Kaka

Happy New Year, yuleblogs!

It's been a crazy fall, but half a dozen Nutcracker performances later, and I finally get a break!  Robiño and I decided to lay low for Christmas and had a nice quiet holiday apart from the furnace crapping out and leaving us huddled around the tiny gas stove for a week. We went to the movies, I cooked real food for a change, and basically vegged out to Storage Wars all day. 

Christmas dinner was pot roast and for dessert I tried out a new recipe I found online for a Swedish almond cake called... wait for it... Toscakaka. 

It's a basic moist white cake on the bottom with an amazing caramel almond party on top.  The recipe was pretty easy to make and the results are much more impressive looking than the effort.  Never a bad thing. 

Mmmmm... kaka.

Sorry I don't have conversions for this one since I have a scale and can do the whole metric thing. I'm sure equivalents can be found online.  Oh, and if you have buttermilk around you don't need the milk and lemon juice at the beginning of the recipe.   

Byeeeee!

Toscakaka (Swedish Caramel Almond Cake) (adapted from Signe Johansen's Scandilicious Baking) 

For the cake: 

70ml milk 

1 tsp lemon juice 

75g unsalted butter 

3 eggs 150g caster sugar 

1 tsp almond extract 

150g plain flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp fine sea salt 

For the topping: 

150g flaked almonds 

125g butter 

125g light brown sugar 

50ml milk 

1/2 tsp sea salt 

1/2 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 160C/320F. Grease a deep 9" round tin (preferably with a removable bottom) and line the bottom with baking parchment. Stir the lemon juice into the milk and leave to sit (to make buttermilk, you can replace with 75ml if you have it on hand). Toast the almond flakes in a oven tray for 5-7 minutes until they're a light golden brown, then set aside. Melt the butter for the cake in a saucepan then pour into a bowl and leave to cool (keep the pan to use later). Whip the eggs, sugar and almond extract together on medium-high for 5 minutes, until the mixture is a yellowy-cream colour and very thick. While it whisks, sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Sieve 1/3 of the flour mixture over the egg bowl then gently fold in with a big metal spoon or large spatula. Drizzle half of the milk over the top and fold in. Repeat with the next 1/3 of flour, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour. Finally drizzle half of the butter over the top, fold in, then repeat with the remaining butter. Be gentle but thorough, scraping the bottom - it's easy to get little pockets of flour. Carefully transfer to the tin. Tap on the counter once to remove any big air bubbles. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and set - when 15 minutes have gone, start making the topping. Place the toasted almonds, butter, sugar, milk, salt and almond extract into the saucepan and stir as the butter melts. Keep heating for a few minutes - it should bubble and thicken slightly. Turn the oven up to 200C/390F, then remove the cake to a rack and pour the glaze over the top. Spread the almonds out into an even layer. Place in the top of the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until the glaze is dark brown and bubbling. Cool for a few minutes then slide a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen it and remove the cake to a rack. 

3 Little Dresses

Yes, blogfans, I am alive.   I have been trying to keep up my reputation as the world's worst blogger.  Have I succeeded?   (don't answer that)

Truth be told, I've been super busy with all kinds of uncrafty, not so interesting things so I haven't had time to devote to this blog.  I have a lot going on in my life right now, but rather than bore you with details I will just plead the fifth for now.  Let's just say I'm contemplating major, life-changing decisions, and I'd rather just talk about food and sewing and stuff instead.

So.  I am taking a trip to Boston this weekend to visit some dear friends.  Two of them just had a bébé (named Jane) and so of course I had to make her a new dress.  The other friends I've known since college and have two beautiful girls now, one of which is Babs, who you may know from such blogposts as this one or this one.  She is all grown up now (well, she's 4) and I've never met her little sister, Holly, who is now 2.

I have to give a big shout out to Rae from Made By Rae who designed this pattern, named Geranium Dress.  It was a "downloadable" which I don't normally like to get because you have to print out the pattern yourself and assemble it and sometimes things get dicey.  This one, however, was really straightforward and easy to put together.  I printed out three different sizes and assembled them so I speak from experience here, people.  The pattern is super simple but still has a lot of nice details.  There are options for the neckline, as you will see.  There are optional skirts (gathered or pleated) and optional sleeve designs.  The larger sizes have side pockets (not shown) which I love.  What's better than a dress with pockets?  NOTHING, I SAY!

Exhibit A:
Babs' dress, size 4T.  Fabric: "Geneva" in Coral by Hoffman Fabrics.

Front 

 Front detail.  Little notch.

Back.

 Back detail. Lilac buttons.

Exhibit B:
Holly's dress, size 2.  Fabric: "Sugar and Spice" in Argyle Blue by Riley Blake.

Front.

 Front detail.  V notch.

 Back.

Back detail.  Red buttons.

Exhibit C:

Baby Jane's dress, size 12 months.   Fabric: "Charleston Farmhouse" in Parchment by Felicity Miller.  BTW, I was kind of obsessed with this fabric and almost didn't give the dress away because I'm a freak and didn't want to part with it.  Is it not to cutest/coolest print ever??

 Front. 

Front detail.  No notch, too small.

Back.

 Back detail.  Coral colored buttons (and I didn't have three buttons that matched, but who cares?).

So that's the story, friends.  It felt really great to be sewing again and even greater to be posting a blog about it.  Until the next one (or the next millennium)...

Byeeeee!