Shut up and eat

I learned late this evening that the landlord has agreed to install a garbage disposal in my kitchen sink. My prehistoric closet sized food factory is about to become modern. Wooohooo! After years of feeding the bucket, diligently scraping dishes, doing my best to make sure that some errant blob of food didn't make its way to sea via the drain from my kitchen sink - I will now be able to make slop with the best of them.

In other food news - ok, I'm back. To writing. And cooking.

Tonight, for instance there's a chocolate layer cake in the oven.
Recipe courtesy of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. Frosting recipe courtesy of my sister: Queen of the Cakes. The girl makes a mean cake and decorates cakes to boot. I claim none of this talent, although, I think I do make a good brownie.
Anyway, said cake is in the oven. Frosting is waiting on the counter. I pray when it's all over to have made a Suzy-Q cake. Hopefully this will turn out. Otherwise I resort to Plan B - go buy a birthday cake for an office co-worker.

Fudge Layer Cake
4 tablespoons Valhrona cacao powder
6 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk

Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Place cacao powder, water and 1/2 cup sugar in sauce pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until well mixed. Remove from heat and set aside.
Cream shortening and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, beating until well blended. Add eggs, incorporating one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk in three parts. Add the chocolate mixture, beating until well blended. Pour batter into pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a straw inserted into the center of cake comes out dry.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out cakes onto racks. Frost.

source:The Fanny Farmer CookBook (with my apologies for any inaccuracies and substitutions)

Frosting
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Cream - no, I think the actual instructions were, "Beat the hell out of..." shortening, sugar and vanilla until frosting appears light, and white in color. Aproximately 10 -15 minutes.

source:my sister (I apologize for nothing)

Truth is, Whit is a baker. You know, the kind that has done it for so long, she doesn't measure. And often times she cheats (uses boxed stuff, crutch items - because, Hey! who has time anymore to make it from scratch?) So the frosting portion is my best guess on quantities. Since I throw meals together by taste and sight - I admit exact measurements are a chore - but for pastries, unless you know what you're doing, keep those measuring cups and spoons handy.

Photos of said cake to follow later.

A sugary, buttery cookie made of what tastes like phyllo dough has no business being crisped in the toaster.
I tried it with great success, only to discover that remnants of said cookies cause flames when oh, let's say you decide to toast a bagel.

Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that my toaster doubles as a flame thrower. Luckily, I was standing watch and quickly turned off the machine before major damage was done. I think the toaster still works. Happily, the bagel was spared.