Caramel or Fudge-Drenched Vanilla Cakes

Wendy of Pink Stripes chose this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, rum-drenched vanilla cakes. We don't do alcohol so I had to figure out a way to take out the main flavor component and make this fabulous. The answer to any question, of course, is always chocolate. But I've learned that not everyone likes chocolate (I know, can you believe it?) So I made caramel sauce to go along for those who eschew chocolate.

I've posted my hot fudge and caramel recipes before so I won't go over the preparation for those again (but they're both fabulous, especially the hot fudge). I made these cakes, the hot fudge and caramel before I went to work. And I didn't get up at 3. That's how easy all of the recipes are.

In fact, the preparation was so easy and yummy that I hardly remember any details...and I just made this it week! I bypassed poking holes in the warm cakes and pouring the sauces over them, but I think they would be delicious with the caramel sauce infused into the cake. I'm going to try the recipe like that next time.

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did with this one, you can find links to their posts here. And now for a self indulgent picture of Pearl and Joy:

Pearl (on the left) is 10 months old and Joy is a year old. It doesn't really show in this photo but Joy is dwarfed by Pearl.

TWD - Sables, and what's REALLY been keeping me busy

Do you have any idea how hard it is to do anything, like bake cookies, when you have two uber adorable kittens in the house? I want to cuddle them part of the time and make sure they aren't killing each other the rest of the time.

Say hello to Pearl (top) and Joy (bottom). Joy is 5 1/2 months old and Pearl is 3 1/2 months old. I adopted them both from the Humane Society within a week of losing Allie. It was the first time in over 20 years that I didn't have a cat, and I couldn't take it. M. travels a lot and I get lonely.

Oh, did you come here looking for sables? Sables from Baking From My Home to Yours? For Tuesdays with Dorie? Of course you did. And I did make them, but how cute is this...

Moving on to the sables...

It was Bungalow Barbara's turn to pick. These sables were easy to make, though hard to roll into round logs and mine ended up looking more like flat tires than perfect circles. I opted to make mine cinnamon, and with almost 2 teaspoons of my favorite Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon, they were redolent with bold, spicy cinnamon flavor. They had a lovely, sandy texture and delicate crumb which was highlighted by the crunchy Turbinado sugar along the edge. They are perfect with a steaming cup of chai on a cold day.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I hear a commotion in the bedroom...

Farewell, My Sweet

I've been quiet since our vacation, mostly because I've been obsessing about the failing health of my sweet little Allie. Allie has been rapidly losing weight, and is also suffering from an intestinal ailment that we just won't discuss on a blog that focuses on food. I feared she wouldn't make it until we came back from vacation, but she did, and it renewed my hope that we could overcome what has been a rapid decline in her health.

It was not to be, and I faced the difficult decision all pet owners dread: when does keeping her alive cross the line from being a responsible pet owner into selfishness at the cost of her comfort? Yesterday, she climbed into my lap and sat down, facing me, and looked me in the eye. I knew she was telling me it was time. Today I followed my head, not my heart, and let her go.

I found Allie through an email appeal almost 7 years ago when she was 6 years old. I had another kitty, Rosebud, who was in the sunset of her life, and Allie dedicated herself to making the last year of Rosebud's life miserable. Allie had many special qualities as most cats do, but foremost among them was she would pet herself when she was feeling neglected. She had been shot with a pellet gun when she was young, lived as a declawed cat in a home with cats with claws and came to us with a heart full of love in spite of a tough start in life. We were her third or fourth home, and I resolved we would be her last, and that when Rosebud died we would be a one cat home for the rest of Allie's life. She deserved it.

Allie won over all visitors, cat lovers and haters, construction workers and delivery people, with her self-petting antics and talkative nature. She slept face down, blocking out all possible sources of oxygen, and thrived on stalking bugs and pining for the hummingbirds on the other side of the window. When the kitchen was under construction, she supervised the work. One day, she got into the crawl space under the house and I couldn't find her when I came home. I heard her meowing under the house and found her, dirty and hungry. The panic I felt then should have prepared me for losing her today, but that fear was quickly overtaken by her clingy sweetness.

Goodbye, my sweet princess. Thank you for years of love that ended far too soon. I miss you so.