Snow=baking

So, for those of you not on the east coast, particularly those not in the DC/Philly area, it snowed. Twice. With many inches each time. Now, I should be taking these no class, not going anywhere, no errands to run days to complete the six books I have to read before wednesday (and I'm not even behind!), but instead I have made a tiny snow man, shoveled twice read a book and of course, baked.

Saturday (the first snow storm) my baking endeavors were quite dull, simply a box of brownies with vanilla buttercream. I'm not sure why I will bake from scratch almost everything...but brownies.  They aren't hard or complicated. I just can't seem to get them to taste like Betty Crocker.
When it snows my neighbors get bored and thus throw parties, so they got enjoyed by my neighborhood.

Believe it or not I put marshmallows in those. Probably about a cup of mini marshmallows went into the batter. When they were done and I cut them up, the marshmallows were gone. I'm assuming chemistry got the better of me, but still, where did all the marshmallows go?

Today I was slightly more adventurous. When they forcasted another close to two feet of snow,  I went searching for a recipe worthy of a snowy day stuck inside and Caramel Banana Bundt Cake came up.
I like bananas, I like caramel. Bryn Mawr made (or bought, I was never really sure) a really tasty caramel banana cake that came around once in the six week menu rotation. Even if I wasn't planning on going to dinner or if I had work that night and wasn't going to get dining hall food, I made sure to go and get that cake. So, I figured this would be a close homemade substitute.

So, after consulting The Crepes of Wrath, I went to town on making said cake.

The cake part went well. I'm good at cakes. Not too pretty oven shot:

Then came the caramel part. The last time I made caramel I was probably about 13 years old and at the shore house of a friend. I decided I was going to make caramel apple tarts. After three failed attempts at caramel making, the friend's husband Dave had to make it for me. I have not since tried to make caramel. But I'm older, wiser and better with a stove, so it was time to try again.

This time was slightly more successful. The caramel was fine, quite tasty, but I reduced it to be fairly thick. The recipe calls for poking holes in the bottom of the cake and pouring the caramel so that it seeps into the cake (kind of like a tres leches cake). Not being amazingly good at the cause and effect part of life, the caramel kind of sat on the top, and not so much seeping into the cake.

Whoops:

In the end, it came out looking kind of odd (the glaze was kind of runny and well...left much to the imagination) but it tasted wonderful. The bottom with the caramel tasted very nutty and rich while the top with the thin yogurt banana glaze was very light and fruity

Recipe at The Crepes of Wrath. She did a lot of things I didn't. I used vanilla yogurt, no butterscotch chips and I used the remaining vanilla yogurt, half a banana and some powdered sugar to make a little glaze.

I suppose now I should get some  more reading done. Celia Applegate and her A Nation of Provincials is up next. 

Mr. Snowman says hi. He got buried under the extra eight inches of snow we  got between his creation and the second go at shoveling. He is unburied and back to greeting you at the front steps.