Crumble Canyon Cake

When I was little, my mom always made the best cakes. but even the best cake-maker occasionally has one that just isn't up to their usual standards. When this happened to my mom, she would deliberately crumble the top layer of cake, put on a glaze and some sprinkles, and call it a "crumble mountain cake". It was still delicious and I always thought the crumble mountain cakes were a lot of fun.

Today I made a cake via a new recipe using doctored cake mix (to make it less fluffy and a bit more substantial). The cake baked well, but domed a lot in the middle (I need some cake weights!) I made a white cake and put in some raspberry filling and then dark chocolate frosting... and the cake crrracked. I'm just saying the cake shares topographical features with the grand canyon (Or as Ethan said, "it's like watching the san-andreas fault spread in miniature!") so the cake was extremely ugly, but I think the recipe was spot-on. The texture is awesome and it doesn't taste like a mix (but it is pretty much as easy to make as a mix is.)


So I'll be making it again, but next time with some cake weights. I will get a level cake one day!

Other stuff: I may have mentioned before that during my recovery from surgery I taught myself how to crochet using the internet. It's really soothing to do the rhythmic motion and to watch something grow under my hands; so far I've made some dish cloths, one accidentally trapezoidal lap afghan, and this:


It's the first substantial thing I've made without super-obvious flaws (they are there, just not super-obvious. And it is a rectangle rather than a trapezoid, which in itself is a big victory for me). I mailed it to my cousin, who is expecting his second baby in just a few months.

And no, I don't just spend all my time baking and crocheting and doing other old lady stuff... I do young lady stuff too (although going out on a Tuesday makes for a really early-feeling Wednesday morning). I'm just past the point where I feel the need to document every night that I go out and have a few drinks with friends. But I will say that sitting on a patio on a warm evening with a cold beer and good company is a hard thing to beat.