Friday, April 13, 2007

Birthday cake


Today is Marc's birthday, so I baked him a cake. I love to bake. Fortunately, Marc loves to eat what I bake. And the little guy loves to eat what I bake. I like to eat what I bake too, but I try not to eat so much of it.

Lately I've been into baking bundt cakes. For my bosses birthday a month ago I baked her a lemon blueberry buttermilk bundt cake with a lemon glaze. And then a few weeks ago I found some cooked pumpkin in the freezer (from our fall pumpkins so not too old!) and made a spiced pumpkin bundt cake with a maple cream cheese frosting. This one is very basic, but one of my favorites. I got the recipe from my good friend Sherri and it always gets rave reviews.

WHIPPED CREAM POUND CAKE from Sherri

2 sticks butter
3 c. sugar
6 lg. eggs
3 full c. plain flour, sifted
1 cup whipping cream, do not whip
2 tsp. vanilla extract
OR 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extracts

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, then, add eggs one at a time beating well after each. Add flour and whipping cream alternately. Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Grease and flour tube pan, gently pour cake batter in pan.
After placing pan in oven turn the temperature up to 325 degrees and
bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan about 10 minutes before
removing. May be iced, but is very good plain.

I like to top it with a chocolate glaze I found on allrecipes.com.

Satiny Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

I had the day off from work today. Marc had to work in the morning so I went over to Forest Park to run a 12 mile loop. I rarely run there on a weekday so I felt like I had the trails to myself. On my way back down Leif I saw a coyote! I've never seen anything bigger than a chipmunk in the park, so that was very cool. At first I thought it was a dog, but as I got closer I could see that it definitely was a coyote. It was coming my way along Leif (which is really more of a gravel road than a trail), but once it saw me it took off into the woods.

I tried out my new flyrocs for the first time. Overall I like them, but for the last 4 miles or so I felt some severe rubbing near that knobby foot bone that sticks out near the ankle. It was only on the left foot and now that I'm home I can feel and see that this bone is a lot bigger on the left side. I'm not sure if that's because the rubbing caused some swelling or if I'm just deformed. It sure doesn't look or feel like swelling. Anyway, other than the rubbing that I think can be remedied with a variation on the lace tying, I think the flyrocs are perfect for a little jaunt on wildwood.

My run today finished out the week (which ends on Sunday) for a grand total of 34. After this easy week, and with three rest days ahead, I think I'll be ready for another three weeks of harder training (including the Eugene marathon) before I taper for the Mac 50k. Marc is running the Peterson Ridge Rumble 60k on Sunday. Hopefully I won't be too jealous and can be a good cheerleader. Go Marc!

14 comments:

Backofpack said...

When I first popped open your post, I thought that was a giant doughnut, then I realized it was a bundt cake. You know, any one of the recipes you mentioned would be a good thing to bring with you to Eugene - for sharing with your blog friends! In fact, you might need to bring two because Rob and Eric will be there. Now that I think about it, they both love pumpkin bread, so maybe, in the interest of sharing with more than those two, you shouldn't bring that one!

seagull junker said...

make a cake for the rumble!!! when they have the poker run in the fall (i think it is fall) there is always pumkin pie at one of the aid stations.

Journey to a Centum said...

Let them eat cake! By them I mean Rob and Eric! By cake I mean Pumpkin Bread.

Have fun at the Rumble! Are you going to bring pom poms and wear the cheersquad sweater and skirt when you cheer for Marc at the Rumble?

Journey to a Centum said...

P.S. - Good luck Marc!

Unknown said...

Happy birthday and good luck to Marc at the rumble. I loved this race when I ran it a couple of years ago. And as far as the cake goes, I love cake, just so you know.

Oh, and I don't mind testing out experimental cakes either.

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

U are a very lucky Man Marc your Bride baked you a yummy looking cake!! Enjoy the B-Day!!

Sarah Elaine said...

I love bundt cakes! I've been on the hunt for a good icing recipe, too, so I might just try this one. Thanks for sharing!

Olga said...

Wow, you can also marry my husbdna and bake for him (who's b-day is 4 days after Marc's).
Happy birthday to Marc, and I will see you guys tomorrow!
I had a day off on Friday too, and Gorge belonged to me as well:) Great, I need to stop working!
Flyrocs (or any Inov8) gave me and many many I know of same thing - rubbing the beack of ankle. I even cut it out, but they still rub. I think you'd have to have a different foot. I liked them, but the rubbing part sent them to garbage. All $90 of them...

Rick Gaston said...

So "non-runner" Marc is running a 60k. That's farther than most "runners" go. For a non-runner he sure runs a lot. The cake looks delicious. I have a sweet tooth and I especially like baked goods because I also love bread and things made with flour. Yummy. I wish I had something like that waiting for me later.

sherri said...

Happy Birthday Marc! Glad you can get some mileage out of that recipe S! I continue to be impressed by your running. You've really ramped things up in this lat year. Good luck to Marc on the upcoming run. I know you'll make a great cheerleader.

Joe said...

I'm drooling on the keyboard!!

Happy Birthday Marc...he married well!!

Hope his 60K goes well tomorrow...do give us the report!

Stephanie said...

Just ate dinner and my yogurt, but now I'm still hungry for your cake:-)

Darrell said...

Is there going to be cake in Eugene? Cool. I knew I liked PNW'ers. I would have loved to like the bowl from the chocolate glaze.

Congrats on the 50 mile week, it sure is a nice milestone and Happy Birthday to Marc.

Hope to meet you in a couple of weeks. I will be enjoying my taper. I guess I'm not quite the maniac that you all are.

Jessica DeLine said...

Why do I have a sudden craving for chocolate??