Knitty baker

FO Friday 6

2012-01-27T10:07:00.001-07:00

Project: Felicity
Needle: US 8 and US 9
Yarn: 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Red Mahogany

On the WIP Wednesday post this week I had mentioned that I made a felicity hat in Red Mahogany.

Here it is!

I LOVE this hat!

Yes I know that seems to be a common expression with malabrigo yarn.

The pattern is very easy, fast, and fun. The result? A comfy, cuddly, soft, and warm hat.

I cast on 80 sts with size 8 needles. Then switched to size 9 needles as per pattern.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more fabulous FO's.

Snap Thursday: Roxborough Park

2012-01-26T10:27:00.002-07:00

I went to Roxborough State Park earlier this month to test out the my new Sigma WA lens. It was cold and snow-packed. Took me forever to walk around one of their shortest trail, but I did it and came back home with a hundred pictures.

So I will be showing pictures from my short walk in the next several weeks. I hope you guys will like them.

Click here for a larger image

To join Snap Thursday: Post your photograph on your blog on Thursdays and leave your link in the comment section of my Snap Thursday post. Please also link back to my site. Click here to get your widget.

WIP Wednesday 9

2012-01-25T10:04:00.001-07:00

Another TV knitting this week. Felicity hat.

I am making this for my best friend, using Malabrigo Worsted in the Amoroso colorway.

This is the 2nd felicity hat I made this week. The first one was using Malabrigo Worsted as well but in the Red Mahogany colorway.

Based on numerous raveler comments, I casted on 80 sts (instead of 70 sts as per pattern). I use size 8 needles for the first 2 1/2 inches and then switched to size 9 needles.

I love this hat because it's easy and a fast knit. It is also very comfy to wear. The yarn is so soft and cuddly at the same time.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Banana Bread

2012-01-23T11:49:00.003-07:00

This is my go-to banana bread recipe. I like it so much I have never tried any other banana bread recipes.

I got this recipe from a friend a long time ago. She and I has since lost contact but the recipe remained.

Aside from being awesomely good, this recipe is also super easy.

The hardest part is waiting for the bananas to be super ripe. See how black mine is.

Usually I use 2 bananas but they were kinda small so I used 3.

Combine the bananas, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a blender or food processor. I love my hand blender so that is what I use.

A minute of blender action produced this.

Yea I know it looks gross, but I can assure you it smells wonderful!

I moved the mixture to a Pyrex mixing bowl. Then mix in the dry ingredients. When combined, mix in the chopped walnuts.

If walnuts is not your thing, you can omit it or use other nuts like pecans.

Ready for the oven!

After 1 hour at 350'F...

...my kitchen smells like heavenly bananas for the next 2 hours.

A yummy slice!

Banana Bread
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
2-2 1/2 bananas, super ripe
4 oz butter, softened and cut into chunks
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup of AP flour
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350' F.

Butter an 8 inch bread pan.

Puree the banana, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until it's all combined.

Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.

Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and baking soda) in a bowl.

Then add into the banana mixture. Combine well with a spatula.

Add in the chopped walnuts.

Pour into the prepared bread pan.

Bake for 60 minutes. Until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean.

FO Friday 5

2012-01-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Project: Big Herringbone Cowl
Needle: US 17
Yarn: 3 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima in Coral

I finished the Big Herringbone Cowl and I am in LOVE!!!

I wore it several times this week. It is so squishy and cuddly and soft and warm. It definitely helped on Tuesday morning when the temperature was in the teens.

I used a size 17 needle and 3 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima in Coral.

Most people on Ravelry used 2 skeins of Malabrigo but I wanted to make this bigger, so I casted on 260 stitches and used 3 skeins.

The pattern is really fun to knit. It started off a bit frustrating because I'm not used to the big needle but after a couple of rows I got the hang of it and became really fun.

And I really love the result!

I usually don't make the same pattern twice but I can see myself making this again in the future.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more fabulous FO's.

WIP Wednesday 8

2012-01-18T10:12:00.002-07:00

Whenever I almost finish one project, I always want to start a new one.

So last week, as I was nearing the end of the Celery Cardigan, I started this Shaelyn shawl, using Malabrigo Sock yarn in Aquas colorway.

I am so in love with this yarn. It's so soft and fun to knit with. The colorway is so pretty too. I love the muted green and the little variation of color in it.

The pattern is super easy to knit with. It's two different sections that you repeat over and over. After 2 repetition of the pattern I had it memorized already.

So this is one of those fun TV knitting for sure.

I am on the 5th pattern repeat and I plan to keep on going until I run out of yarn.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownie

2012-01-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

I made Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownie yesterday.

My friend Anne told me about this recipe last week. I have never even heard of it. Seeing that it has almost 500 reviews, I felt like I have missed the boat.

Time to catch up.

This brownie, like any other brownie, I'm sure, is very easy to put together.

Also like most brownie, its ingredients is mostly chocolate and butter.

The full recipe uses 1 lb of butter. ONE POUND!?!

Though horrified, I decided to proceed. Making 1/4 recipe only.

I didn't have semi sweet chocolate on hand, so I used a combo of bittersweet and white chocolate.

First melt the chocolate and butter over double boiler. Once it's melted and cooled slightly, add in the eggs, vanilla, and sugar.

Then cooled it down a bit more, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt combo. Finally, add in the chopped walnuts.

The recipe said to bake for 35 minutes. But it took mine 50 minutes to get from this...

... to this.

Tasting impressions:
It is really good. Chewy, chocolate-y. It is the perfect afternoon (or anytime) snack. I was craving chocolate over the weekend and this outrageous brownie will more than satisfy that craving!

Recipe: Outrageous Brownie

Snap Thursday: Lights

2012-01-12T09:43:00.004-07:00

I have been slacking on my photography. The weather has been cold so I've been spending most of my free time knitting by the fireplace. This is one of my stashed photos. I took it last Fall, when the weather just started to get cooler at night. I wanted to play with low shutter speed and moving cars. It was really fun to do and I like the result.

WIP Wednesday 7

2012-01-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

For the WIP this week, I want to share my progress on the Celery Cardigan.

I've finished the front band and collar part and am now working on the sleeve.

I was aiming to complete one sleeve by today's WIP but that didn't happen. And this morning while photographing it I saw a mistake about halfway through the sleeve. So tonight I will be undoing about 5 inches of the sleeve. Ugghh..

You can't really see the mistake on the picture but it's there and it's visible. And since I know it's there, it will bug me, so I have to fix it :).

I am super excited that I am on the sleeve part though and the cardigan is coming together. I can't wait to finish it and wear it. Hopefully I will finish it in time for next week's FO Friday.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Rugelach

2012-01-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

I love Rose's cookie book and I want to make everything from it. I know I will. In time.

Rose said in a recent Q&A that the rugelach is her favorite Christmas cookie to make and to eat. So I made it this past weekend.

I am on the fence about whether it's the best to eat. But it sure is fun to make. First, you make the dough by creaming room temperature cream cheese and butter in the mixer. Add in vanilla and egg, then add in bleached AP flour slowly.

The mixture is pretty soft and has to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

While the dough is resting, I made the filling. Pretty easy. Coarsely chopped walnuts is mixed with brown sugar, granulated sugar, golden raisin, and cinnamon.

After the 2 hour mark, I took out the dough to roll. This part was a bit confusing. I thought that the recipe would say to roll out the dough like how I would roll out croissant dough. I mean, after all, the rugelach is kinda shaped like a croissant. But the recipe actually said to split the dough into 4 pieces and roll each one into a circle. That doesn't make a lot of sense for me. So I just sort of roll each piece into a messy rectangle.

The only fruit preserves I have in the house is orange marmalade so I used that. I was a bit worried that it would affect the taste or make it bitter. But then again apricot preserves doesn't have a lot of taste. And I figured that its main purpose would be to wet the dough so the filling can stick to it. So orange marmalade it is. I didn't even try to water it down, just dip the brush into it and brush it onto the pastry.

I wish I had shaped these rugelach better. They are not very uniform, some are big and some are small. But I think they are cute.

They are pretty tasty. I would not say I'm a huge fan of them. They tasted more like bread to me and not a cross between pastry and cookie like Rose said.

Recipe: Rose's Christmas Cookies

FO Friday 4

2012-01-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Project: Beaded Purple Summer Flies
Needle: US 6
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock in Oxblood

I finally finished the Summer Flies shawl this week! As I mentioned on the WIP Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, I had fun with this project. I ran out of yarn, didn't want to buy another one, rip off some sections, I was still not happy with it, and then started over with a smaller needle.

2nd time around was better. I finished it with about 20 inches of yarn leftover (cutting it close!).

I did have to skip some rows on the ruffle edge section to get there. I've posted my mods on my ravelry page.

I've also added some beads on the butterfly section. You can see it on the close-up shot below.

I love knitting this shawl. Even though I had to redo it and it took me longer than it should. It is a very fun pattern to knit with. I am going to make this again with malabrigo sock. It has a longer yardage so I think I can do the whole ruffle edges.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more FO's.

Denver Zoo, part 2

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is part 2 of my Denver Zoo post. I thought this creature is interesting. It is called Slate-Pencil Urchin. If you are interested in learning more about it, you can check out the wikipedia link here. It has a lot of biology jargon (is it latin?) that went over my head. For me, I photograph it because it looked awesome, :).

I never would have thought there would be a baking reference at the zoo. This pretty starfish is called Chocolate Chip Starfish.

Bubble Sea Anemos. Can you spot Nemo and Dora in the picture?

Bactrian Camel from Central Asia. Unlike the ones we see in movies, these camels have two humps and lived in cold climate.

Mongolian Wild Horse.

Black Rhinoceros.

I've never seen Tapir before and had no idea they have such high pitch noise. They are in the same enclosed space as the hippo. I so wanted to take a picture of the hippo (it was hiding in the water), but I couldn't stay too long there because of the Tapir's voice.

I took half a dozen pictures of this gorilla, eating a bunch of celery. Here is my best shot and it totally looked like he was posing for it, doesn't it?

My favorite part of the whole visit: the feeding of the penguins. They are so cute. They all have names and know their names as they are being called by their keeper.

We ran into the peacock on our way out. It was just trodding along. So naturally I followed, snapping 20 pictures. I wish it had spanned its feathers.

This is my favorite shot.

I hope you enjoyed these photos from our Denver Zoo visit. We enjoyed our visit and will go back in the Spring/Summer time to visit the other animals we didn't get to see.

Denver Zoo, part 1

2012-01-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Christmas break we went to the Zoo and had a lot of fun! Lots of animals to see and photography.

We were lucky it was a nice day. There was still snow on the ground but it was sunny and the temperature is in the 50's.

I thought this giraffe statue looked nice. However, it does not compare to seeing a real giraffe.

Isn't he/she pretty?

These cute fluffy white wolves reminds me of the one we've seen in the Artic Tale. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommends it. It is a pretty cool look into the life of polar bears. And those baby polar bears are so cute!

Iguana - blending into the background.

Greenery inside the enclosed area where the reptiles, amphibians, and fish are kept.

The picture is a bit yellow but this snake is pretty white. I think it's an albino one.

Some interesting facts about snakes.

I don't want to meet this little guy anywhere outdoors, would you? :)

Tarantula spider. Just thinking about the name gives me goosebumps!

Another animal that gives me shivers!

Komodo dragons.

That is it for part 1. Please come back tomorrow for part 2!

FO Friday 3

2011-12-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

This is a cheating FO Friday because I've never posted this cowl as a WIP.

I started this honey cowl on Nov 19 and finished it on Dec 13. It's been sitting around for 2 weeks waiting for me to bind off and block! I bind off yesterday and these pictures are taken before blocking.

Here it is, with 2 skeins of madelinetosh vintage in the tart colorway.

This cowl is a surprise gift for a good friend. I love this color and the pattern. It is not the funnest pattern to do, the vintage is pretty rigid so it's not the easiest yarn to knit with for this pattern. I used this yarn for the purl ridge scarf and it worked really well so I think it's just the yarn and pattern combo that is not liking each other.

But the end result looks pretty and I hope she will like it.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more FO's.

Snap Thursday: Tall buildings

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Santa (aka. hubby) a new lens for Christmas: Sigma 10-20mm. I have not had a chance to play around much with it. But I did take a couple of shots when we were in downtown over the weekend.

WIP Wednesday 6

2011-12-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/Holiday weekend!

I've made quite a progress on my projects. It's nice to have a long weekend. We hung out with friends, ate a lot, and I knit a lot.

My metal circular needles arrived from Amazon so I've been knitting up a storm on the Big Herringbone Cowl.

I was originally frustrated with this pattern. Partially because of not getting along with the bamboo needles. But also because it was a bit awkward using such a big needle. But after a couple of rows I got used to it and now I am addicted and in love with this pattern.

The cowl is about 5 inches in width now and I've started using the 2nd skein of yarn. The pattern said that it's supposed to be 14 inches in width. I think mine is only going to be about 10 so I might go and get another skein. Haven't completely decided yet.

The Celery Cardigan is going well but slow since I've been spending my time with the herringbone cowl. I didn't have time to take a picture of it but it doesn't look much different than last week.

I also worked on the Summer Flies shawl this past weekend. Finished the ruffle edges and have started on the picot edges.

Close up on the picot edges.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Snap Thursday: Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick Snap Thursday to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! If you do not celebrate Christmas, I wish you Happy Holidays! :)

I made these truffles last weekend. Will post about them next week!

WIP Wednesday 5

2011-12-21T10:11:00.001-07:00

I haven't made a lot progress on my existing projects from last week. The Big Herringbone Cowl is pending. I gave up using the bamboo needles and have ordered metal needles instead. It hasn't arrived yet (!!!). Supposed to be this Friday so I am looking forward to do some catch-up knitting this Christmas weekend.

The Celery Cardigan is going well, though not as much progress as I had hoped for since last week. I finished the garter stitches for the body part and bind off. Then I've picked up over 300 stitches on both sides and collar. Picking up stitches is quite fun but frustrating at the same time because it's hard to gauge how to space the stitches. I've gotten to the end a couple of times and realized that I'm short 10 stitches and have to do over.

But that part is done and now onto doing the short rows.

Here is what it looks like right now. It looks like a jumbled mess because I have the needle running through the sides and the collar. But you can see that nice section of garter stitches at the end of the body :).

I am also working on the Summer Flies shawl. This project has been going on for a month, longer than it should. I first started with a size 8 needle, following the pattern and adding the extra butterfly and ridgelet from Lethaniol and thetanul. And then halfway through doing the picot edges, I discovered I am out of yarn.

Since I have to rip out some section to "get" more yarn, I thought of just making the shawl as it is, without those 2 extra sections. But that would leave me with some yarn leftover and I don't want to have that.

I also don't want to shell out another $26 for an extra skein.

Yes I realize I'm being difficult.

So I started over. With a size 6 needle.

This is how far I've gotten.

It is going fast. I am now at the ruffle edge section and after that binding off with picot edge. I am hoping to have this finished for FO Friday next week.

I really love this pattern. Even with the do-over and the whole yarn drama it is my favorite pattern to knit. And madeleinetosh sock is just a dream to work with.

Oh, and I also have some beads going as you can see in the picture below. I am using size 6 TOHO beads from Michaels. The beads are added to the butterfly section. This is my 1st beaded project too and it is fun adding beads!

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Santa Lucia Buns

2011-12-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the "I want to be a better bread baker," I made another WW bread from Peter Reinhart's book.

Flipping through the book, I was attracted to this recipe because of the photo. The bread has this interesting spiral shape. It looks really good.

Peter Reinhart wrote that Santa Lucia day is a girl who was prosecuted for refusal to renounce her faith. Her day is celebrated every year on December 13th, mostly in Sweden. Though according to Wikipedia, it is also celebrated in Norway and other European countries. Wikipedia has a long article about Saint Lucy's history and it is a sad one so I don't feel like elaborating it here.

There are many different versions of this bread, depending on the country. Peter Reinhart's version is the Swedish one because it uses raisin, instead of currants.

The recipe itself is pretty similar to the other WW bread that I've made, except it uses oil, 1 egg, and more honey.

The method of the bread is the similar as well. It calls for making a sponge, biga, and a final dough.

Here is what the final dough looks like.

It is pretty small but it's because I made 1/2 recipe.

Shaping the dough after rising.

My shaping skills is not very good as I don't get the spiral all even.

You can see it more clearly here, after rising. The picture in the book has the bread thicker in the spiral area and thinner on the body. Mine is the opposite.

The raisins in the middle of each spiral is supposed to represent the eyes of Santa Lucia

Tasting impressions:
I love how the texture of the bread and how fluffy it is. It is a bit sweeter than the WW bread but not by much. I would have liked the bread to be a bit sweeter so I've been eating it with a bit of honey :).

Recipe: Whole Grain Breads

Chocolate Madeleines

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have made madeleines several times but this is my first time making the chocolate version.

Rose said that since this version used melted chocolate, the texture is heavier and not as airy as the non-chocolate version.

She was right.

Even denser, these little cakelets are still pretty airy. And chocolate-y. Good enough for a chocolate fix.

Tea for one. Why not? :)

Recipe can be found in Rose's Christmas Cookies.

FO Friday 2

2011-12-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have two projects to share with you on today's FO Friday.

I started the toast arm warmers last weekend and finished it in a couple of days. It used less than 1 ball of Patons Wool yarn in this lovely white color with blue tweed.

I am surprised at how much I love this yarn. It is very soft, much softer than the non-tweedy Patons. And considering I got it on sale for $3, it's not a bad deal.

I've been wearing this arm warmers every day. I love it. I can see myself making this again. But I think I will modify the pattern so I can use a whole skein of yarn.

I've also made this mug sleeve. The pattern is from the book Knitted gifts: irresistible projects to make and gift that I borrowed from the library. I've never seen knitted mug sleeve before so of course I had to make one.

I used leftover yarn from the Idlewood sweater. It is a very fast knit and took me an hour to do. Good for scrap yarn that you don't use.

I checked on ravelry and unfortunately the pattern is not available there. But I did a search on "mug sleeve" and there are a lot of pattern results. Mostly free.

I want to make this one and this one.

Please check out Tami Ami's blog for more FO's.

WIP Wednesday 4

2011-12-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I visited Stephen West's blog yesterday and saw this post where he talked about knitting whatever you want.

Inspired, I decided to cast on a new project last night. Yeah I know, I'm just looking for an excuse to cast on something new. That is the most exciting part of knitting after all.

So I am making this crazy Big Herringbone Cowl, using size 17 needles. It is going to be huge and massive. And shocking in color.

The yarn is 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Maxima. I fell in love with it when I saw it at the store. It is crazy bright reddish pink.

This is how far I've gotten with the cowl last night. I am only on the 2nd row!

But it is very exciting.

Though I have to tell you I'm not crazy about bamboo needles but it's all I could find in size 17. I'm going to go see if I can find a metal one in other stores.

And here are my progress in the other 2 projects I told you about last week.

The Celery Cardigan is going really well. I almost finished the body part. Only 1 inch of garter stitch left. Then onto the sleeves and garter ridges on the sides and collar.

If it continues to go this well, I might be able to finish this by the end of the year. Yeah - so psyched! :)

Things are also going well on the Still Light Tunic front. I'm on the last part of body increases, the one before I'll have to separate the yarns for the pockets.

I complained about this yarn (Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine) last week but it is growing on me. It is pleasant to knit with. As long as I try not to make mistakes, that is, because undoing this yarn is annoying.

Please visit Tami Ami's blog for more awesome WIP's.

Panettone: Allrecipes vs. RLB

2011-12-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

The contenders:

Allrecipes' Panettone VS. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Panettone

Allrecipes:
Last month Hanaa asked me if I wanted to bake together. She suggested bread and mentioned panettone. I jumped to the idea right away. I have been wanting to bake panettone since last year but never got around to it.

We agreed on a recipe from allrecipes website. It has good reviews, the bread in the picture looks good, and it looked pretty easy.

Hanaa pointed out that the bread would be huge, so I made 1/4 recipe. I used a combination of raisins, sour cherries, and cranberries. I've also added orange oil, lemon zest, and vanilla.

As you can see from the picture below, it came together nicely.

And look how much it's grown after 30 minutes rising time.

After baking.

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Panettone from the Bread Bible:
A week before Hanaa and I were scheduled to bake the Panettone, I decided to make Rose's version.

The idea is to sort of compare and see which one's better.

Rose's recipe used canned chestnuts, which I think is unusual. I decided to replace the chestnuts with the same weight of raisins, sour cherries, and cranberries. I also added orange oil in addition to lemon zest.

The rest of the recipe and method I followed exactly.

If you are wondering why the panettone is so short, it is because when I start making the recipe, out of habit, I halved all the ingredients, planning on making 1/2 recipe. Only after I put everything together, I realized that this recipe makes a small panettone, baked in 6 inch pan. Exactly the pan I was gonna use. Except mine is 1/2 recipe. So resulting in a wide and short panettone *grin*.

Winner:
Judging from how they look visually, one would guess the allrecipes one, right? It has a nice brown crust all over the pan. Not to mention that it is so tall.

Well, the allrecipes one was a bust. It tasted okay, but that was it. It tasted just like plain bread. None of the things I've added in there helped the flavor. And I'm not a big fan of the texture. It was not as airy as I want it to be.

Rose's panettone has all the same filling (raisins, sour cherries, cranberries, lemon zest, orange oil, vanilla) and it has a lot of flavor. I can tasted the zesty-ness of the orange and lemon. And it smells so fragrant from the orange oil. The texture of this bread is everything I want a panettone to be. Light and airy.

The method between the two breads are different. The allrecipes bread is made in 1 day. Rose's bread is made over the course of 2 days, as it requires overnight (or up to 3 days) resting in the refrigerator. I think this is what gives the bread flavor. Of course the downside is that it's not one of those breads you can whip up quickly.

But it is so worth it, considering I ate Rose's panettone in 3 days.

The allrecipes panettone, sadly, met its demise in the trash can yesterday. After sitting on the counter for a week, barely eaten.

Rose 1. Allrecipe 0.

Rose's Heavenly Cake - The Collection

2011-12-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

BUTTER CAKES

SPONGE CAKES

MOSTLY FLOURLESS CAKES and CHEESECAKES

BABY CAKES

WEDDING CAKES

Last Cake (for Heavenly Cake Bakers)

2011-12-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

So here we are at the end after 2 years and 2 months. It sounds so long but at the same time feels short. Has it really been 2 years since this all started?

This week I find that I am at a loss for words. I have been wanting to write this summary since Wednesday and here I am sitting on Friday morning having writer's block.

I realized I am procrastinating writing this Last Cake summary because this will be the last one I write for the Heavenly Cake Bakers.

Sniff.

It feels sad because it is saying goodbye.

But hello, it should not be a goodbye because all of you are now my friends and I know we will stay in touch and visit each other's blog.

And... we have The Baking Bible to look forward too in the future. I am looking forward to baking through it with you guys. And maybe test some recipes, if Rose decide to go that route with us.

So this is not goodbye. This is... see you around :).

Now onto this week's summary...

ECL did not bake this weekend but rather, posted a roundup of the wedding cakes that she's made. She has made the Deep Chocolate Passion Cake twice. The first time for her friend's birthday in April 2010. She substituted the regular ganache with her favorite raspberry ganache, resulting in a cake that her friend called "the perfect semisweet chocolate bliss." The second time was for her friend's wedding this past July 2011. She filled it with Midnight Ganache and frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream. For the same wedding, ECL also made the Golden Dream Wedding Cake, filled with White Chocolate Lemon Buttercream and frosted with Italian Meringue Buttercream. The cake was such a hit that ECL got asked if she was single!

Vicki had originally wanted to make the Groom's Cake, but after seeing ECL's post she decided to make the Tropical Wedding Cake. De-frosting some old ripen bananas from the "depths of her freezer and stirred up this delectable cake." Having had 94 cakes under her belt, Vicki simply declared "it's quite a simple recipe really." She substituted cashews for macadamia nuts that she couldn't find at the grocery store.Frosted with a leftover mystery buttercream from the freezer, Vicki said this is a lovely, light banana cake that I will make again with Rose's use of passion fruit and mousseline frosting."

I've decided that there is no one FEATURED BAKER this week but there are FEATURED BAKERS. All of us. After all, we all deserved to be featured having baked through the book side by side for all 2 years.

The final CHEER goes to Rose and Marie.

Rose, for writing such awesome recipes with pictures in color! I know The Cake Bible is supposed to be the book but for me Rose's Heavenly Cakes is the one. It is a book that I will treasure forever. Broken, torn, smeared, it has all the kitchen battle scars of the last 2 years.

And Marie. Oh the ode that I want to say to Marie. If I could write a poem about her I would. Thank you Marie for being our fearless leader these past 2 years. Without your leadership, wisdom, and encouragement, this bake-through would never have happened. I know I speak for everyone when I say that I hope we can bake together again in the future.

Until then...