Gingerbread Cake with Nectarines

Every year I like to make my own birthday cake. There is something lovely about making and having the exact birthday cake you want and having the ability to add your own flare or last minute change that ordering a cake doesn't allow; besides, who eats store bought cake anymore anyway? I'm pretty sure it's just meant to hold the candles and then gets thrown away after the singing and birthday wish is over.

This year I am having dinner with a good friend for my birthday and decided to make cake in a jar to bring along. This worked out well because I have two lovely cakes to enjoy tomorrow after dinner and one large cake to sample today!

Two Pretty Cakes in Jars

Gingerbread Cake with Nectarines

I chose a gingerbread cake and altered the recipe to include fresh nectarines baked in and the result was wonderful. The cake has a light and moist texture that holds together very well. It's not too sweet and the ginger is very noticeable but not overwhelming. The addition of nectarines is quite nice as it gives it some added flavor and texture that cake on its own would be lacking - just like sprinkles would do!

Gingerbread Cake with Fresh Nectarines

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 fresh nectarines, cut into 1/4" pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray, or grease and flour, 9" square baking dish (I used two 1 cup jars and 1 8 x 10" Pyrex dish that worked perfectly but the recipe should work fine in most baking dishes as long as you adjust the baking time accordingly).
2. In a small bowl combine all dry ingredients and give it a quick whisk to break up any lumps.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and follow with molasses.
4. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet until smooth and incorporated. Once combined you can mix in the hot water.
5. Pour half of the batter into prepared dish(s) and sprinkle diced nectarines over the top. Add the second half of the batter and smooth the top with rubber spatula. 
6. Bake until it smells good and cake tester comes out clean. My 8 x 10" took about 45 minutes and the jars took about 25 minutes. 
7. Serves with ice cream, whipped cream, powdered sugar, fruit glaze, whatever you like! Please don't judge my obvious use of whipped cream from the can. Desperate times call for desperate measures. You know you're guilty too. 

Gingerbread Cake with Nectarines and Cream

Happy Birthday to me... Happy Birthday to me... 

Time to Make Lemonade

It's amazing how many times in life we find ourselves starting over. We get a impulse and run with some supposed wildly successful idea - 'of course this bathroom remodel will work out' - and then somewhere in this plans enactment we see it: certain failure. This happens so, SO often in life. It can be something as small as trying out a new hairstyle you saw on pinterest or huge like opening your own business or moving to a new city. I can't say that I am completely comfortable with this roller coaster of success and failure that the ride of life involves, but I do know that those who step out and take these risks are living a much richer life. 

I feel like the unpredictability of life has a lot in common with what you experience in the kitchen. There are things you're familiar with - cinnamon, chocolate chip cookies, scrambled eggs, baked potatoes; and then there are things that make you uncomfortable - tofu? fois gras? flambe? rack of lamb? Depending on your background, what makes you comfortable and what makes your heart rate skyrocket will be different but it's continual pursuit of pushing the limits, despite possible/past failure, that makes you an incredible chef. That word, "chef," carry's so much more than "cook." When you say "chef" it lets the world know that in the face of judgement, failure, uncertainty, this person is quite literally blinded in his, or her, passion for food and stretching the definition of what it encompasses will forever provoke them to try again and again. 

There are many lessons to learn in the kitchen, far beyond the baking formula, proper meat cooking temperatures, and chicken deconstruction that will enrich your life above and beyond your wildest expectations.

This lesson of trying again and starting over is one I'm learning now. I can't say I've enjoyed every moment, or that it's going all that well, but I am certain that I will come out a better person in the end. I know these are far from the last do-over's I'll find myself embarking on, but in the end it makes my life so much more real and earned.

Plus, I'll have some great stories to tell when I'm old and gray.