Cake 30: Week 15, November 29, 2010: Coffee Cake

Ok, I had a special surprise for you today-- actually I had started the surprise on the 29th of November and I've been trying to figure out how to edit and upload it since, but no dice... Let me explain.

For this week's cake, Coffee Cake (recipe from joyofbaking.com), I really wanted to do a vlog: record and edit and upload a video of the higher points of my cake baking. Instead of being really cool and simple and done, it's been a week and a half pain in the hinder. 1st, I couldn't figure out how to edit- I still can't. I'm going to play with garage band on the mac-aroo when I get the chance, but so far, it's 20+ minutes of me, spouting randomness.

2nd, I had video 1, a four minute starting spot trying to upload for over 4 hours. I finished the week 16 blog, photos and all, cooked dinner, did the dishes and two loads of laundry and it still didn't load... I'll have to figure this one out, but in the meantime, let me tell you the highs and lows of coffee cake.

I enjoy coffee cake normally- any cake that can masquerade as breakfast is all right by me. I've done the strudel toppings before, so when I saw this recipe being a little different, I thought, why the heck not?

It was a quick cake. Mix topping, mix cake, layer cake, topping, cake, topping. The layering and figuring out bake time were the two most tedious tasks. The second layer of cake didn't want to spread over the middle topping layer. It was messy and it took a loooong time to bake.

I actually made a squash soup while I was awaiting the baking. BTW, the 50+ pounds of squash from the garden are officially all baked- I've made three varieties of soup, given away a ton and have a freezer full still.

I didn't try the cake- I know, this is a first, but I have very good reasons: 1, I don't like chocolate chips in things. I like chocolate for frostings and for the cake flavor, but chunks of chocolate in something inherently not chocolate is just not tasty to me. 2, I'm attempting to get in shape with eating and moving more.

I've gained 15 pounds since starting this blog and can't keep it up... to combat the bulge, I've taken up a 100 days challenge.
100 days was the London Word Project's large "festival" last year, where people blogged, etc on one small thing they did every day for 100 days to make themselves a better person. They started on December 1st and ended on March 10th.

I planned on doing the same. December 1st marked what would have been my dad's father's 90th birthday.

Grandpa and Dad on Grandpa's 86th Birthday

He died New Year's Day 2008 and was a remarkable man. He embodied perseverance and he and Gram taught me so much about the tremendous ability for change that people have. I believe that we all have the ability to refashion our worlds if we are willing to act and have the proper motivaiton. My 100 day pledge has become a 113 day pledge- December 6- March 28th. I'm deciding to "divide and conquer" to achieve the other goals I have at hand, knowing that it's the attention to parts that can make the whole more than their sum (and in some cases, the only way of achieving the whole).

So, there you have it.

More baking to come!