TWD: Little Vanilla Cakes

Excuse me while I scratch my head and try to remember these little cakes. You see, it's been 2.5 months since I've made them (forgive me, father, for I have sinned. it has been 2.5 months since my last baking spree...) and I can't quite recall much about them. That's not to say they weren't good. They were just surrounded by dressy chocolate cakelets, raisin swirl bread, tarts and more tarts, and some seriously good shortcakes. So in the end, they were a bit underwhelming, partially because I had no rum and wasn't going to buy any liquor that I'd have to immediately give away due to the flying and traveling about I embarked upon soon thereafter.


So instead of gushing about them, because I should be - Rum! Vanilla! Cake! - I'm sitting here and reflecting on all of the wonderful food I've eaten the last couple months since they've been made. It's funny, because most of it hasn't been in restaurants. Nope, except for a brief detour for some absolutely amazing pizza with some equally amazing women, I haven't been spending too much time in restaurants. Instead, I set myself on a quest when I got to Bakersfield. I would track down every possible taco truck in the city, try them out, and figure out which one I liked best by ordering two tacos from each - pork and tongue. On the way, I found everything from greasy tacos and dry pork to fresh and zingy salsa and tender tongue. I even found a tamale cart! So without further adieu, here's the list of taco trucks I frequented while in Bakersfield:

El Taco Loco, Stine Rd & Pacheco Rd: The only truck that so far from being a truck, it had a drive through. One of the original taco trucks, it now has a couple locations around town, but I was unimpressed by the one-dimensionally spicy salsa, the greasy pork and the tough tongue.

Adelita's, 2301 Panama Ln: This was actually the first truck I went to. It is stationed in a gas station parking lot and manned by a wonderfully cheerful woman who grinned as wide as could be when I ordered a lengua taco. The salsas were wonderful, both traditional and salsa verde, and the tongue was fantastic. This was my second favorite taco truck in the city.

Dave's Tacos, 2600 Chester Ave: Like El Taco Loco, this is now a full-on building. It was probably the least inviting, and the tacos were just eh. Not memorable, but not terrible.

Rigo's Tacos, Edison Hwy & Mt Vernon Ave: This was the feather in my cap. Not on my original radar, the aforementioned tamale cart was gone and I was desperate. On the drive back to the research field site, I spotted a taco truck and quickly pulled off to the side of the road. And people, I struck gold. The pork was wonderful, but the tongue - it was seriously like butter. Wonderfully beefy and tender.

Unnamed Tamale Cart, 2309 Niles Pt: This was a find by a fellow researcher, to whom I am eternally grateful. A wonderful older man just sits 10-15 feet away from a little cart, next to a sign letting you know what kinds they had (as a pork lover, I must admit that all three times I went, I got pork). The tamales were wonderful every time, and the perfect fast food if I didn't feel like tacos any more.

There were a couple other trucks that I didn't get to (man cannot live on corn tortillas, pork and tongue along!), so I can't vouch for what they're like. Here they are though, if you feel like checking them out:

Tacos Mi Casa, in a parking lot on White Ln between Fast Trip and Whitewater Car Wash: The only place that I heard about that served breakfast. I'm envisioning egg and chorizo breakfast tacos. Please, go for me.

Los Tacos de Huicho, 123 E 18th St: I didn't see much about them, and was just never in the area when I was hungry for tacos.

So there you go! Half a dozen taco trucks and a tamale cart, for if you're ever driving through Bakersfield. Don't go to a restaurant, find one of these places - wonderfully authentic tacos await you there!

Oh yeah, and make these little vanilla cakes. Add some extra rum for me.


Last Week: Dressy Chocolate Cakes
Next Week: Tarte Noire (it'll be the first thing I bake in my new apartment - once I unearth the tart pans, food processors, and everything else I'll need...)

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Cakes

Countdowns are starting to run through my head. Another week in California, then on to Chapel Hill. Three weeks until the fiance moves in with me in NC. 2 months until I start graduate school classes. 4.5 months until the wedding. The numbers fly past me, and it's all I can do to catch my breath. I guess I knew what I was getting in for, didn't I? But it doesn't make it any less scary. (In a good way! I promise!) It's just crazy.

But then I think about things. You know, in more sane ways than the two! wedding! nightmares! I've already had. Because it's highly unlikely that I'll forget to bake the cakes, pick up the reception food, and fly my photographer in. Instead, I get to think about all of the things that make me appreciate the fiance.


First, this whole moving thing. I'm the one that decided to only apply to graduate schools far, far away. Never a peep, other than a request that the area have tech jobs so, well, he can still have a job. Then we didn't know exactly where we were going to go, so he was in limbo in the job search. Now, I'll be moving into our apartment first, which means almost all my furniture stays, and whatever furniture of his that doesn't fit? It'll go to either of our sisters.

Then the wedding. He has opinions people! He is why we'll have a full-on choreographed first dance (swing! Birdland! squee!). When I started freaking out about little things, he insisted that he could do whatever. So he's got his tasks - DJ, hotels, ceremony decor, tuxes, cake stand construction, and dear lord whatever else I throw his way because either I don't want to worry about it or he cares more about it than I do.

And then there's the baking issue. Problem. Obsession. Since he's getting in two weeks after me, my baking ingredients (flours, sugars, extracts, reasons for my existence) will be MIA for the first two weeks that I have an oven (!!!) for the first time in 2.5 months. His solution? Oh, just buy whatever you need to bake what you want to bake. You'll use it up anyway. Which means this guy just scored supermajorawesomeshiny bonus points. Yes, they exist. You'll know when your significant other deserves them.


As a result, I know the task that must be done either right before or right after we move him into the apartment. Cake. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Just a single layer cake, but it's the sort of cake he just mows through. Even though he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, set a simple little cake in front of him and it's gone in two days. Maybe just one. I'm thinking though, that maybe I can sneak this little variation by him. A simple little cake, yes, but nicely dressed up with jam and a little ganache. A perfect cake for the supermajorawesomeshiny bonus point winner in your life.

Last Week: Raisin Swirl Bread
Next Week: Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes

TWD: Raisin Swirl Bread

Thank goodness for this pick. I miss bread. That's not to say there hasn't been bread in the last couple months while I wander about in limbo. But really, I miss homemade bread. Soft sandwich loaves, hearty and chewy sourdoughs, wonderfully sweet cinnamon rolls. I miss the smell of yeast, the feel of kneading bread dough, the sound of crusts crackling as they cool. And I miss this bread. Cinnamon raisin bread was always a go-to bread in my parents' house for everything from toast to sandwiches to french toast.

It's actually a bit ridiculous how much I've been fantasizing about what I'll bake when I get an oven again. Seriously, who has daydreams about cinnamon rolls, sandwich bread, and brownies? Evidently, I do. In fact, I move into our apartment two weeks before the fiance gets to North Carolina with all of my baking ingredients, and I broke the news to him that I was immediately going to buy flour, sugar, yeast, etc. so I could bake as soon as possible. Luckily, he understands, but I know a lot of people who'd give me the side-eye for not being able to wait another two weeks for all my flours and sugars and baking things. To those people? I am not a patient person. Just drive through an LA or Chicago rush hour with me and you'll get the hint.


Speaking of, I believe I've found the home of the worst. drivers. ever. Bakersfield, CA. For such a random city in the middle of nowhere, these people don't know how to drive! Quick, a quiz - how fast would you drive if the speed limit was 65mph?

a)65 mph
b)72 mph
c)45 mph

Most would pick a) or b), right? Not Bakersfield drivers! Oh no, instead of getting over into the empty left lane when someone enters the highway, they brake and slow down to 45 mph. What. the. hell?!? Bakersfield fail, people.


On that note, thank goodness I'm running out of these pre-done pictures and post topics. It's a sign that I'm almost done with this field campaign and can jaunt my way back across to the east coast and an apartment instead of an extended stay hotel. Needless to say, I'm thrilled. And maybe I'll re-make this bread. Because while the bread itself was wonderfully tender, I think it would have been improved with a bit less sugar and butter, having the raisins kneaded right in, and a heftier dose of cinnamon in the spiral filling. More daydreams...

Last Week: Tender Shortcakes
Next Week: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake (do not skip this. seriously.)

TWD: Tender Shortcakes

Before I left Wisconsin for the coasts, I got the chance to enjoy one last really nice evening (okay, 60* was really awesome at that point) with some friends. We chopped and prepped and drank and grilled up all sorts of wonderful things. Although I'm pretty sure it was the first time in a couple of months that I had red meat, it turns out I still have a taste for beef marinated in italian dressing. Classy, no? But the important part (it's always the most important part) was dessert. Storebought angel food cake (sorry, I had no oven, and none of the others are bakers!) topped with strawberries that had macerated in a little bit of sugar. LOVE.


The problem? Right when one person started cutting the angel food cake, another leapt up to grab the tub of Cool Whip from the fridge. Um, ew? I mean, not to be picky or anything, but if I'm going to have creamy goodness on top of my shortcakes, I want whipped cream. Real whipped cream. Even if I have to whip it by hand with a whisk (calorie-burning!), real whipped cream is fantastic stuff. I wasn't the only one to turn my nose up at the Cool Whip, but three of the girls happily dolloped horrendous amounts of the stuff on top of their strawberries. Seriously, I lost sight of the strawberries on their plates. Needless to say, this led to a conversation about Cool Whip vs. whipped cream and whether butter really was better. It is, just FYI. Butter is always better.


One thing really stuck out through the conversation though. I mentioned my aversion to Cool Whip was because it tasted too smooth and chemical-y (because, well, it's basically whipped oil and chemicals...). One response? Oh, that she had grown up with Cool Whip and real whipped cream tasted like chemicals to her. Uh, WTF?!? Have people gotten that far away from real food that they think it tastes chemical-y compared to, um, the chemical-laden processed alternative?!? It sort of makes me die inside. Her opinion on butter was exactly the same - it just didn't taste right, because her mom had always had the "healthy" or "low-cal" alternatives in the house growing up. *shudder*


Which is why I'm glad I had these shortcakes just a few days prior to that whole distressing episode. They help restore my faith in humanity and real food. Full of heavy cream so they're wonderful soft and tender, slightly sweet, and just a bit cakey. I made a sixth of the recipe and got two enormous shortcakes from it. Which wasn't a problem, since one was topped with macerated strawberries and eaten right away and the other was, well, breakfast the next day. These were so good that the second even devoured plain, with nothing to distract from the awesome texture and flavor. Out of the park, people. Out of the park.

Last Week: White Chocolate Rhubarb Brownies
Next Week: Raisin Swirl Bread (fear not the yeast, this bread is amazing)

TWD: White Chocolate Rhubarb Brownies

There's no way around this. I've been debating for the past month and a half how I would explain the results of Marthe's pick this week - white chocolate brownies. But, well, I can't even use rustic, or homemade, or any other adjective for these but one - ugly. Okay, two. Underbaked. You see, I baked them before the pick was even announced, let alone before the storm of issues, problems, and solutions developed. So I knew early on how sweet they were (even with my substitution of rhubarb for the raspberries), and how the layer of meringue masked how underdone the brownies were after the required bake time mentioned in the recipe.


Which is why these, um, never got tasted. Never cut up. They oozed through the cooling rack, people! Brownies are not supposed to ooze! Certain things are supposed to, although ooze is not really a very pretty word. But they oozed. And since I was surrounded by two tarts, some ice cream, a bread pudding, and god knows how many other baked goods that had turned out quite a bit more successfully, I bailed. I bailed on a Dorie recipe. I don't think I've ever done it, but this is one recipe where the ingredients were just too much to try a re-do.


Here's the thing - that's what I love about this group. Good and bad, you have all these other bakers telling you that they, too, had underdone brownies. Gooey brownies. Oozy brownies, too sweet for their taste. Phew. I didn't screw up too badly, they just weren't to my taste. And that's okay, because others absolutely loved them. And some of the variations I've heard about? They sound absolutely fantastic. So good, I might actually try a re-do when I finally get into a kitchen with an oven. So check 'em out.


Last Week: Banana Ice Cream Tart
Next Week: Tender Shortcakes