Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

This morning was an early one for me — and I am not a morning person! One of my clients at work had a launch, which meant I started working at 5am to ensure everything was ready to go. So, I was in bed chipping away at launch-related work until about 9am.

At that point, I decided it was time for breakfast. I had already decided to work from home since I knew I wasn't likely to get a long enough break in my work to physically make the trip into the office, so I got ambitious. Also, my two weeks of no gluten recently ended, so it was a perfect opportunity to throw gluten back into the mix. My housemates and I get weekly produce from a local farm, and this week's items included a few Meyer lemons. So, I decided to whip up a Meyer lemon pound cake!

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/4 cups sugar 

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Glaze

Juice from 1 Meyer lemon

Powdered sugar

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease one standard-sized loaf pan. 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. With mixer at a very low speed, add flour, baking powder and salt. While the dry ingredients are being incorporated, slowly add in the milk and vanilla. Add in lemon zest.

Pour the cake batter into your greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, checking at regular intervals. Test the cake's doneness with a fork or cake tester — it should come out clean. 

While the cake is cooling, combine the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl and whisk together. Use as much or as little powdered sugar as you'd like for consistency (I used about a cup and a half). Pour the glaze over the still-warm cake. 

Enjoy!

For those of you looking for a cake recipe that isn't overpoweringly sweet, this is for you. The glaze is nice and tart, which offsets the mellow, vanilla flavor of the cake itself. It's great as a breakfast bread or a dessert. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the leftovers go over at the office tomorrow!

2013 in Review: Part 2

Missed the beginning? Part One is here.

April

The month kicked off with a nice round of pink eye, so I was forced to wear my glasses (which I never wear except at home) for nearly a month!

I enjoyed some Skyline while still home in Indiana.

I watched enough Game of Thrones with my brother that he decided our family needed its own crest (that's a bulldog and a puggle on it, for those who didn't know).

I worked at Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety's homecoming celebration at Park City Mountain Resort.

I attempted a juice cleanse (spoiler alert: it did not go well).

I celebrated closing day at Park City Mountain resort by busting out this lovely old speed suit from my speedskating days.

I had a handful of adventures with this lovely duo, Ashley and Korey...

...including an AWOLNATION concert at the University of Utah. 

I had a birthday! And my lovely parents got me a stand mixer! 

Julia took me to a French bakery so I had some macarons instead of birthday cake. 

And...a moose decided to walk through the parking lot outside my apartment. 

May

The month started with a 5k in Salt Lake City with my roommates.

I expressed my feelings towards the Romney name (because there are maybe 10 people out there in the world unaware of them).

I had a run that went so well that it inspired this selfie.

I went to the Spiral Jetty with Korey and Ashley.

 We also went to Twin Falls in Idaho.

I participated in Running with Ed, a Ragnar-like relay race that supports the Park City Education Foundation.

I kayaked the Provo River with Debbie, my wonderful former roommate.

I discovered a fantastic cupcake place in Provo, as well. It's basically the only thing I'll go to Provo for. 

June

I went hiking around Powder Mountain with Julia.

Running on the Rail Trail in Park City became a pretty regular thing for me, as I was training for a half marathon. One day, a herd of sheep decided to join me on my run.

I made s'mores cupcakes. 

I decided to get bangs again (and after reviewing these photos, I think I may have to do it again in the near future).

I relived high school and went to a Fall Out Boy concert. It was amazing. 

Ashley joined me for the concert!

I continued volunteering at Furburbia. There were a ton of kittens over the summer!

I went to a painting thing with Julia. I was pretty proud of the finished product! 

I ended the month with more running. The Willow Creek trail became my favorite weekend trail...can't you see why?!

The Perfect Chocolate Cupcake

After years of tinkering with chocolate cake recipes and coming up disappointed, I'm happy to announce that I have finally found an amazing chocolate cake recipe! I stumbled upon this one by accident while I was trying to track down a s'mores cupcake recipe somewhat similar to Sprinkles.

My successful s'mores cupcakes

I've made these twice now - once as part of the original s'mores cupcakes recipe and once as straight up chocolate cupcakes. Both times, they've turned out perfectly. I have made a few changes to the original recipe (because I'm me and I can't help but tinker with recipes), so here it is!

Chocolate Cupcakes (from Unusually Lovely)
1 1/2c granulated sugar
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
2c flour
3/4c cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
2tsp vanilla
1c buttermilk
1c dark chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli's 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 and place liners in a cupcake pan.

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix until well-combined. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to the butter mixture, alternating between dry and buttermilk. Only mix until combined so you don't overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate caramel pretzel cupcakes

There you have it. I highly suggest you now stop reading this post and start baking right now!

Kickass Brownies

So, tonight as I was sitting here watching The West Wing, I suddenly decided that I needed some chocolate. I wasn't craving straight up chocolate or anything...I wanted some baked goods. Of course, a quick trip to Pinterest gave me plenty of recipes to look at. After perusing a few, I put together the delicious brownie recipe below. It's small enough that you won't have tons leftover, but large enough that 2-3 people could share it if they wanted to. I have dubbed them "kickass brownies."

KICKASS BROWNIES (small portion)

1/4 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/8 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 c. cocoa powder (I used Hershey's because I prefer natural cocoa over Dutch process)
1/8 c. flour
1 t. high quality sea salt (I used Trader Joe's pink Himalayan...this step is super important! The salt makes the brownie!)

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a small, oven-friendly bowl or pan (I used a ceramic cereal bowl).

Mix butter, sugars and vanilla together. Add egg and mix until well-blended. Add salt, flour and cocoa powder until smooth.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Middle will still be soft.

Enjoy with ice cream or on its own!

30 Questions: Hobbies

List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

1.) Cooking - I've loved cooking my entire life. My earliest memories are of cooking! I don't know why I love it so much...I think it has to do with the cultural element of food. It brings people together, no matter where they're from or who they are. It's something everyone has in common. Nobody gets mad when you bring them delicious food!

2.) Shopping - It's always been a stress reliever for me, which is odd since my family tends to not particularly enjoy it. There are few things that make me happier on a Saturday afternoon than going to the mall and just leisurely wandering around. I don't have to buy anything...I just enjoy going. Yes, I know it's weird.

3.) Traveling - I don't feel like I should have to explain this one! There's so many amazing things you can get out of travel. From the bit of traveling I've done, I've gained new favorite foods, a new appreciation for different cultures, language skills, friends, indescribable experiences...the list could go on for ages. The magical thing about travel is that it changes you as a person for the better. I wish everyone could dive into another culture with an open mind...it'd make the world a better place.

4.) Exercising/Being Active - While I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with the gym, I love being active, particularly when it doesn't seem like I'm doing it solely for the exercise aspect. Whether it's throwing on a pair of skis and or going for a walk, I love being able to get out, experience nature and appreciate my body for the amazing things it is capable of doing.

5.) Writing - I've always expressed myself far better through written words than spoken ones. Writing just makes sense to me. I love it and I would not be who I am without it.

Macaron Cooking Class!

I just signed up for a holiday macarons cooking class at Sur La Table in Salt Lake City!

If you've ever been to Europe with me, you know of my love of these delightful French cookies. They're a very unique sandwich cookie...some sort of delicious filling in the middle of two soft yet crisp (it makes sense if you've had one) meringue/almond meal cookies.

Even though I'm traditionally a straight up chocolate dessert kind of girl, macarons are fantastic in about any flavor you can imagine. I believe my love of salted caramel came from a macaron I tried at Laduree in France, long before that flavor was all over Starbucks and every other chain in the world.

When I was in London this summer and went to Paris for about eleven hours, I made a point of stopping in Laduree. When I returned to London, I learned there was one in Harrod's! So, of course, I had to go to Harrod's myself and see if they were as wonderful as the ones in Paris.

Of course, they were great...but I had to make sure ;) 

Anyways...the ability to make these fantastic concoctions has always escaped me, so I'm more than a little excited to take a class about it. Supposedly, the instructor is fantastic. The recipes are all holiday-themed, too, so it should be an introduction to some fun flavors!

Stay tuned for more macaron posts after I become an expert!

30 Questions: Childhood Memories

Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

Those of you who know me well know that I have an absolutely horrible memory (well, unless we're talking about song lyrics or very random trivia). This applies to me as a little kid, as well. So, most of my childhood memories are lacking in detail because I don't remember much of them!

My biggest memory from childhood is baking cookies. Whether it was Christmas or just making chocolate chip cookies, it was always an event. My brother and I would always make a game of sneaking to the refrigerator to snag a taste of cookie dough while it was chilling. There was always a fight over who got to lick the bowl or the spoon. Usually, I cheated by "accidentally" leaving a lot of dough on the spoon and claiming that. Christmas cookies were the biggest of all our baking - it was an all-day event, starting with making the dough, then chilling it for a few hours, then absolutely destroying the kitchen in a cloud of powdered sugar and flour as we rolled out the dough and eventually iced the cookies. And every year, we took a picture like this:

Next stop on the memory train is family travel. I remember going on my first cruise when I was in 4th grade with my mom's entire extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents). To a 4th grader, that ship seemed like being let loose in a big city! We went to our kid's clubs and snuck through the casino even though we were convinced we'd get kicked off if we got caught in there. Also when I was little, I went to Washington, DC, with my dad. We waited in line with some Chinese tourists at the Washington Monument who were obsessed with my blonde hair and wanted to take pictures with me. I wore little dresses around because I was at an age where I liked to do that. It was a great trip for a young girl to go on!

Finally, I remember creating crazy, imaginative games out of nothing with my brother and sister. We still laugh today about some of the things we came up with! We had "games" called Alaska (this was mainly just hiding under lots of blankets), Kitty Kitty Kittens, the Return of the Alien Show and many, many more. Most had their own theme songs to go with them, too. We were very creative children who really found a way to have fun with just about anything. 

So, there are the memories. And as a bonus, here is my famous photo from my infancy.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake and Following Recipes

Last night's adventure...baking chocolate oatmeal cake.

I got the photo off of Tastespotting (it was Pinterest before Pinterest existed), which led to the recipe here.

I had to get a little creative due to a lack of ingredients for the icing they suggested (namely, marshmallows and milk), but it appears to have worked out! Who knew that French vanilla coconut milk creamer could make such tasty (albeit not so smooth) ganache? The one critique I have about the cake itself is that this definitely turned out more like a brownie than a cake, so I'm referring to this recipe as "Chocolate Oatmeal Brownie Things." This isn't a bad thing to me, as I much prefer brownies to cake, but I can see where it'd be annoying if someone were going to try it for a special occasion.

This is why you should always, always use your go-to recipes for special occasions, friends!

Granted, I'm not one for following my own advice. Typically, I use holidays as excuses to bake up whatever random thing I find online. One Easter, I actually invented my own recipe for cookie dough layer cake (while it turned out well, I do not recommend going rogue on cookbooks for a big occasion!). Last Thanksgiving, I made pecan pie for the first time and decided to make a second with chocolate in it (again, diverging from recipes).

Cookie Dough Cake...or, more accurately, brown sugar cake with chocolate chip cookie dough filling, cookie dough icing and chocolate chip cookie crumbs

Alright, now that I've got that out of my system...back to the chocolate oatmeal cake. I am baking at high altitude here in Park City, so the texture could've been a problem with my altitude adjustments. I don't typically see that much of a difference, though.

The final verdict? This stuff is tasty and I liked it. Work people liked it. I'll probably make it again!