yesterday. That means we're done selling raffle tickets. That also means we're exhausted. We spent most of our day at the KC hall yesterday. Compared to some of the jobs other people had, ours was somewhat easy for the actual event. We really only had to decorate our table and endure a little bit of chaos while people were turning their tickets in. We had a chance to walk around and check out everything else going on in our down time. We each offered to help out a little in the other departments too. Cosme donated some flight time for the auction, which went for over $1000. I offered to bake something for the cake walk, which has always been one of my favorite events... go figure. So, yeah, I finally got around to baking the official cake I delivered. (Remember my test run from last week?) Anyway, I baked a three-layered vanilla with almond buttercream. I decided I'd make cream cheese coffee cakes too. It's also one of those things I don't make too often so every time I make it, I cross my fingers that it'll turn out okay. The recipe makes four cakes so I always keep one for us to sample. I started my dough the night before and put it in the refrigerator overnight, just like the recipe says and just like I've always done. Saturday afternoon I pulled the dough out and it didn't look like it had done anything. At that point I could've thrown the dough out and been happy with the vanilla cake... but, no. I was determined to get it right. I didn't throw the other dough out but put it aside and started a new batch. I left the other dough out to see if it would rise. Sunday morning I checked my second batch and it looked like it had risen just a bit. I decided to move forward and finish the cakes. I mixed the cream cheese filling, rolled out the dough, put it all together and let it rise. Before I'd done that, I'd taken the dough that flopped and made little balls and set them in a pan. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) I figured I'd try something new. If it really flopped, I wouldn't be as bothered. After those balls had actually risen and I realized that they might not be a total loss, I made little indentions in the top. (Now do you really see where I'm going with this?) I whipped up a half batch of that cream cheese filling and filled it in the holes. I let that bake for about 20 minutes and then drizzled a vanilla icing over the top.
That's where I went with that. Cream cheese kolaches.
Then I stuck the coffee cakes in the oven. When they came out, I added a little bit of almond to the icing and drizzled that over the top.
I kept one to sample, called a friend to come pick up another one (me at 6:58 on a Sunday morning "if you're up, hungry and want to send someone by to pick it up, I've got a coffee cake that just came out of the oven") and the other two went to the cake walk.
Oh yeah, I realized I had a lot of buttermilk left over for the vanilla cake so I used two smaller to-go sheet pans and make sheet cakes. I'd only made it in a regular sheet pan in the past so when I divided it into smaller pans, I wondered about the quality. I had to keep one for us to sample, of course.
A few hours later we were ready to head out to the bazaar.
I probably gained 13 pounds during my test run and sampling. Also, I think my exhaustion from the bazaar might be enhanced due to my four day sugar high. On that note, a piece of cake and a nap sound great right now.
