A perfect example of this is my Dad's Birthday. It was a few weekends ago, and although a small gathering, it was filled with people that I love and that love my Dad. As a gift, my mom suggested I make the apple cake that they had heard about but disappeared too quickly for them to get a taste. I thought this was a great idea - and what would be even better is if I also made a brown sugar apple cheesecake and a mocha coffee coffee cake (quite the mouthful in more ways than one!).
My thinking was this: 1. Everyone will love the apple cake. 2. It's my Dad's Birthday and he likes cheesecake. 3. My mom shouldn't be left out and she likes coffee. TA DAAA something sweet for all my sweets (the bf was automatically included since he likes all of the above and my darling sister is too far away to eat the treats but is still in my heart) awwwwwwww! So that settled it I had to bake 3 cakes in 1 day - don't worry, I've got this.
The Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake started out with.... the crust (I know apples are the obvious answer but we need somewhere to put them first..duh)
Ginger snaps, brown sugar, and melted butter - perfect combination
Nooooow its time for the apples (some are beauties left over from our adventure but I had to supplement with some store bought guys as well...shhh)
Cooking...
And cooked....
These smelled SO GOOD - words cannot describe so I'm not even going to try (don't call it a cop-out!)
I would also like to note at this point that the bf suffered some injuries while helping with the apples - there were some burns but he was a trooper and survived - all in the name of delicious desserts (and a bossy girlfriend)
The cheesecake mix smelled like Fall and was a great excuse to buy a HUGE jug of apple cider... it was completely necessary for the 3 tablespoons called for in this recipe!
You can almost see Fall staring back at you with all those flecks of cinnamon and do not even get me started on the creaminess of this stuff - yum yum yum
Ok confession time - I do not have a roasting pan. Instead I have a nice aluminum number that came in a set of three and cost approximately 32 cents. I then used my amazing scientific problem solving skills to rig up an apparatus in which to make a water bath...except the water evaporated out and my apparatus was not safe nor stable enough for me to pour more boiling water in... so this baby baked and baked and baked and baked... but fear not
It finally finished and I topped it, very artistically, with the cooked apples. I was proud - it almost looks like it belongs in a bake shop of sorts - almost, I'm getting there!
So that was the second treat - I decided not to torture you with pictures of the apple cake - you can just scoot back a post to look at its apply goodness.
The third and final cake is the Mocha Coffee Coffee Cake. I was excited about this one, it involved taking this...
And after using tricks and magic and all that good stuff, turning it into... THIS
Chocolate, espresso, and vanilla all living in close proximity, cuddled up and tasting soo soo good!
Next time I make this guy I think I might swirl the batters to get a nice marbling as well as a marrying of the flavors
Here is what it looked like all baked up...
Yummy and yay for the neat pattern!
Next I made an espresso glaze to go on top and it really added the final touch
Doesn't that look so good? Trust me it was! And of course my super artistic, "I totally know how to take pretty pictures" shot...
But really that just makes me want a big bite (and we might have had one - just to check that it was safe to eat - before bringing it home to my mom...don't worry she was cool with it).
So I have proven to myself that I can bake 3 cakes in a day - come back and see what challenge I take on next!
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