I [Heart] My Life

Weekending: A Practice Birthday Cake (French-Style Yogurt Cake With Lemon)

I mentioned on Facebook on Friday that I needed to try out a recipe this weekend. Nia has requested lemon cake for her birthday next month and lemon cake is not in my repertoire.

That is, till now.

This cake, adapted from Molly Wizenburg's always-a-sure-bet A Homemade Life, was moist and delicious, not to mention gorgeous, but also humble. Not over the top sweet, or over the top fussy. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon -- or a low-key birthday weekend with family in Tahoe.

The kind of cake that you can whip up when you need to make an ordinary day just a little bit sweeter.

French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon, adapted from Molly Wizenburg; serves 8

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 cup well-stirred plain whole-milk yogurt (not low fat or nonfat)

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup liquified coconut oil

For the Syrup: 1/4 c. powdered sugar, sifted; 1/4 cup lemon juice

For the Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted; 3 TBSP lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, and grease it too.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the lemon zest. Whisk.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring to mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir to just combine. Add the oil and stir well. At first, it will look like a horrible, oily mess, but keep going and it will come together into a smooth, pale yellow batter. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 min. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan, and invert the cake onto a wide, flat plate or pan. Remove and discard the parchment paper. invert the cake back onto the rack so that it sits upright. Set the rack over a rimmed baking sheet.

In a small bowl, prepare the syrup. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spoon the syrup slowly atop the warm cake. Some of it will drip down the sides onto the baking sheet. No worries. Cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients. Whisk well to dissolve the sugar completely. Spoon the icing over the cooled cake. (You may find you don't use all the icing.)

Serve immediately -- the icing will be soft and a bit juicy. Or wait till the icing has firmed up, about an hour. Which every way you like.

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... this moment: The Beauty in the Pauses

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I have to put in a few words... All the following photos are from today. This was a crazy busy day. An imperfect perfect day. It had so many wonderful moments both in the activities and between the activities, in the pauses... Nia & I started the day with a walk & tree-climb with friends. Then I zipped off to a doctor appointment -- lymphedema OT, which included the exam table getting covered in prosthetic breasts (foobs) at one point (I was so dying for the nurse to step out so I could snap a picture!) -- then I zipped home again to get as much work done as possible before zipping into the kitchen to make dinner. Midway through making black bean soup I realized my "black beans" were actually kidney beans. By then there was no turning back. The soup ended up being delicious and we ate it out on the deck in the beautiful mild weather. After that, Nia and I went down to the park on her roller-skates and happened upon a girl practicing her tumbling routine in the otherwise deserted field. By the time we got home it was bedtime. In the dark, we whispered about our favorite things. Her favorite thing about today was the Giants winning 1-o (!). After Nia crashed out, Joe and I had to sit down and do the monthly finances -- something we've finally figured out is pleasurable when done together and with wine and good cheese. It only took us how many years together to realize this?? I want to savor this perfectly imperfect day.

These expressions kill me!

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Destination: UCSC Farm & Childrens Garden

The other day I was standing around outside, talking with my friend Karah. Her littlest one, a new crawler, was exploring some grass at our feet. Nearby I could hear what sounded like dozens of birds up in the trees. A breeze gently rustled the branches, sending blossom petals floating down like a soft snow.

Suddenly my daughter let out a whoop. I looked up to see her and her friend Zoe running through a field of fava beans. Their hair streamed behind them, huge smiles on their faces. The stalks of the favas were nearly as tall as they were. Suddenly Zoe fell and disappeared completely from sight; we caught our breath -- "are you ok?s" on the tips of our tongues. Suddenly Nia collapsed into giggles, sinking down out of sight, and Zoe's own giggles rose from somewhere under the green. A game was born.

And I thought, this place is magical.

Have you been? It's the UCSC Children's Garden. It is a fabulous place to play and relax all through the seasons. The garden is free; parking on campus is $6. (Taking the bus would heighten the adventure!)

In addition to getting lost in the fields of fava beans, our little ones tasted oranges fresh off the tree, climbed a blossoming fruit tree, learned all about mulch from a friendly (and patient!) farmer, followed the farm cat, spied on the chickens & tried to pick up the rooster, crawled through vine tunnels, banged on drums under the orange & avocado trees...

If you're in need of a new place to explore, this is a great place for an inspiring green hour (or two!).

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Signs of Spring

All around us suddenly it is SPRING! I generally hate the time change, but even I have to admit, it is pretty sweet to head down to the park for an extra hour of playtime after dinner!

Other signs of Spring I've been noticing:

• The crocuses are in bloom and Trader Joe's has $1.29 daffodil bunches
• My kiddo recently waded into Lake Tahoe
• Our 3 hens have bumped up production to 17 eggs/week
• I changed our Seasons Table to show melting "snow" & blossoms
• Asparagus!
• Nia would rather be outside than inside
• I had a birthday (technically my birthday is in winter, yes, but I've always thought of it as the beginning of spring. So there.)
• The "change of weather" colds arrived in our house

(More Tahoe pictures to come soon! Another sign of spring: We wanted to ice skate up top at Squaw Valley but the rink was slushy. Doh!)

Making my birthday cake...

Fog-less ferry ride under the Bay Bridge...

What signs of Spring are cropping up around your house?

 

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... this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama. You can play, too!

One day this week I surprised Nia by taking her to frozen yogurt & then I sweetened the deal by reading to her while she ate: One of our most favorite pasttimes -- that we don't do nearly enough -- is reading together in a coffee shop-like setting. We stayed till we'd finished the book. 

Escape from Cancerland: Apple Blossoms

One day this week Nia and I "escaped" to the GHJ Tree Farm to hang with George/Granddaddy, Ash Dog & the apple blossoms. It was a made-to-order cancer-free afternoon, complete with good company, bouncing on the trampoline, hot-tubbing, ice cream on the deck in the afternoon heat, and some fun with my camera.

A Sweet Little Pillowcase Dress & Spray-Painted Onesies

The day after chemo this week, floating on a cloud of steroid-y-ness, I woke up early and thought, I want to make something today. I came across this tutorial for a pillowcase dress, and voila! A dress was born!

Nia and I walked to Hart's Fabric and she picked out the fabric and the ribbons. (That green spot on her forehead is a sticker, by the way. And yes, this was the pose she chose.)

I'm very much a novice with a sewing machine, so I was delighted that this dress was so easy to make. It came together really rather quickly, even with my little helper (she likes to step on the sewing machine pedal, of course, and trim the loose threads).

She loves her new dress, which is so rewarding & fun! I think we'll make more of these.

Separately, Nia and I recently spray-painted a couple of onesies for our dear friend, Beatriz, using the freezer paper method to make stencils.

To do this, trace your design on to white freezer paper, and then cut out the design, leaving a stencil. Next iron the freezer paper stencil to your surface (tucking another piece inside to keep the paint from soaking through), and making your freezer paper big enough to cover the rest of the shirt so paint splatters don't wreck your project. Next, paint your design, either with fabric paint, or -- my favorite -- spray paint.

These were fun to do together. Nia's choice was to do a pink glitter elephant and a purple elephant on hers. I chose the "Hello" front and the two-tone back. Once the paint is dry, it is set with a hot iron.

 

 

 

A Little French Strawberry Cake (Yogurt Cake Recipe)

I mentioned yesterday that for our Escape from Cancerland this week Nia & I baked a cake. I also said she largely made it on her own, which is true. The idea came from Pam Druckerman's Bringing Up Bebe; it is a French recipe for a yogurt cake that apparently most kids in France grow up baking. The clever part is that it takes two 6oz containers of plain yogurt, which the kids then use to measure many of the other ingredients. Since Nia can't read (yet), I took it one step further and transcribed the recipe into picture form so that she could decipher it herself (and she did sound out "sugar" and "flour," which was a first!).

Gateau au Yaourt (Yogurt Cake) adapted from Bringing Up Bebe

2 six-ounce containers of plain whole-milk yogurt (use the empty containers to measure the other ingredients)

2 eggs

1 or 2 containers of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Just under 1 container vegetable oil

4 containers of flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 to 2 containers of extra flavoring (chocolate chips, berries, etc.)

Creme fraiche or whip cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use vegetable oil to grease a 9-inch round cake pan or loaf pan.

Gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; mix gently until just combined (don't over mix). Add your extra flavoring.

Bake for 35 minutes, then 5 minutes more if the cake doesn't pass the knife test. It should be almost crispy on the outside, but springy on the inside. The cake is delicious served with tea and a dollop of creme fraiche or whip cream.

Note: While the recipe calls for 4 containers of flour, the cake feels a bit heavier to me than the author intended; I believe it should be quite spongy. Next time I'm going to try 2 containers. ~AS