Acai Bowl

Update your blogrolls (or don't, because it will just redirect anyway) because, I'm excited to say, bakinlove.blogspot.com is now just bakinlove.com. Yay for domain ownership!!

I may eventually develop this into a website for people looking for affordable cakes and tips on baking your own/your friend's wedding cake, with a blog on the side (because I'm pretty inconsistent anyway), but currently I am too busy to figure out website creation stuff.

Now, here is a recipe for a delicious summer (also appropriate in other seasons) treat I fell in love with in San Diego. And whatever you do, never buy one of these at whole foods. Their $8 "acai bowl" is a tub of acai with granola. Disappointing. Speaking of business endeavors, I think Austin needs an place that specializes in acai bowls. Maybe a trailer. We could be the next cupcakes/frozen yogurt/etc.


Acai Bowl
This is basically yogurt and granola, but you replace the yogurt with a berry smoothie.

Ingredients
your favorite granola
1 frozen Acai packet (these are widely available in most frozen fruit sections, manufactured by Sambazon)
a few splashes of real, good apple juice
frozen strawberries (or other desired fruit)
honey
1 banana
raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, coconut, and anything else you want to put on top. in San Diego, it came with bee pollen. Crunch.

Directions
Pour some granola into a cereal bowl.
Blend Acai, apple juice, frozen fruit, honey and half of a banana in a blender or food processor until thoroughly blended. You can add more or less apple juice for your desired consistency... since you eat it with a spoon it's better thick.
Pour smoothie over granola.
Top with the other half of the banana, berries, coconut, etc.
Enjoy.

Yellow cake with chocolate icing

After finishing a delightful dinner of baked potatoes, black beans and green beans, my roommate Charissa, who just so happens to have recently started (successfully, I'd say) a new blog, mentioned she was craving box yellow cake with chocolate icing. After about 30 minutes of discussing whether we would actually go to the store, I started baking.

It's nothing too fancy looking, but four of us dug in with our forks and were quite satisfied. Even Charissa, who loves box cake, which I admit, homemade cake never tastes like (which I kind of think is a good thing).

So, for Charissa,'s reference and for my own files, and possibly for your (who are you anyway) enjoyment, here is a recipe for a Monday night cake.

Yellow cake with chocolate icing
Yellow Cake (halved recipe from Martha, for one 9-inch round)
Ingredients
1 stick (half cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup King Arthur unbleached cake flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 c + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 c + 2 tablespoons milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 9x2 inch round cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter parchment and dust with flour.
Sift flours, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
Beat butter and sugar together with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Beat in vanilla.
Add flour in three parts, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until combined after each addition.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth with offset spatula.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester (knife) inserted in the center comes out clean. Rotate halfway through baking time for even baking.
Place on cooling rack outside of your hot kitchen while you make the icing.

Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
4 tablespoons salted butter (salted per Charissa's request)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Melt butter and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Add milk, bring to a boil, remove from heat.
Sift in cocoa and powdered sugar, stir until blended.
Stir in vanilla.

Now, conventional wisdom dictates that you should let the cake cool completely and not make the icing until it has cooled, because you have to spread it on right away. However, we wanted warm cake, so we dumped the icing in the middle of the cake right away and spread it around. It didn't drip down and it tasted super stinking good. So, get to it.