ElleBee

It's never a good sign when you tell your guests they don't have to eat the dessert if they don't like it and they actually take you up on that. But, after a bite of the flan I made yesterday, I completely understood. I was so looking forward to making this dessert, especially after reading all of the wonderful posts this month. Sadly, my flan tasted like runny scrambled eggs. (I'd like to add that this made my husband very happy as he loves eggs in any form. He was the only one of us to finish his portion. Many thanks to my neighbors for acting as guinea pigs!)

(Piper with, appropriately, an egg whisk.)

Looking back, there were several red flags. First, the recipe I used called for not only five whole eggs, but five additional egg yolks. Most of the recipes I've read on this site call for only three or four eggs - at most, five, with no additional yolks. I used a recipe from a creme brulee cookbook I've had success with. This recipe also called for milk and cream instead of condensed milk. Second, I forgot to add the vanilla, which might have masked the eggy flavor of this particular flan. Third, the flan never seemed to set up correctly. I baked it for the required 1 hour and 10 minutes, then left it in an additional 10 minutes because it still looked runny. The recipe said it would continue to set up after coming out of the oven, but I don't think that was the case. After some coaxing from my friend Dawn, I did manage to flip it out of the pan with no problem, but it looked kind of sad.

I might post a second take on this recipe this month. I really love flan and would love to get it right. We have some more guests coming up on Thursday, and they might just get Flan 2.0 for dessert!

Again, the blogging drought ends, this time, I hope, to clear up a mystery. Will the friend or family member who sent us a video monitor for Piper please step forward? This wonderful gift arrived from Amazon today without a card or a return address, so we have no idea who to thank...

After missing the challenges for December and January due to the holidays and family illnesses, I was excited to get back to baking with this month's challenge (good choice, Tina!). I had to take a risk this month, because my high-altitude cookbook did not contain a recipe for this type of cake. So, I went with Paula Deen's, which seems similar to most of the recipes other bloggers have posted this month.

To adjust for the altitude, I added a couple tablespoons more oil than called for, and a tablespoon more flour. (Don't ask me why - I just vaguely remember these being some ideas presented in the high-altitude baking class I took a few years ago.) I was pretty weirded out by the final batter. It was very gelatinous. In fact, it looked like I'd melted down Gumby's old pal Pokey and spooned him into some cupcake tins.

I stuck the cupcakes in the oven, came back 22 minutes later, and voila! Or not. Something was very, very wrong. The cupcakes smelled like ass. I'd forgotten to add the sugar. Yeah - there's no excuse for forgetting to add sugar to cupcakes. I was simply trying to get the batter mixed as quickly as possible, before Piper melted down in her exersaucer, and didn't read the ingredient list closely enough. So, into the trash goes the first batch of cupcakes.

I tried again on, appropriately, Valentine's Day morning. My husband and baby were sick all last week, and the last thing anyone in my house wants to do this year is make a big production of Valentine's Day, so it was agreed my husband would cook a heart-shaped pizza and I would give these cupcakes another go.

This time I was very careful to add the sugar first thing. Alas, Paula Deen's not-high-altitude recipe failed me anyway. All of the cupcakes fell in the middle.

Also, they came out a bit greasy, probably because of the extra vegetable oil. Dorrie, you need to get back to baking so I can just steal your high-altitude recipe each month! I probably should have added an extra egg and/or cut the baking soda by 1/4 teaspoon. I'll post an update later this month if I get the time to try again. For now, there's nothing a bit of frosting can't fix! But, Piper is still not impressed.

I really need to sit down and write a proper post, as the last few weeks have been filled with trips, snow, and good times with friends and family, but, as always, Piper is AWAKE! So, you'll have to settle for this gorgeous shot off the front deck and an updated snow total.

Update snow total for the canyon: 62 inches.

First, thanks to Tori for choosing this month's Have the Cake recipe! I've always wanted to make a coconut cake, as they are so lovely and delicious, but I've never been brave enough. For some reason, I imagined this recipe would be much more complicated.

Second, despite the relative simplicity of the cake and frosting recipe, Piper has been reluctant to sleep this month. Yesterday I tried to fit too many things in during the day. Since my girls' night out started at 4:30, I was planning to frost the cake during Piper's afternoon nap. She cut said nap short - sleeping only about 30 minutes - and was incredibly cranky (the photo was taken this morning). So, I had to entertain her, then feed her, then hand her to my long-suffering husband who should have been working, toast the coconut, whip the icing, and try to slap the whole thing on the cake before running out of the house. Needless to say, the cake doesn't look as pretty as it could have.

For my recipe, I turned again to my trusty Pie in the Sky cookbook, using the 7,000 ft. version. The cake is a basic 1-2-3-4 cake, with coconut icing and topped with toasted coconut. Some friends are coming up tonight for dinner and dessert, so I hope it is delicious!