HCB: Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pies

April 19, 2010 by Monica in Baking, Baking Club, Cake, Desserts, HCB

About 8 months into my relationship with Tom, I was invited by his mother and him to celebrate is father’s (who passed away 3 days after Tom and I started dating) memorial up in Bar Harbor, Maine. I jumped at the chance to visit the North Atlantic seaboard and in exchange I got to meet the rest of his gazillion family.

We flew into Portland, Maine and then took the 3 hour drive to Bar Harbor.And totally fell in love with this town on Mount Desert Island. Full of picturesque cottage homes, inns, shops, taverns and restaurants all at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean was all I needed to know for me to announce to Tom that I wanted to move there. By the third day there, I informed Tom that this is where we would get married, buy a home, remodeled it to a cute B&B and spend the rest of our lives living by the water, eating the lobster, whale watching, kayaking, hiking the Acadia National Parkand stuffing ourselves with the popovers from the Jordan Pond House Restaurant.

He simply said: “ok” (smart man, catering to my every whim, even then).

Then one of his brother’s (the one that lives in Bar Harbor) informed me that during the winter they get temperatures in the 20’s and sometimes in the 10’s, with, a lot of snow. He then showed me proof with a picture of his house, where the only thing you could see was his rooftop – because everything else was hidden by a blanket of white snow.

I mentally moved my B&B dream, living by the water, lobster eating and whale dolphin watching to a coastal town in Florida.

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

April 13, 2010 by Monica in Baking, Baking Club, Cake, Desserts, TWD

This weekend my universe must have aligned correctly. After my great success with my previous cake, I was on a roll, and that triumph rolled into this next cake.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie choice was the Swedish Visiting Cake, picked by Nancy from The Dogs Eat the Crumbs.

And I want to take the time to send her a virtual hug and high 5, because Internet, this cake is the answer to anyone prayer when you need something quick, simple, delicious and sophisticated in a time crunch.

When you read the recipe, Dorie mentions that this cake was given to her by her friend Ingela, whose mother “claimed that you could start making this cake when you saw visitors coming up the drive and have it ready for them as soon as they were settled into your home.”

HCB: Banana Refrigerator Cake with Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting

April 12, 2010 by Monica in Baking Club, Cake, Desserts, Fruit, HCB

FINALLY! **fist pumping up to the heavens!**

That is what I shouted as I took a bite of this cake on Sunday morning, right after I finished frosty it with the mac-dreamy creamy white chocolate frosting. (And for the record, the code word here is DREAMY).

Because, man for the past two weeks, my baking mode has been dampen by the last two cakes in the list. I was sooo ready to like something, anything... and if this cake should have failed me, I was going to sit in a corner and rock back and forth until my baking charm came back.

However, it was meant to be. This week cake was the very reason why I love Rose’s book in the first place. It was simple, great ingredient combination and if followed to the T, you are going to be rewarded with a fabulous cake, which you will bake again, and again, and pass on to your children.

Of course the main ingredient here is Bananas.