Mega-Carrot Cake!

Ah, carrot cake!  That classic concoction that is in truth a spice cake with slivers of carrots in it. If we tossed in slivers of beets would it be a beet cake? Or if we busted ups a cauliflower could we have a cauliflower cake?  Or maybe if you julienne some haricots verts we could have a very exotic sounding haricot vert cake!  But it's a carrot cake with the classic cream cheese frosting and it is good. This was a really big one. I wonder how long it took for it to be totally consumed. If history is any guide it went pretty quickly after cake hour was officially over!

Cake hour also saw the appearance of yellow peeps that had been conspicuously absent from the time the Easter bunny came. They settled in nicely to the hot chocolate although if not properly floated the peep melts and deforms pretty quickly!

Qiatreats!!

Today we were visited by one of our favorite cake hour guests - perhaps THE favorite. A former pastry chef, as part of a product seminar she prepared three of her famous and delicious treats. Pecan Pie squares, Kahlua espresso chocolate chip brownies and lemon squares. We ate them up and for those with "issues" there was a gluten free alternative though chewy pineapple slices did not quite measure up to be the same experience. Most stuck with the glutenous goodies!

Liver Research Center Ultimate Flanning Championship

Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. Children of all ages. Welcome to the LRC-UFC post-game analysis.

Now that our panel of sophisticated tasters and flan critics have carefully tasted all of the entries, the poll is open. Our experts would choose the ultimate flan champion based on presentation, aroma, texture, and overall taste. While, we await the judges' final verdict, let us review today's competition.

First, we have a Hong Kong-style flan (it is actually an egg tart, not a flan, but it is close enough). The silky smooth texture and the rich custard flavor playfully contrast against the juicy peaches and the flaky crust. Egg tart is one of the most popular pastry in Hong Kong and is highly sought-after by foreigners, including former Hong Kong Governor, Christopher Patten. A fun fact: while the egg tart is quite easy to make, the recipe calls for 10 minutes baking in a 400°C (~752°F) oven. That's hot!

Next, we have the authentic Spanish flan, in original flavor (bottom of the picture) and in pumpkin flavor (top of the picture). The magical combination of creamy custard, rich caramel topping, and perfectly balance sweetness is further highlighted by the bold, yet delightful, pumpkin flavor. These two flans represent the best fruit of our contestant's sleepless labor. In fact, a total of ten flans were made by our flan expert, and only three satisfied her stringent quality expectation. The third flan, in raspberry flavor, was briefly presented to the crowd, but was ultimately withdrawn from the competition by the contestant.

Our third contestant has, unfortunately, decided to forfeit at the last minutes; therefore, the legendary Cuban pomegranate flan will forever remain a legend.

Overall, it was a fun and exciting contest. Cake Hour turnout has reached an all-time-high. There was some discussion on possible future contest topics - pies, muffins, cookies... If you have an interesting idea for our next ultimate championship challenge, please leave a comment.

Finally, the recipes for these delicious flans will soon be posted in the Recipes section. Stay tuned.

-- Update --

The poll is over and the votes are in. The peach flan got 11 votes, the original flan also got 11 votes, and the pumpkin flan got 3 votes.

Italian Layer Cake from Vienna Bakery

Today we had a special treat from one of our favorite bakeries, the Vienna Bakery in Barrington, RI. This was an Italian Layer Cake. Whipped cream frosting topped with pistachios and cherries. The inside contained three layers with three different fillings in between - pastry cream, strawberries and chocolate. The outside was surrounded by lady fingers and the whole presentation came together with a decorative ribbon. The ribbon didn't stay on very long, though and the cake was very good.

Two interesting conversations ensued. One revolved around a recipe for making pickled duck eggs - Chinese style. Apparently you leave the eggs in a saturated salt solution for 28 days and then use them. We also concluded that no one likes finding eggs with embryos in them.

We also debated the question previously posed at a committee meeting as to how to tell if a rat is really dead if it has to be euthanized. The exact question was "How do you know the rat is dead?" So we imagined we could show up at the committee with a live rat and a dead rat and show how different the response would be were you to swing the rat around by the tail for instance. Then we decided that wouldn't be a good idea. Tomorrow is the flan off or the Ultimate Flanning Championship - LRC-UFC!

Easter Bunny redux with Costa Rican Coffee

The special treat today was the coffee. 1820 coffee straight from Costa Rica. It made a good cup that was smooth, full bodied and not acidic. As a matter of fact it might have been better than the "poop" coffee that we had a few months ago. That's the coffee from Indonesia that is made from beans that are defecated out of some animal after the coffee berries are ingested.

Otherwise, given it was the day after Easter and there was plenty of goodies from the Easter Bunny so we kept digging in. The Dove chocolate rabbit was brutally slaughtered.

The Easter Bunny came....

.......and left us an Easter basket filled with goodies. We determined a few things. The Mighty Malts are nowhere near as good as Robin's Eggs. Cadbury Mini Eggs are probably the best Easter candy there is. No Easter basket is complete without Peeps. Unfortunately we did not see any of the classic yellow Peeps - an oversight on the part of the Easter bunny!

We weren't sure what to make of the upcoming trial involving the lady in Colorado who was evicted after refusing to remove decorations partially constructed with Peeps, from her apartment door. As it turns out, after the landlord removed the decorations she refused to pay rent. Clearly the Peeps were not the causative reason for the eviction.


A Peep was also sacrificed to confirm what effect microwaving has upon a Peep. The Peep blows up to about four times its size and then deflates to a smeared appearance - Peep art? (See attached pictures.) It was hard not to feel bad for the microwaved little guy, though.

Tate's Cookies from Tate's Bake Shop

It's cake hour but other treats are always welcome. Tate's Cookies from Tate's Bake Shop, Southampton New York were on the menu. We enjoyed two different kinds - Walnut Chocolate Chip and Butterscotch Pecan. These cookies are quite good - not too sweet, crisp and not at all heavy or loaded with flour. They are available in Providence at Gourmet Heaven.

The startling realization today was that one of the cake hour attendees managed to miss the severity of the rain that fell on Rhode Island. Having taken a ride in a car when the rain was minimal, the false conclusion - that the rain wasn't that bad - was reached. Those under water of course beg to differ.