So Many Dishes

Apart from around the holidays, my baking is pretty limited. I usually make one peach pie during the summer, and I’ll bake once or twice each year for our church’s hospitality hour after Sunday service. But I don’t bake with any regularity, and I usually stick to familiar recipes.

Such was not the case today. I tried two new recipes to share with friends tomorrow. That’s when the music group that Ken and I are part of is presenting a music-based service at the church. We’re getting together to rehearse early in the morning. And I do mean early: the 8:00am rehearsal start means that we will have to leave by 7:15. So I said that I’d bake some goodies, and that was my afternoon project.

My first choice was an orange-cranberry loaf from the wonderful Taffey Bakery blog. At some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ken and I shared a slice of a similar loaf at Panera and loved it, so that was an easy choice. I followed the directions exactly, as I usually do when I’m baking. The result was the smoothest, creamiest batter I’ve ever made and a perfect looking loaf. Yes, we’ve tasted it, and it’s as good as it looks.

My other choice was a recipe that I had pinned to my baking board on Pinterest, a pumpkin-sour cream coffee cake with a crumble topping. This turned out to be a project that took three mixing bowls and numerous measuring cups, spoons, and utensils. I really appreciated that Ken volunteered to wash dishes, because I had stuff spread from one end of the counter to the other—and we have lots of counter space!

The only fly in the ointment was our finicky oven. We had to replace our range during Covid, when supply chain issues limited what was available. I wasn’t able to get the stove I wanted, and the one we ended up with has been something of a lemon. The oven takes forever to come to the desired temperature and doesn’t always maintain it. So when I checked the crumb cake st what was supposed to be the end of its baking time, the middle was still raw. I fussed and fumed, returned it to the oven, and baked it for what turned out to be another 30 minutes or so. Before I put the loaf in the oven, which I was baking second, I set the temperature 10 degrees higher than what the recipe called for. That seemed to do the trick.

For all my worry, the cake turned out really well. Ken and I each had a small piece after dinner, and the bake was good. I was surprised that you could barely taste the pumpkin, and I think it would have benefited from more pie spice. I need to tweak this recipe before I share it. But I’m looking forward to sharing both cakes with our friends tomorrow. I just can’t eat so much that I can’t sing!