Always With Butter

A Donna Hay classic. I have always looked at her site, stared aimlessly at the gorgeous photos but never actually made one of her recipes. So this is my first of hopefully many. It turned out wonderful tasting. My candied lemons did not stay whole like hers did in the photos. The centers of mine fell apart and looked a bit rugged. I will have to figure out how to retain the 'prettiness' while candying lemon slices.

The remaining syrup from candying the lemons gets brushed atop the cake before placing the slices. This is what makes this cake special. The sticky, gooey ultra tart syrup makes the cake amazingly moist. If you keep brushing it on, layer after layer, once it absorbs, it will seep all the way to the bottom. Making a super sticky cake with the chewy lemon slices on top. It's great. And this comes from someone who works with cake everyday and is beginning to hate the taste of them. Donna Hay does it right.

So I was going to write some sort of update about my life but nothing is really new. I go to work, bake on my days of, take photos, watch too many cooking shows. The usual. So instead, here are random tidbits or stories about me:

*I was getting my ear pierced the other week. So while walking right in front of the tattoo parlor I was about to go in, with big glass windows, I trip. Not just a normal stumble kind of trip. A fall to the floor, rip the knees in your pants, get gigantic bruises on your legs, trip. So already feeling to awkward going into the shop, where they all look so tough and badass, and little blonde me, this would just be a typical thing that happens to me. They all saw. I knew I had to say something because it's not something you can just play that off. So of course I walk and loudly proclaim 'Bet y'all saw me fall?!' in a sarcastic voice, trying to break the tension. Then no one said anything. So yes, I can generally make a whole room feel awkward in a matter of seconds.

*I generally buy all my clothes at Marshalls, I love it there.

*You can tell me your name and 5 minutes later I have no clue what you said.

*But I will remember the most minuet detail that someone told me years ago.

*I love cheese but have a growing fear that I am somewhat lactose intolerant.

*I want to yell out the car window whenever I see a middle school girl in shorts and a tank top in freezing weather, saying 'Aren't you freaking cold?? Boys will still like you even if you put a damn sweater on!'

*I drive a 'soccer mom' mini van.

*I have bleached my eyebrows before. I loved it but everyone thought I looked like an alien.

*Whenever I buy shoes, people generally feel the need to tell me how big my feet are. I'm 5'5 and wear a 9 or 10.

*I think the Kinfolk Magazine videos they post online are the most beautiful films ever. I watch them over and over.

*I still live with my parents. I'm 24.

*I have dyed my hair probably every color you can imagine.

*I always wear high heels to Costco. Gotta make some part of shopping in a warehouse classy.

*I play backgammon on my phone all the time.

*I have one song on the iPhone. Someone like you by Adele.

*I have had an old pallet on my front porch for probably 6 months now that I have been meaning to break down and make into a photo background.

*I have horrible hearing.

*I took hundreds of photos of my old boyfriend. All of my photo albums are currently at the back of my closet, hiding in the darkness.

Ok, do you feel you know a bit more about me know? Well random facts about me anyways, hope you found it somewhat amusing.

Valentines Day is one week away. Dreading it.

It is the worst holiday for a single girl who has had her heart trampled on by two guys in the past 3 months.

So you will see no cutesy desserts from me. Sorry guys, my heart shaped pans are staying securely where they are.

My birthday was Wednesday, I turned 24. So I had the day off and decided to make two desserts. Blood Orange Bars and a Lavender Cake with Goat Cheese Icing. I shot most of the photos on film, with only a few back ups of the Cake on digital. I love shooting film, it's the type of camera I was taught on. I love the waiting, not knowing exactly how the photos will turn out. But this can also be a bad thing; especially when using an old camera. That I may have dropped a couple times.

One memorable drop while on vacation in Texas that sent me to tears. I dropped it, looked at it quickly, thinking it was fine. But then later that day at lunch, someone noticed that the knob that you rewind the film with was gone. Having to create a little makeshift turner with what we could find at the hardware store, the camera has gone down hill from there.

Never being able to properly rewind it since then, film kept getting jammed. Some rolls I couldn't even get out of the camera, some would only rewind partially.

So after shooting all the photos of the bars and cake, I went to rewind the film. It seemed like it went, but I opened the back of the camera and their was still just a bit of film left out. So when I went to get it developed, I thought those first few photos would be blacked out and the rest would be fine. Somehow the entire roll went blank. So that is my end of the journey with my once trusty AE-1. I maybe one day I'll get another old one, but for now I'll just stick with my digital. I don't want another blank roll, after many.

So their are some photos of the blood orange juice but none of the bars themselves. They are forever lost in the mysterious photo heaven. The end result of the bars are very tasty. A play on lemon bars, but without that zest kick. The blood oranges lend a sweeter taste, with a nice thick shortbread crust. This was my first time having blood oranges, I thought probably since their intense color they would have a punchy flavor. It is much more subtle.

Now on to the cake, all those photos below of it are digital. It was amazing. Of course my weakness for goat cheese probably gives a bias on my opinion but it really was that good. I thought of paring the lavender cake with the goat cheese icing based off a Harley Farms cheese I had. It was the lavender honey chevre they make, I found it at Rainbow Grocery in SF. The only place I have ever seen selling their cheeses, besides the farm itself. After trying that cheese and loving it, I knew thats what I wanted for my birthday. The lavender is not overpowering, which can make it taste soapy. The tang of the goat cheese offsets the floral cake. It was great, a perfect, very different birthday cake.