While grocery shopping last week, I saw this Southern Living magazine at the check-out. I’m not a great cook, but I love to bake, and ‘holiday’-themed baking is even more fun. So, of course, I couldn’t resist buying the magazine with the thought that I’d find something interesting to bake for the holidays. Well, after flipping through the pages, I was completely mesmerized by all the beautiful cakes! It might have had something to do with the fact that I was a little bit hungry, but the cakes were absolutely gorgeous and sounded amazingly yummy! So, after wiping the drool off of all the pages, I got a wild-haired notion (as I frequently do) to bake every one of the “cover cakes” in the magazine. I love a challenge.....and I love cake.....so what better combination? Of course David just rolled his eyes when I told him my plan. His response was, “How are we going to eat that much cake?!”
There are 15 cakes listed, so I know I couldn’t possibly bake them all before the holidays. I’d love to be able to bake one a week, but with my lack of self-discipline, I know that’s not gonna happen, so I’m going to try for one cake every two weeks, which would end up taking about 6 to 7 months.
So now the challenge has begun! David does have a point – we can’t possibly eat that much cake (yeah, right), but my mission is to just actually BAKE them and have them turn out as beautiful as the ones in the magazine. So starting next weekend, my first attempt will be a “Chocolate Citrus Cake with Candied Oranges” for my daughter-in-law Carie’s birthday. We all love chocolate, and the oranges give it a fall feeling, so that seemed like a good one to start with in September.
This is a picture of the cake in the magazine. I'm going to be optimistic and believe that my cake will turn out just as beautiful! If you ask my family, they will tell you that this optimism is a stretch for me. But maybe I'll surprise myself!
Gentlemen….start your ovens!
