MARDI GRAS!! KING CAKE!!! FIND THE BABY, FIND THE BABY!

MARDI GRAS!!

King Cakes!

Coffee Cake Style

Cheese Danish stule

Thanks to a former cackler from New Orleans we have become fans of king cakes and are happy to have them when Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - comes around.  This time we relied upon kingkingcakes.com to ship us the traditional round cake from the Big Easy.  We actually had two - a standard coffee cake and then one that was filled with cream cheese. Included with the cakes was some information on the origins or Mardi Gras in the US and some doubloons and beads. It felt just like New Orleans!! (Not!)

Look what we did

Yes, you have to decorate them yourselves!

Bead to share...

Beads to wear for the Zebra lady!

We didn't realize that we would have to rely upon our own artistic sensibilities to finish off the cakes which came without the icing or the very, VERY, colorful sugar sprinkled on top. Since sugar is a white granulate powder, who knows what they use to get the rather vibrant colors. Hopefully not uranium like they used to get certain colors in Fiestaware!  But we called upon our inner artiste and the cakes got done.

Let's find those kids!

A pediatrician was standing by!

 \Once the cakes were fully decorated and ready to go we got down to work of trying to find the two babies that were baked into the dough.  Tradition has it that whoever finds the baby has to buy the cake for the next party. We'll see if that flies.  Nonetheless we took this seriously and even had a pediatrician on hand in the event of a baby emergency.

No baby yet!

Not in the cheese one either

Find the baby!

I'm French so maybe I'll find it!

We were beginning to doubt that they had, in fact, baked the baby into the pastry as we had polished off a good chunk of the first ring trying to find one.  Folks kept cutting and cutting and finally there it was nestled in a little hollow of the cake.  The first one found was in the basic cinnamon coffee cake version and it proved easy to extract. Once freed the baby enjoyed the cake hour company and spent a little time playing in the radioactively colored sugar.

FIND THE BABY, FIND THE BABY!

It appears in a king cake cave!

The prowd mother!

Cinammon baby chills a bit...

...and then naps in the sugar!

The second baby proved to be a bit more challenging given that the second cake was filled with cream cheese. Once again we had cut up most of the cake and still not found the little guy. At this point most of us had our fill of king cake and had to call in some reinforcements to try a piece and see if they could come up with the kid.  Finally after some final pushes the second baby was born with and afterbirth of cream cheese.  Baby number one was happy to have a companion and they spent some time playing around, taking a bath together and even trying out a luge run on the remaining piece of king cake. 

Now push.....push.....PUSH!

I'm not going to eat the baby...

The baby is born covered in cream cheese afterbirth!

The proud father

Once the babies were found a sense of satisfaction set in about having fully participated in the Mardi Gras experience despite not being anywhere near Louisiana. That may be a stretch but in the end there were smiles and king cake to spare!

Fast friends!

Lu-u-u-u-u-u-u-ge!

Relaxing together but...

.....it's time for a bath!

So glad that baby issue is done!

How about some king cake!

It's really good!

What a cute widdle wadybug!

The final entry in our "Research Assistants are now rich so they can buy cakes week" is from a bakery we had not previously tried or heard of for that matter - Sweet Cakes Bakery and Cafe of Kingstown, RI.  Sine our last participant hails from the south of RI it was a place he was presumably familiar with and decided to offer us a sample.

Just what I want to spend all my money on!

Crumbled cake for a finish!

Is that a cherry on top?

Nope! It's a cure widdle wadybug!

This cake was a bit on the little side but that was okay. It was a very good red velvet cake with the cream cheese frosting. The garnish, crushed up pieces of cake, was pretty interesting and in the center there was a cute little candy ladybug or so we think. Otherwise someone ate a piece of plastic.  As the frosting was kind of rich we managed to spread the cake out fairly easily as most people settled for Mashiko pieces. it was quite good and brought the research assistant week to a suitable close.

Small but potent with all that frosting

The cake label gave very explicit explanations as to why they refrigerate the cake and why it should be warmed up to room temperature - because it tastes better..duh!  Does a bigger cake take more time to warm up...duh!  Apparently if it were not for the health department we would be able to get cakes already warmed up.  According to the code perishable goods have to be stored at a cool 41 degrees Fahrenheit as opposed to the warm 41 degrees.

When refrigerating make sure it's the cool 41 degrees and not the hot one!

Next week is MARDI GRAS!! King cakes to come!

Taliban Pudding

If you google the name "Taliban Pudding" you are not going to come up with a recipe.  The name came about in a way similar to that old game of telephone. One person says one thing and it gets repeated down the line and ends up something totally different. In this case we asked out chef what the creation was called and she answered perfectly accented "Torta de pan". Of course not familiar with it and lousy with accents we heard Torta liban which became Tort taliban.  Upon trying it we decided it was similar to bread pudding and then repeated the Tort taliban name we had assigned which prompted someone to declare oh, Taliban pudding. There you have it. Let's hope the CIA doesn't come looking for us!

Torta de Pan becomes Taliban Pudding

Omigod! I'm so nervous!

Fruit to boot!

Not too sweet or light for that matter!

Actually our baker worked very hard and was so worried that it would not be enjoyed but she had nothing to worry about.  This Torta de pan Colombiana is another specialty of Colombia and is like a baked bread pudding. It sure looked good - nicely baked with a golden brown crust - and once we dug in we really liked the fact that it was not that sweet.  It was dense but delicious. We did not hesitate to suggest maybe a little creme anglaise or some whipped cream for the next time but were informed that is not the traditional way it is served.  Who cares? Bring on the creams!

A little creme anglaise would finish it off nicely!

We're very grateful for the effort that went into this which was the third entry in cake week for the research assistants.  Due to a market adjustment they are all getting decent raises and immediately we thought of a great use for the extra dough...bring a cake!

It's not just monster cakes at Gregg's

Today was another entry in the Research Assistant cake week.  As you can see the box is certainly one we are familiar with. Expecting another Gregg's extravaganza we were quite and nonetheless pleasantly surprised that the selection was a walnut cinnamon coffee cake from Gregg's with a classic sugar icing drizzle. Sure we love all those whipped cream laden treats that emanate from the kitchen at Gregg's but there is nothing wrong with getting a classic coffee cake every once in awhile...don't you think.  Some of us were not aware that Gregg's offered such a thing but live and learn.

Another monster cake???

It's a coffee cake!

Well drizzled with icing

Loving the walnuts!

A swath of cinnamon throughout! The last picture taken with our "antique" digital camera.

In addition to being very fresh which one should expect from this bakery, this coffee cake was moister and denser than a lot of the commercially packaged one but that is fine. It hit the spot. The good thing is that it was large enough to go around obviating the need to buy two as is sometimes necessary with the prepackaged ones. Good thinking on choosing this to broaden our experience with Gregg's offerings.

Today did mark a milestone for cake hour.  Our trusty digital camera acquired about a decade ago in Hong Kong, well before the digital camera craze, that has taken all the pictures of mouth watering cakes finally died today.  It was kind of fun dealing with an "antique" as it were but we certainly got our money's worth and it's legacy is here for all to see.  We're sad to see it go but onward!

New Kid on the Block

We miss Ursula's!  That was a bakery, no, a genuine German/Austrian Konditorei where they made pastries and tortes according to authentic European recipes and used only the freshest ingredients. One day it was gone and since then we haven't had a Dobos Torte. They also made the best Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte this side of Freiburg and nothing has measured up since.

Missing you, Dobos Torte!

\However there is new life in the old space on Broad Street and a new bakery has popped up. The fact that it is following a recent trend is predictable, we suppose, but that won't stop us.  The new place is called the Cupcakerie and it features...guess!  If you guessed sticky buns you lose.  Fortunately one of our astute and very aware cacklers, despite professing to know everything about Stowe, VT,  noticed the new digs and promptly brought us a sampling of the wares.

Something's in the bag!

Debut of the Cupcakerie!

A selection of the minis!

In some respects this cupcake trend is getting old. In addition, there is enough to be concerned calorically with the cake part alone never mind the usually too large gob of butter or lard based frosting that ends up on top of these recent cupcakes. In some cases the gob was larger than the cupcake.  But wisely we were brought a sampling of the mini-cupcakes.  There was much to like about these.

Nice looking bunch!

Attractively and creatively frosted without overdoing it!

 The recipes were creative, the execution was attractive, and the frosting to cake ration was not excessively slanted towards the frosting. Both the cake and the frosting were also rather light which made them easy to eat without feeling like you are getting stuffed. The menu featured eleven standard cupcakes and then some specialties. We got to see them all and sample many included those named "The Old Fashioned", "Lemon Drop", "Grasshopper", "Wake up and Smell the Cupcake" and "Velvet Elvis" to name a few.  More pictures are below.

Although we are sure the larger size is just as good we were content this time around with the minis.  The Cupcakerie debut was deemed a success and we wish them well for the future. I'm sure this will not be the last time. Check out the website at www.thecupcakerie.net.