Cake and ____

Stare at blank paper every morning, every day and you will overcome the fear of The Blank Page. As a matter of course, you will begin to overcome other fears of beginnings and unknowns, as well. I hadthis insight about Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages exercise from The Artist’s Way while taking today’s walkies. In walking the last two days, I’ve uncovered two more nonnegotiables. I must make time to take a 20-70 minute walk each day. Walking not only relieves mental constipation, it’s frickin’ essential after being inside each day to remind the body, “You live on the Earth, not in buildings above the earth. This is where you come from. This is where you’ll go.”


Nonnegotiable number two is that I need time for worship services each week. Consistent attendance at some form of group religious observance (be it Metaphysical church, Catholic church, or Buddhist meditation—or other forms of worship I have yet to experience) is a must. Good Lord, do I miss the communal chanting, singing, and praying. I find it energizing, calming, connecting, grounding… Having a working-class job with shift work and neglecting to reserve worship time on Sundays means I bounce between houses of worship more than ever, more often than not, not going to one because of early or late work. I’m not OK with that. I began to wonder whether church was for the bourgeois who have the luxury of a fixed schedule…I’d like to have that debate sometime.

Now that we’ve made that clear…what in the heck does your ranting about your life have to do with cake, Q?

I think randomness (not called spontaneity,which it is technically) is a value in the millennial generation. Why? Because we mask our hyper-technology-induced awkwardness with a word that refers to a computational function.

Real reason: life is a spiral path. I zoomed over these issues last time I was in transition in springtime 2012 (from school to fellowship). Now I uncover them again as I consider my next move. This cake is a ring with a swirl inside of it. It is also wayyyyy toooooo sweeeeeet for me. I almost threw up when I had a piece for breakfast (there, I’ve heretofore acknowledged that this is not breakfast cake).

Cinnamon Roll Cake
Modified from King Arthur Flour’s Spring 2013 The Baking Sheet, page 13.

Cake
2/3 cup oat flour
2/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup King Arthur Flour Ancient Grains GF flour blend
1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 cup Sucanat
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup nayo (I used Earth Balance original vegan mayonnaise)
2/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more for the pan
1 teaspoon vinegar (I used rice vinegar)

Filling
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Sucanat
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze
1 3/4 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
3-4 tablespoons hot water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the filling ingredients and set aside. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add the wet to the dry and mix well.

Transfer half of the batter to the prepared pan. Distribute the filling mixture over the batter in the pan. Cover with the rest of the batter, gently moving it to cover the entire surface area. Bake for 45 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test and the cake springs back to the touch.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Invert a plate over the top and invert the cake pan over the plate.

In a medium bowl, mix together the glaze ingredients. When the cake has been out of the oven for about 30 minutes total, pour the glaze over the cake. You might want to choose a plate with high-ish sides and a flat centre.

Um, yeah, this was one of the better baked goods I've made recently.

Parting shots:
Thanks for the flouncy top, Aunt Ann! I'm wearing it with one of my repurposed tights tops.

It's tattoo balm time of year. I use the Merry Hempsters tattoo balm as sunscreen and moisturizer for my ink.

A gift of three going-black bananas prompted the remaking of cornflake muffins (and some muffins were summarily "regifted" to the banana -giver). I think because I see oversize muffins at work I now make my muffins oversize; this recipe remake yielded ten. Costco's chocolate chips are vegan and GF (but made on shared equipment).

Today is ANZAC Day. Made some ANZAC biscuits.

Finally, for all you Marilyn Manson fans, how would you end the title of this blog post?