Let them eat cake

To make up for my absence, here’s a slice of gingerbread cake.

This is me getting into a festive spirit of sorts. Well – not really, actually – I just wanted to make cake. This gingerbread cake recipe came from a cookbook called Piece of Cake! One-Bowl, No-Fuss, From-Scratch Cakes by Camilla Sainsbury. Indeed, it’s a whole book of recipes for cakes you can make out of one bowl. There are sheet cakes, bundt cakes and fancy celebration cake recipes. I am totally down with less cleaning and I believe that baking ought to be simple. This, however, was my first time baking out of this book, and I was apprehensive. The recipe called for melted butter (which was actually melted in a small separate bowl) and boiling water, which is a bit different from cake recipes I’ve tried. However, the cake was moist, rich and dark, especially from the molasses. I’m not really sure what else constitutes a “good” cake — the crumb?

Remember that Christmas cake I made during Thanksgiving? I took it out for its first feeding of a couple of tablespoons of brandy. Brush it on!

Lately I’ve been drinking  a lot warm liquids to soothe my sore throat, my first illness of the school year — I’m surprised it took so long. I love hot Coke Zero with a slice of lemon.