Summer Baking

hocolate, Coffee Cake

I've been enjoying my summer by doing lots of domestic things.  I've enjoyed baking from scratch, along with my usual crafts.  Don't get me wrong in thinking that I like to cook.  In my opinion, baking is very different from cooking.  I am not good at the improvisation required to be a good cook. To succeed, I need a recipe, specific directions, and precise amounts.  If I have to judge by look as to whether or not something is done, I'm doomed.  But, if the recipe says to keep the item in the oven for 20-25 minutes, I can stick a toothpick in the thing and decide if it's done or not. Moral of the story:  don't ask me to cook if you're dying of hunger, but I could make you a cake and save your life with sugar and the oven.


Anyway, I baked this cake for a co-worker at my school.  It was a chocolate, coffee cake.  I got the recipe for both the cake and frosting from the magazine Real Simple.  It is a really easy and good recipe to follow, as the cake turns out moist and full of flavor.  The frosting wasn't my favorite, but it turned out well enough.  I decorated it with sliced almonds.  I thought about writing on it with icing, but that seemed too sloppy.  I like the more abstract route I took.

I have made three of these cakes to date; one as an experiment, the one I've mentioned for my co-worker, and one for a charity, dessert banquet.  The one pictured directly below was my experiment.