Sunday, January 22, 2012

Then and now

In my last post I told about going for a motorcycle ride in January.  Unheard of for us here in the Midwest!  We had a very uncommon mild start to 2012.  Just ten days ago we had a beautiful moonlit night.

Moon rising-Jan 12

Well, that was then and this is now.IMG_8969This was the scene from Friday afternoon.  Motorcycle rides and mild weather are officially over for a while.  Temps in the teens and more snow. ugh!

snowy deck

rabbit trail…..I played around with the above picture in Picnik which has become my favorite photo editing website.  However, the other day I received an email telling me that they are shutting down in a couple of months.  Anyone know of any other online editing websites similar to picnik? rabbit trail over(for now).

So what does one do on a snowy afternoon when they are just thankful to have arrived home safely from work?

make a mess of her kitchen, of course!  A neat cook I am not.  Yes, this is how I roll…

IMG_8967

I was trying out a new recipe for a dessert auction coming up in March(see pictures from last years auction here and here).  The theme this year is chocolate.  I tried to convert the espresso cupcakes I made for our son, Joe’s wedding back in June into a cake.  The results?  ehhh [shrug]. I tried a different cake recipe and it either needs tweaking or I should go back to the original cupcake recipe.  The cake will be going to work with me tomorrow.  My guys there will eat anything as long as it isn’t crawling away.  In fact, they rather like my experiments.  SmileEspresso cake

I was thinking about baking this in individual coffee mugs instead of a big cake.  Get it?  Espresso cake baked in a coffee mug?  I thought it could be kind of cute.  Have you ever baked anything in a coffee mug before?  Did it work?  Did the mug break?  Did you adapt the baking temperature or time?  Any tips?

Do you have any fabulous chocolate dessert recipes you’d be willing to pass along on to me?  I’ll be sitting by my email waiting for them. Smile

Have a great week! I hope to get the journal tutorial posted in the next day or two.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Lori - I'm a messy baker/cooker too. Have tried to be neat but found it took longer. Checked out your previous posts and you have some great pictures. Always love to see pix of the countryside. That one picture above looks nasty and reminds me of days back on the farm. Hope you have a fast recovery so you can go on your mission trip.

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  2. I very much remember your cupcake experiments from last year. You're a really talented baker. I roll the same way you do in the kitchen. Thankfully my husband doesn't mind being on dish duty. :)

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  3. Torture!!! Oh my goodness...I want chocolate espresso cake...I neeeeeed it ;) No, scratch that...the picture will do just fine! (but I was very tempted to lick the screan!)

    Yes, you can bake in most mugs. I do it all of the time for all of the crazy cakes my kids have on their bdays. You just have to watch it because they cook faster. I usually fill my mugs like 3/4 full and then bake them on a cookie sheet juuuuuust in case I overfilled ;)

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  4. SrEEEn not screan (I worked out way too long today lol)

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  5. I had a recipe once upon a time for cake made in a mug, and I made it, and it was good but not something I thought was awesome so I didn't keep the recipe. It was very convenient...a bit too convenient if you know what I mean. :) blessings, marlene

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  6. I've done cake in a mug in the microwave (desperate times ya know!)...they turn out beautifully but they're the gooey in the middle kind of cake. I've baked in clay flower pots in the oven and they also turned out just fine. I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as your coffee mug is oven safe. Good luck!

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