Post from the past!
Today is my husband's birthday. In addition to a handful of practical presents, the girls and I all decided that what he really needed for his birthday was a cake! How could we have a birthday with no cake?!?
Husband had the car today, so that meant that I could only bake with what ingredients I had in the house. Normally this wouldn't be a terribly difficult task - I keep my pantry and cupboards pretty well stocked - but (as I discovered) apparently while moving I had decided to get rid of a couple staples (read: vanilla, baking soda, baking powder) that would make most cakes impossible with the ingredients in the house. We also didn't have any frosting nor any powdered sugar for me to make some. Dilemma!
Well, to the cookbooks! I leafed through my Kitchen Witch's Cookbook and found something called an Honor Cake. This seemed simple enough and, possibly most importantly, didn't call for any baking soda or powder! So I whipped up a batter. This is about the time that I realized that I didn't have any vanilla. Dang! What could I substitute?
After a frantic search of my cupboards and fridge I settled on Buttershots. I added the teaspoon of Buttershots in place of the vanilla, baked the cakes in two separate round pyrex dishes and waited for them to be done.
In the mean time, I whipped up what the book said was the typical topping - jam and a bit of whipped cream. We didn't have the apricot that the book called for, but I had some strawberry and I definitely had some whipped cream. I mixed the two together in a bowl. Then, when the cakes were done baking, I let them cool on a rack before spreading the top of one with the jam/whipped cream mix and plopping the second onto it. I then spread the jam/whipped cream mix liberally all over the cake until it looked as pretty as I was going to get it.
When the hubby got home he was pleasantly surprised. We all had a slice of cake, which turned out delicious with that slight flavor lent from the Buttershots and was a very dense, almost pound-cake consistency. The strawberry whipped cream mix lent a level of sweetness that was just right and we devoured our pieces. This was definitely a Success!
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