ingredient list so I was a little chagrined to find out that it was going to require 6 1/2 hours of my time (I mean, c'mon this is like a 30 minute TV show, and that includes commercials, right!?), especially given that yesterday was Leah's BFF's birthday party.  So I decided to just do what I could before the party and do the rest when we got home, which given that some parts of it required sitting for 4 hours or refrigerating for 2 turned out to be a good choice.  First step was making coconut flavored simple syrup, which was nothing more than boiling a bit of sugar and water and then tossing some coconut in there and letting it sit.  No big deal at all.

I also had to toast some coconut.  The directions were easy, but I was pretty sure I was going to burn it, and that there was no way it was going to work.  But sure enough, it came out just fine.  I even mis-read the directions and left it in the oven an extra 15 minutes and nothing bad happened.

By now, Leah knew something was afoot, so she decided to get involved.  So I included her in making the custard.  Leah LOVES whisking things, and so making custard is right up her alley.  We separated the eggs and then Leah asked if she could do the "frizzling".  I have no idea why on earth she calls whisking frizzling, she even calls a whisk a frizzler, and she happily frizzled away while I heated up the milks.  She also has a great deal more patience than I do, and I swear, when she was done, it was a beautiful thing, so beautifully and thoroughly mixed, I couldn't believe a 4 year old had done it.  I should have taken a picture when it was finished instead of when she started.

My little sous chef

Anyway, there she is sporting the chef hat she got from her grandparents for Christmas.  They sent her a matching apron as well, but she chooses to wear that as a cape and won't wear it for cooking!

We combined our warm milk slowly to temper the eggs and then cooked the whole thing into a beautiful custard.  I was RIGHT on the edge of overcooking it--once it thickened, it thickened quickly.  So if you try this, that is something to beware of.  But by the end of the cooking process, we had a beautiful, yellow custard flecked with vanilla bean seeds.

So then we took a 2 hour break to go to the party and when we came back, we had to bake the actual cake.  This was the part that I was most fixated on, figuring baking a cake would be very challenging.  But really, it was no big deal.  The worst of it was that I mixed up the wet ingredients, and then I was supposed to use the mixer to mix the dry ingredients and butter, but I hadn't read that far ahead. So I had to pour the wet ingredients into a measuring cup, mix up the flour and butter and whatnot, and then slowly add in the wet.  But the batter came together quite easily.  One thing I had to change was that I only used half a vanilla bean, because at $6 per bean, I was only buying one of them.  Half went in the custard and half went in the cake.  So I bumped up the amount of vanilla extract in hopes of compensating.  Secondly, I didn't have 9 inch pans, only 8 inch pans.  So I had to bump up the baking time an extra 10 minutes or so.  I also didn't bother with parchment paper on the pans.  I just greased and floured the hell out of them.  The cakes popped right out.

For some reason, I didn't take a picture of the cakes when they came out of the oven.  I drained the coconut out of the simple syrup and boiled it down some more.  I probably did too much boiling, because by the time I remembered what I was doing, there wasn't too much left, but there was enough for what I needed!

Anyway, after that was done, I had to wash the mixer bowl yet again (my mixer got quite a work out yesterday) and make the filling, which was some of the custard plus heavy cream mixed together.  I probably should have done it a bit longer, as it was pretty loose, but it tasted incredible.  So then I sliced up the cakes in half, smeared the cut sides with the simple syrup, and put custard between the layers for 3 layers in all.

Then I washed the bowl again and made the buttercream.  Unfortunately, although the recipe said the butter should be slightly cold, mine was too cold, and it didn't blend very well with the limited amount of sugar that was called for.  I should have stopped there and let it get a little bit warmer, but I plunged ahead and put the rest of the coconut custard in, and the butter just made wee little butter lumps all through the frosting.  I was not going to make more custard, but I was a little disappointed, so I let it sit out for an hour while I got Leah ready for bed, and then I mixed it again.  The phone rang, it was my dad, and so we chatted, and of course, immediately my friend Andy arrived to watch Downton with me and enjoy tea.  So three things going on at once!  My dad and I agreed to talk the next day, and so Andy and I jabbered while I frosted the cake and pressed the dried coconut onto it.  And voila!  We had coconut cake!

In case you're wondering, I started baking at around 12 noon and finished the cake at 8:45pm.  Interruptions included lunch, birthday party, phone calls, dinner, bedtime for kid.  

So, since the cake had to sit a little while, Andy and I exercised great restraint.  We had our tea first.  I broke out my London mugs, which I'd been waiting for an occasion to use, and I had made curry chicken salad for sandwiches, and caesar salad as a side.  Andy brought fruit.  we set the whole thing up on my daughter's train table to make it extra classy.

It was a lovely meal, although we both admitted to overdoing it on the initial portion, but we bravely soldiered through and ate cake nonetheless.

I got out the good china for the occasion

The cake is a very good cake.  You'll hear no argument from me about that.  Is it the ultimate coconut cake?  I don't know.  Was it worth the time and effort?  I don't know.  Odds are pretty good that I am never going to make it again.  Our local Wegmans makes a delightful coconut cake and in a pinch Pepperidge Farm coconut cake is good too.  So it's a good cake, but it was also very expensive and probably not worth the pay out.  If you have access to a decent coconut cake, skip this and just buy one.

On the other hand, it was a perfect reason to have Andy over and it did match nicely with Downton Abbey and tea. 

It's gotten me thinking about other Food Network recipes.  I think I might try some of the hardest ones listed.  This was really not very difficult.  I imagine maybe someone who isn't totally at ease in the kitchen would have difficulty with tempering the eggs for the custard, but other than that, it was just time consuming, not hard.  One down, three to go.

NYC: What Is It About You?

So yesterday was my big trip to New York.  I'd been planning it a while, and Friday sat down with a couple of BuzzFeed Lists to put the finishing touches on the culinary portion of my little tour.  Initially my plan was to go to the Strand Bookstore (http://www.strandbooks.com) and get lost for an entire day in the stacks.  Then I heard, and I don't know how I missed this but I did, that Pippin had been revived on Broadway.  Pippin is, without question, my all time favorite musical.  So I knew I had to go see that.  Then I got thinking about other NY things I hadn't done, and one of them was going to the top of the Empire State Building.  So I tossed that on the list, and my plans for the day were complete.

I spent Friday night at Melissa's, as she was watching Leah for the day so I could go on my trip.  It was her usual monthly time to get Leah anyway, so I just planned to go then anyway.  I had a hard time sleeping--I was REALLY excited, so I woke up at 1, sure I'd missed the alarm and and again at 3:30.  At 3:30 I stayed awake.  When the alarm went off at 4, I got up and quickly got dressed, then headed to Union Station.  I got there about 4:45 and the train left at 5:25, so I didn't have to wait too long.

When I took Penny to NY back in the day, we discovered The Quiet Car.  There is no talking, no cell phone use, nothing in The Quiet Car.  I got into a car that wasn't the quiet car at first, and there were a couple of people behind me talking and laughing, so when the train stopped at BWI, I got up and moved ahead one car, and lo and behold, I found the quiet car.  By Baltimore, I was sound asleep, and I didn't wake up again till the conductor came through to tell us that we were in Newark and only one stop to go.  I caught my first glimpse of the new Freedom Tower and the NY skyline.

I have to be honest and say that my first few minutes in NYC were minutes of disorientation.  I had to leave Penn Station to go find the N/R lines (aka the Never and the Rarely), and when I first came out into the sunlight, I couldn't quite make out north/south and east/west.  So I went half a block in the wrong direction before heading the correct way.  I had no trouble finding the train, and since I had a vague idea of where the Strand was, I ignored the directions I had once I got to the correct subway stop, and followed my instincts.  Sure enough, there was the Strand, dead ahead!

It was almost 10, so I stopped in at a Pret a Manger just to grab a quick croissant and bottle of water.  I sat there, right across from The Strand and stared at it.  I wasn't quite ready to go in yet.  But let's face it, a croissant only last so long, so I left and went across the street and stepped inside.  The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.

Ok, maybe not.  The main floor of the Strand looks like any other bookstore, only larger.  There were a LOT of people on that floor, and it was almost difficult to navigate.  Everything is crammed very tightly together, the width between shelves is just enough for one person.  But I saw signs for the basement, the basement where bargains live, and I rolled on down.  It was like a wonderful labyrinth of bookshelves.  You could turn down one aisle and 5 more aisles stretched out in front of you, or you could turn into one and find a dead end.  It would be impossible to look at every title--the shelves seemed 10 feet high, and books were crammed on tables and racks and shelves and every available surface.  Before too long, I had an armload, and I went to the first floor for a cart.  I traipsed around there a while, as well as the second floor, and then went up to the third floor where they have rare books.  I had to leave my bag and cart with a minder and I sat and looked through a book about apartheid, as well as some movie books and other old, fascinating books.  They were just beautiful, let me tell you.

It was after noon and I was getting hungry.  I didn't really want to carry a huge pile of books around NYC all day, but the Strand will hold your books for you and you can come back for them.  You don't even have to pay for them till you come back.  So I elected to do that.  My lunch of choice was Peanut Butter and Company.  I have long loved their peanut butter and all the different flavors they have, and I decided I would walk down there for lunch.  "just a few blocks" my directions said, but sure enough, nearly 45 minutes later, I found the place.

This is the exterior and it looks pretty good sized from outside.  Unfortunately looks are deceiving.  A good half of that space is the kitchen and front counter area. Another good bit is a small display area.  There are maybe 6 tables crammed into a very small space indeed, and if someone is sitting at one table it is practically impossible for anyone to sit behind them at the next table, to say nothing of navigating between.  There was a guy and his girlfriend at one table, and behind him was a little girl sitting with her mom, and you couldn't have gotten a piece of paper between them.

So I chose to get my lunch to go.  I didn't know where exactly I would go, but after my sandwich was wrapped and packed, I took it and walked over to a nearby building.  I thought I'd sit on the stairs, but there were benches and it turned out it was the NYU law school.  So I opened up my "Cookie Dough Surprise" sandwich and took a bite.

The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.  Just kidding.  It was a plain ole peanut butter sandwich.  Absolutely nothing special about it at all.  I ate half of it and gave the other half to a homeless person.  It did absolutely nothing for me, and I was HUNGRY at this point.  (If I ever go back, which seems extremely unlikely, I try the PB and bacon sandwich.)  So I decided I would try BuzzFeed's recommendation for S'mac, which is only 3 blocks from the Strand.  I walked back that way via Washington Square park, where I had never been before.  I thought from the directions that it would be MAYBE a 3 minute walk from the Strand to S'mac, but in fact, it was 3 of the longest city blocks I've ever seen and it was after 1:00 by the time I got there.  I had show tickets for 2:30 and the people at S'mac were in no hurry to serve me or the people who walked in behind me, and it seemed like (and it's a good thing) they were making everything to order, and I couldn't get even an estimate of how long it would take to get a dish, so I chose to leave and head back to the train station to go back to Times Square.  (For not the first time, I was way happy not to be hauling books!)

I got up to Times Square around 2:00 and found Nuchas Empanadas, also a BuzzFeed pick.  They had a 3/$8 special, so I ordered an Argentinian, a spicy cheese, and a spinach/portabello.  I sat on a chair in a seating area they had set up and watched the newest Times Square phenomenon, cartoon characters.  They are EVERYWHERE, and they accost tourist for pictures and tips.  It was insane.

So I bit into the spicy cheese one first, I GUESS as I'm not even really sure what the heck it was, and it was ok, but not mind-blowing.  The portabello one I did not like at all.  And the Argentinian was ok too.  But I was hungry and out of time so I ate!  Then I navigated my way through the pedestrian traffic to get to the Music Box Theater.  I have no idea whatsoever if it was because it's Saturday, if it's because there are more cars, if it's because every sidewalk and building in the area seems to be under construction, if it's because of the people, but Times Square is an effing zoo.  People were literally falling off the sidewalks into the street to walk.  I was totally and completely miserable.  I HATE crowds, absolutely hate them.  I get panicky if people are pushed up around me, and sure enough it was packed.  And I don't know if it's the Bloomberg legacy, I don't know if I'm older and more tuned in, I don't know if it was spending time in Chicago where people are pretty darned nice, I don't know what it is, but it has gotten NASTY in NY.  People are outright mean and rude.  I mean, I know that's NY's reputation, but when I lived there I felt like it got better.  The city is back to being crowded, rude, pushy, dirty, the peep shows are back.  I was really kind of devastated about it.  It's not the NY I knew and loved, that's for sure.

So I got into the theater and had extremely low expectations for how the new Pippin could possibly be any good.  No Ben Vereen, I heard the words "Cirque du Soleil" whispered around me, a skinny Charlemagne, Pippin in boots, a female leading player?  Well, I fully intend to write a separate blog post about Pippin, because it blew me away.  I have been to a number of Broadway shows, a pile of national touring company productions in Boston and DC and other places, and Pippin is unlike anything I have ever seen.  I know the dialogue.  I know the songs word for word, beat for beat, and I was so entranced, I absolutely forgot to sing.  I connected with Katherine on a whole new level.  They made Granny sassier than she has ever been.  Patina Miller was nothing short of extraordinary, as was Michael James Thomas as Pippin, who fairly had sex with Corner of the Sky and sang it with a depth and intrigued that not only showed he made it his own, but also brought new meaning to what has always been my favorite song from the show. 

I am serious about organizing a trip back to NY to see Pippin for anyone who would like to go.  Drop me an email.  We can go up and back in a day, just let me know!  k a t e k o s i o r ( a t ) g m a i l ( d o t ) c o m.  A few Facebook people have indicated an interest, so I'm hopeful!

After the show, I just sat for a few minutes and then went outside and joined the autograph line.  My sister is apparently a massive Terrence Mann fan, although I had never heard of him, not being quite as much of a theater geek as she is.  Judging by the applause he received, I was in a vast minority on that one . Anyway, I wanted to get his autograph for her, but he chose not to come out.  In fact, only Pippin and Granny came out from the lead cast, and a fair number of the supporting cast came out.  So I got a few autographs and then decided to walk down to the Empire State Building for the last big deal of the day.

I've always been somewhat afraid of heights, I'll be honest.  I inherited this from my mother, who is petrified.  When I first met Mike, one of the things he told me was that there was an observatory at the top of the building where he worked, and we went up there to see Boston from 50 stories up.  It sparked something of an obsession with me.  When Penny was here, she was also terrified of heights, but I insisted she go up there.  She refused to go anywhere near the windows, screaming and laughing and I think half crying.  When I took her to NY, we went up to the top of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, but honestly she was scared there, and as the day went on and it got cloudy, we skipped the Empire State Building.  But as much as I don't like heights, I do love going up tall buildings.  This fall, I went to the top of the Hancock Tower in Chicago, which I think is 90 some stories up in the air, and for part of it you can walk outside.  So with Boston and Chicago under my belt, I figured it was time to conquer NY.  I knew from the movie Sleepless in Seattle that the observatory at the Empire State Building is outside, and I was feeling somewhat brave in that I liked being outdoors at the Hancock, so I battled my way through Times Square and managed to walk down to the ESB.  It was dark, and around 6pm, and it looked like it was pretty cloudy up there.  Sure enough when I got to the ticket desk, it said "Limited Visibility", but I didn't care, I just wanted to be up there.  

Let me tell you, going to that observatory requires just about a 5 mile hike around the building itself.  You have to go through so many cattle shoots, so many hallways and passages, it was ridiculous!  Then when you finally get to the elevator, if you're not a VIP, you have to wait for the VIP's.  And some Asian teenager gave me his camera and asked me to take a picture of him and his family, so I missed a second elevator doing a good deed, and then the ladies in front of me couldn't get their stroller folded, so I missed a third elevator to more VIP's on account of that!  AUGH!  So frustrating!!!  So I finally got up to the top around 7:00.  But oh it was worth it.  There was a pretty brisk wind up there, so the clouds had been blown away and the view was absolutely spectacular.  The noise and the dirt of the city that was so bothering me disappeared.  (The rude people remained, but I navigated them fairly easily.)  It was a gorgeous night and the sea of lights seemed to stretch forever.  I love natural beauty--oceans, trees, mountains--but I was totally in awe of that city.  It was just amazing.  I walked around quite a while, probably an hour, just gazing out, trying to orient myself.  Eventually I was able to spot the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks.  It was incredible.  All too soon, I figured I'd better get down, find some dinner, and get to the train station.

There used to be a bunch of pizza places around that area, and I did manage to find one tucked down a side street--nothing is where I seem to remember it being over there!  I tucked into some pizza.  It was lackluster by NY standards, but in comparison with all the other food I'd eaten and not enjoyed, it tasted pretty darned good.  I folded it like a pro, and ate it with grease dripping out the back, so it was pretty authentic.  But I did add that to my list of culinary disappointments on the day.  So I headed back to the train station, and on the way I found that they've added something called Broadway Bites to Greeley Square Park.  Basically it's a bunch of small little food stands crammed into this miniscule park, and you can go up and down and try trendy bites.  I paid a visit to Doughnuttery and got 6 mini Cacaoboy doughnuts, still piping hot, and a nice icy apple cider.  I sent my sister a text that read, "Fresh cider and donuts.  God bless NYC".  Not really what I associate with city food, but it was good.  I paid another visit to Red Hook Lobster Pound, and tried lobster mac n cheese (mainly because they were advertising a 1/4 pound lobster roll as a great bargain at $16--um what!?  you can get a whole lobster for that!), but it wasn't so great, and I ate the lobster and tossed the mac n cheese.  Le Sigh.

Made it back to Penn Station with about 30 minutes to spare, and had a bottle of water, discovered that my camera card was having issues (clearly not true given that you are looking at pictures and those of you on Facebook have seen all my pictures!), so I gave up.  I played Sudoku until they called the train, got on the Quiet car, and after a brief scuffle with a cell phone user in Trenton (well, actually the guy behind me told that guy to shut up so I didn't have to), I fell asleep and didn't wake up till BWI.  We got back to Union Station right on time at 12:29, which means I took 2 Amtrak trains without incident, something of a damned miracle!  

What about my books, you ask?

I made an executive decision to ditch the books.  First of all, I picked out nearly $150 in books, and I was paying for this trip out of money I made from selling my freezer this week, which was $160.  It seemed irresponsible.  But also, as I considered whether to go back to the Strand or go to the Empire State Building, I had a good hard think about what titles I had picked out, and I couldn't think of a single one.  Not one.  I could think of what a couple of them were about, but not what they were.  So it seemed that I probably didn't need them.  I felt badly that the Strand staff was holding them and would have to re-shelve them, but I have reasoned that this probably happens quite a bit.  So I didn't do it.  Instead, I bought my admission to the ESB and got a program from Pippin, plus I got a few souvenirs for Leah, who is presently obsessed with New York City, for reasons I can't quite understand, but whatever!

So I got back to the car and drove home, and was back by 1:30 this morning.  The cats could scarcely believe their eyes and curled up right next to me and we slept quite happily till 7:00 when they announced it was breakfast time.  So I got up, did some laundry, went to church, and now have my niece's birthday party and choir practice to attend.  In short, back to usual.  But what a lovely retreat it was, and how happy I am that I can tick that one off the list!!