Banana-Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

Lauren Chattman has a great new book, Cake Keeper Cakes. When I picked up the book and paged through it, I kept thinking, "I would make that. I would make that. Oh yeah, I would make that." First up: this banana-chocolate upside-down cake. It's one of several upside-down cake recipes in this book. There are plenty more recipes to make from this book, too. I can't wait to keep exploring.

Birthday Cake

For Claire's birthday this year, I knew it had to be chocolate cake, so I went with a tried-and-true favorite (Best Birthday Cake) from Lora Brody's Chocolate American Style.

Apple Cider Cake

(Cue Joan Jett.)

Oh Anne Byrn. I hate myself for loving you. You make me buy cake mix! It's insane. I was thrilled to learn that you had a new baking book coming out, The Cake Mix Doctor Returns. It is a swell book, and I've really enjoyed looking it over.

I had a meeting to attend tonight, so last night, I gave the new book a test-drive by making the Apple Cider Cake. Terrific cake, and it was really easy to put together. I'm looking forward to trying more recipes from the new book.

Banana Rescue

This year for Reach the Beach, we atypically undershopped for food to have in the van during the race. Nevertheless, there were some bananas left over. I think they were left over pretty much because they somehow became packed in between bottles of water and everybody's luggage. They ended up being great for banana-chocolate chip bread, though. I tried a new recipe from 250 Treasured Country Desserts: Mouthwatering, Time-honored, Handed-down, Soul-satisfying Sweet Comforts by Andrea Chesman and Fran Raboff.

RTB Cookies

This year for the annual trek to New Hampshire for the Reach the Beach relay race, I made three kinds of cookies: oatmeal-dried cherry, chocolate chunk, and chocolate peanut butter cookies. All were recipes from Mom's Big Book of Cookies by Lauren Chattman. I know that the cookies were enjoyed by at least 1.5 teams at RTB this year, so that is good.

A Cake for Blaise

Last June, our friend Blaise died about nine months after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. We learned of his diagnosis through an email with the subject line "annoying news" -- typically understated and dismissive, as if the cancer were a pesky mosquito that he was trying to brush away.

I've actually been struggling with what to write in this blog entry. In the end, all I can say is that Blaise was a terrific guy: funny, big-hearted, an athlete (but not a jock). I wish we'd had more time to hang out and laugh with him.

Anyway, after his memorial service a couple of weeks ago, there was a potluck. I brought along a Milky Way Cake. I like to think he would have found a cake made with four melted Milky Way bars to be both amusing and absurd.

Board Meeting

For today's skating-club board meeting, I made a couple of things. First, I made Crumb-Topped Coffee Cake from Abby Johnson Dodge's The Weekend Baker. It is brilliant, especially on those pieces where the crumb:cake ratio works in favor of the crumbs.

The scones are from Elinor Klivan's Fearless Baking. I'm not sure if it was the recipe or the weather (it has been pretty damp here), the scones had a relatively cakey texture, not very sconelike at all. However, everybody seemed to like them, so what do I know?