Whether or not Marie-Antoniette really uttered that phrase during the French Revolution, it has come to be known as a phrase that denotes a complete obliviousness to one’s privilege. Its Christmastime in the Casa Kitchen and we are very grateful to be together and to enjoy some time gathering and eating some delicious meals. Privilege often shows up in food and diet. We are able to purchase a locally grown organic garden share each week and to buy our food based on preference and availability with no real worry about the cost. That is privilege. A heavy topic for a cooking blog but as the New Year kicks off my primary feeling is one of deep gratitude and love for my family for for food. It would be nice to live in a world where more people had that kind of access to good food.
But back to cake for a minute. I may not have to buy my groceries with regard to cost but it does not mean that I do not try to spend my money wisely. Publix had a sale on boxed cake mixes and they were less than $2 each and since Santa Schmoo had bought me a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for Christmas I was itching to try it out. I still cannot believe I have been cooking for over 30 years and have not owned one of these before!
I started with a basic vanilla box cake mix and prepared that according to the directions in my fancy new mixer. Then I added a cup of brown sugar, a cup of toffee bits, a cup of finely chopped pecans, a tablespoon of vanilla and 1/2 cup of Grand Marnier. I hand stirred that for a minute then poured the batter into a greased bundt cake. My Big Fat Greek Wedding–one of the best movies ever and made the humble bundt cake famous among a certain demographic of home cooks/bloggers. N’est pas?
After the cake comes out of the oven let it cool in the pan for a few minutes. I like to use a small rubber spatula to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan before I invert the pan onto my cooling rack. That helps the cake to slide out of the pan better. The bundt is also very forgiving in that if you lose some cake “integrity” in the transfer process you can almost always fix it with a little more buttercream glaze. I let the cake cool to the touch before frosting. I like a frosting that is thinner, on the glaze side of the spectrum if you will.
This glaze was made with 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup of half and half, 1/2 brick of Philadelphia cream cheese, 1/2 stick of softened butter and 1/2 cup of Grand Marnier and a splash of vanilla which I hand whisked together for a couple of minutes, then microwaved on 50% power for one minute and stirred again. I then poured the glaze evenly over the cake and topped the cake with a crumble made from chopped pecans, brown sugar, oats and a bit of melted butter with allspice.
In the picture there are a couple of new items to the Casa Kitchen that I need to highlight. The cute little wood serving paddle was a Christmas gift from my son’s girlfriend and I could not love it more. Thank you doll. Another gift was the Copper Viking Tea Kettle which I love but which I need some help with readers. The product says the kettle has a cool touch handle but when I use the kettle the handle is not cool at all. Is there a secret to this? I should probably just Google it.
In the New Year ahead I have some goals related to food. First I want to reduce the amount of red meat in our diet. Keep the beef to 1 serving per week. I want to incorporate more vegan and vegetarian dishes in my cooking beyond just pasta. I plan to branch out and try some Asian flavors like Thai and Vietnamese. I go to an excellent local nail salon where one of the screens is always tuned to a Vietnamese cooking show and my mouth literally waters watching the food being prepared. So much seafood. I need to get out there and educate myself about our local seafood. It should make for some fun blogging. Happy New Year everyone, I am privileged to have the gift of your time and attention, thank you. If you enjoy the blog share it with a friend.
The Casa Kitchen 