Making a Pake

Back in July, my eyes were opened to the existence of something called pake. A cake with a pie inside of it! Could this mythical baked good actually exist?

Well, I couldn't think of a better time to find out than during the salute to gluttony known as Superbowl Sunday. And since there was no recipe - just a photo to work from - I knew this would be an adventure.

My first piece of advice in making a pake is to invite some friends over. This is not a feat you should attempt alone.

So, you start with a cake. Two cakes, actually. Because essentially what you're doing is using the pie as the filling in your layer cake.

Then you bake a pie. I'm going to come right out and admit that I used a frozen pie. I felt that the level of difficulty of assembling the pake was high enough that I could cut corners on the pie.

In addition to being easy, the advantage of the frozen pie was that it I could easily remove it from its pie tin (cuz you can't put the pie tin inside the cake). However, I was worried about baking the pie without the tin, so I lined the tin with parchment paper, thinking I'd be able to simply pull the pie out after it was baked...this was true, it easily came out of the tin, but I ended up with a pie sitting on parchment paper, sitting on the bottom layer of cake.

With the help of no less than three friends (we took turns handling the pake and strategizing on how to handle the pake), I managed to pull off a series of flipping maneuvers that produced a correctly compiled cake-pie-cake pattern, but it wasn't pretty.

Next comes the frosting. I used buttercream, but a lighter whipped frosting would have been a lot easier to work with...also, you need more than you think you do - especially if your pake looks anything like mine and you're hoping to cover it up its flaws.

And once it's frosted: Ta-da! It's pake!

Unless you've been practicing, the pake is probably kind of a mess, but guess what? This is not a beauty contest! The pake is all about the joy that comes from eating a pie in a cake, not from looking at one. And let me tell you, it's good.
Mine was cherry pie in a chocolate cake, but I'm already imagining the possibilities.

I'm also imagining ways to actually bake the pie inside the cake. Not sure how to make that work, but I'm definitely willing to try...after I recover from this pake.

Love, Food and Art

Whether you were celebrating or boycotting, I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. Mine was even better than expected thanks in part to a last-minute offer by my wonderful stepsister to take the boys overnight. (In case you've ever thought of making such an offer to a parent that you care about, let me assure you that there is no greater gift.)

We celebrated with the boys during the day by eating some heart-shaped pizza. Then once they left for their overnight adventure, we had to figure out what to do with ourselves. We assumed dinner anywhere nice was sort of out since we didn't have reservations, but we decided to take our chances at the bar of an Italian place and since we got there before 6 p.m. (yes, we know how to party), we got a table! 

Now, let me preface all this by saying that I suspended my calorie counting for the night because calorie counting is neither fun nor romantic. So along with some lovely Shiraz, we shared some overly creative bruschetta and then some lobster fettuccini, which was yummy, yummy, yummy. I enjoyed every single calorie. 

We had decided to see "Slumdog Millionaire" after dinner, so we were going to skip dessert and then maybe get some after the movie, but when I saw Bananas Foster on the menu, I knew what I must do.

To assuage my guilt for eating this, I've decided that the pleasure it brought me far outweighs its unhealthy qualities. (I wonder why I can't lose weight?) Seriously, I need a personal trainer purely so that I can eat dessert with every meal. Anyway, dinner was really nice. 

Then there was "Slumdog Millionaire." Amazing. I realize we were late in seeing it, but if any of you haven't seen it yet, go now. It's a beautiful film and a brilliant story. The kind of movie where you leave the theater feeling better for having seen it. And the soundtrack is awesome, too.

All in all, it was a perfect Valentine's Day. No roses or chocolates required. 

Sweet Stuff

Everywhere I look, I see recipes for new holiday treats. I might as well just start eating butter by the pound. (Ironically, I injured my back yesterday helping my husband carry the treadmill up the stairs because I insisted that I was going to start using it immediately...yep, right after I can stand upright again.)

One of my favorites is still my recipe for cracker toffee, which is essentially just saltines, chocolate chips, lots o' butter and some brown sugar (it is now up to you to assemble those ingredients just right), but my eye has been wandering to peppermint bark, fancy pink macaroons and even The Amateur Gourmet's stupidly simple recommendation of peanut butter Ritz crackers dipped in white chocolate. Yum!

Will my imaginary treadmilling counteract the effects of all this sweet goodness? I think we all know the answer to that. 

Pie in the Sky

I woke up this morning fantasizing about becoming a pie maker. Learning to make flakey crusts from scratch…coming up with my own fantastic recipes à la “Waitress.”

I blame this fantasy on watching the American Pie Challenge on the Food Network before bed. And I’m still wondering how one becomes part of the American Pie Council…

But really, this is just part of the career crisis that seems to seize me every six months or so. I’m fantasizing about making writing a hobby and making something else my career…and I’m not saying that pie making is easy -- because, as it stands, the only pies I can make involve Cool Whip and pudding mix – but there’s just something so straightforward and honest about it.

Looks like that KitchenAid stand mixer is going on my Christmas list...it comes in boysenberry.

La La Land

I am back from the Golden State and operating on roughly 3 hours of sleep. Here's a tip on how to make flying the red-eye back from LA even less enjoyable: sunburn your back. Like, really fry it, so the skin actually seems to be attempting to jump off your body, trying to disassociate itself with you and your stupidity.

Yes, well anyway, given my surly, blurry, swirly state-of-mind, perhaps I should keep this short. LA was sunny. I watched an embarrassing amount of television, but at least a large percentage of it was the Olympics...that's my patriotic duty, right? I spent the whole trip hanging out with one of my oldest and dearest friends, who was nice enough to let me crash on her couch for three nights. (Incidentally, I am now declaring myself too old to crash on anyone's couch for more than one night.) 

We went to a beautiful beach, where we had the misfortune to witness a girl break her nose on her surfboard, stagger back to the shore and then throw herself at the mercy of the barely-trained lifeguard team...seriously, the poor girl could have dragged herself up the cliff and walked to the hospital in less time than it took the EMTs to arrive. I blame this lengthy distraction for my sunburn. 

I also ate cupcakes...6 of them in all. I fell in love with Big Sugar Bakeshop.
Their icebox cupcake should actually be called the Closest You're Gonna Get to Heaven cupcake. There's filling, you see, and that filling is like eating happiness. 

BFF + sunshine + cupcakes = good trip. But next time there will be no red-eye. 

The Key to the Merry-Go-Round is the Merry

I know what you’re thinking: At which gourmet bakery did you purchase that stunning piece of pastry perfection? Well, more on that in a moment, first a trip down memory lane…

Growing up, we had this restaurant called the Lincoln Dell. It was a Jewish deli/family diner/lounge. They had the best Matzo ball soup (and scary paintings of clowns hanging in the dining area). But they also made cakes. They had fake cakes on display behind the deli counter, which I longingly admired on every visit.

I coveted one in particular: the carousel cake. It was really just a standard round cake, sure, but on top was an entire plastic merry-go-round! In my preschool mind, it was heaven. Oh, how I wanted that cake. Finally, when I was maybe 5, my mom let me get it for my birthday. I’m sure it tasted…like cake. Although I’m pretty sure my mom had those plastic animals rolling around in the kitchen drawers for years to follow…maybe she thought she’d fine another use for them.

So yesterday – in a fit of boredom-inspired genius – I handed the boys two kid-friendly cookbooks and told them to each pick out a recipe. Aidan picked a simple “rainbow float” that consisted of sherbet, fruit punch and Sprite. Easy enough. But imagine my delight when Owen chose the Merry-Go-Round Cake!

This morning, after gathering our ingredients (he chose lemon cake with lemon frosting), we donned our aprons and set out to make dreams come true. The boys worked very hard decorating those animal crackers with icing. (A step I would recommend skipping - apparently this cookbook came before frosted animal crackers were available at the store.) And as you can see, I worked very hard on that canopy. Whew! Considering all we had to work from was a sketch, I think we did an excellent job.

But please, hold your cake orders. I don’t think I’ll be repeating this feat of cake genius anytime soon. I’m still trying to get the frosting out of my hair.

Wednesday Night Wrap-Up

I enhanced my Wonderful Wednesday TV viewing last night with a Leinie's Summer Shandy and some peanut butter banana ice cream. 

Side note: Anyone within 50 miles of a SuperTarget must run immediately to the frozen foods section and try one of the new flavors of Archer Farms ice cream. They're knock-offs of Haagen-Dazs (so they come in the tiny cartons), only the flavors are better. Sea Salt Pretzel Carmel?? Believe me, I love a good pint of Dulce de Leche ice cream, but throw in some salty, chocolate covered pretzels and it's just beyond good. And even thought they don't make a big deal about it in the name, the Peanut Butter Banana actually contains peanut butter cups...uh-huh. I think tonight I might have to douse the whole thing in carmel sauce just to see how far I can push it. 

Anyway, let's talk about TV. Finally a Project Runway challenge involving real fabric and design! I know this exposes me as totally unhip (as if you didn't know), but Kenley's dress (below) was hideous. I mean, I didn't think she should lose, but I also didn't think she should win. 

Leanne, on the other hand, actually made something pretty cool...cool, but obviously too wearable to win. 

As for Emily being eliminated...well, that dress was pretty ugly. Uglier than the lame clock-inspired dress? I suppose it was a toss up design-wise, but I think points should have been awarded for the inspiration they chose. Which do you find more reminiscent of NYC at night? Moving lights or a clock face? I know I can barely even check my watch without thinking of Manhattan at night. 

Anyway, onto Shear Genius. The shortcut challenge was more fun than the elimination challenge. I felt a tiny bit bad for the models, as almost none of them seemed like the type that would choose hot pink hair, but hey, a free cut and color is a free cut and color. But I am now convinced that Nekisa is either related to or sleeping with a producer of that show because you can't be called out in the bottom on every single challenge and not get eliminated at some point. And now she's starting to piss Jaclyn Smith off, which can't be good. 

Ok, so Charlie's Angels. I'm sure it seemed like a brilliant challenge on paper...how were the producers to know that the stylists would be so disappointing? I kind of wish one of the teams had been inspired by the shortcut challenge and done some punk rock angels. That would have been slightly more interesting. 

Maybe next week they will all have to shave portraits of their fellow contestants onto the backs of the heads of professional basketball players...sounds like shear genius to me. 

Sweet Dreams

You know what it's like when you tear a recipe out of a magazine and then you try to make it yourself and it turns out exactly like it looked in the magazine? Right, me either. Except now I do(!) because yesterday I made this Upside-Down Sunshine Cake and, well, just LOOK! It was a thing of beauty. 

I realize this is a far cry from my dream of being a world-class pastry chef (you know, my dream that is not based on any innate ability and is therefore not actually being pursued), but I'm still pretty proud of myself. And it tastes good, too. (Don't we all need a little sunshine cake in our lives?)

Speaking of dreams, last night I dreamt that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were giving me a ride somewhere. You know, because we all happened to be in the same place and they just thought it'd be nice to give me a lift. And I was sitting in the passenger seat of their black SUV (Brad was driving, of course) and I was turned around talking to "Angie" (whom, I should note, I have loved since "Hackers") about how I have twins and she was asking me all sorts of questions about what she should expect. Brad didn't want to divulge a lot of details about their plans (for fear, no doubt that I would blog about them), but Angie was relating to me as a mom and thought he was being silly...

I, of course, think this must mean that Angelina and I are meant to be BFFs...however, I'm open to your interpretations.  

Gonna Set my Soul on Fire

Monday kind of smacked me in the face after my vacation - next time I will have to schedule an extra day off to recover and hang out with the kids before attempting to re-enter real life. 

On with the Vegas recap! As you may have guessed, food was a major focus on this trip. Our first night, we ate at rumjungle in Mandalay Bay, which is one of the few restaurants in Vegas that I repeatedly visit thanks to them having the greatest pineapple-coconut rice ever. My travel companions indulged in the Brazilian fire pit all-you-can-eat insanity, which meant there were spits of meat being carted to our table every 10 minutes. I chose to focus on the rice in anticipation of our next adventure...

The dessert prix-fixe menu at Payard Bistro in Caesar's Palace...that's right, three courses of dessert. It's like Chef Payard can read my mind. We spaced our dinner and dessert three hours apart, but it still wasn't quite enough. Still, we knew we must power through and show our support for a menu devoted entirely to dessert.

So what did we have? Well, each of us got to choose any three desserts off the menu, which was separated into four categories: Harmonie de Fromages et Fruits, The Orchard, Tout Chocolat, and (my favorite) Coffee, Caramel & Nuts. There were 17 choices...I was in heaven.  Here's my personal menu:

Course 1: Seared Pineapple with Thyme, Tapioca & Coconut Sorbet and it's appropriate wine pairing (I mentioned heaven, yes?). Never has a piece of fruit with a scoop of sorbet been so delicious. 

 

Course 2: Coffee Éclair, Milk Chocolate Mousse & Flaky Sablé. (Sorry about the poor photo quality, we were trying not to draw attention to the fact that we were photographing our food.) Not only was this beautiful, it was perfect. I wanted to eat it all, but was worried I wouldn't be able to fit in the final dessert.

Course 3: Devil’s Food Cake, Cardamom Pot de Crème, Chocolate Pudding & Whipped Crème Fraîche (those are fancy Rice Krispies in the bowl). This photo really doesn't do justice to how amazingly delicious this was. 

Yeah, so all that was just the first night. 

Our second day in Vegas we played it a bit more casual, getting in some much needed reading-by-the-pool time and then heading to the casino where I won $113 on a penny slot machine!!!!! That never happens to me...it's taken me eight trips to Vegas to finally learn that it really is better to bet the max number of lines on each spin. Or maybe I always knew that but was too scared to lose my precious pennies and nickels to bet big (you know, 60 cents vs. 5 cents). Anyway, winning is awesome. 

We ended day two by seeing the Dropkick Murphys play poolside at the Hard Rock. I know I am old because all I kept thinking was what a huge liability it must be to put a punk band and a mass of drunken fans next to a pool. The men folk in our group headed off for the pit (despite me reminding them they were too old), while Rachel and I lucked upon one of the poolside beds, which we stood on and got a clear view of the entire show. Nice. I even picked up little band T-shirts for my boys, who are big fans. 

Day three started with a little more reading-by-the-pool time (btw, I was reading "Service Included" by Phoebe Damrosch, which I finished on the plane and loved), then back to the Strip, where I won $121 on my favorite nickel slots, The Price is Right!! Oh, how I love Plinko. It was going to be a good day. We came up with a plan in which I would play slots to make money and my husband would sit at the bar, where at least he was only spending $10 every half hour vs. losing $100 in 10 minutes at the craps table. 

And this, my friends, brings us back to Craftsteak, the perfect end to a fabulous trip. (Well, okay, I also got up at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning and went down to play some Monopoly slots, but the image of the gourmet dinner seems like a better ending than me sitting in the empty Star Trek-themed casino in the LV Hilton on a Sunday morning.)

In the name of fiscal responsibility, I have now sworn off Las Vegas until 2010...we'll see how that goes. 

Life is Sweet

This photo kind of sums up my trip to Vegas. So good, so sweet, so much…

This is what I ate for dessert last night (not just me). It was the final course in our surf and turf chef’s menu at Craftsteak. Yes, that's apple crisp...and molten chocolate cake...and bread pudding...and vanilla bean cheesecake...and fresh fruit...and (my fave) six scoops of homemade ice cream and sorbet. Thank you, Tom Colicchio for this gift. Six desserts at once? A rainbow of frozen goodness? It was a dream come true. Oh, and the other two courses were amazing too.

There is much more to be said about my fabulous trip, but I am exhausted and my squirrelly little boys are having trouble settling back into their own beds after their vacation to grandma's, so I will have to provide my recap in installments. Hope you don't mind.