Italian Cream Cake

I'm still working one day a week at the local megamarket.  In the bakery, we have a an Italian Cream Cake that sells fairly well.  What makes me cringe, however, is what I have to tell people when they ask me if it's any good. 

"Oh, I don't like Italian Cream Cake, so I wouldn't know."

What bullshit.  I love a good Italian Cream Cake, although it's difficult to find one that's not dry and tasteless... like the one we sell at the megamart.  Since I can't come out and actually say that ours is a nasty pile of shit with a greasy shortening based icing, I have to weasel my way out of answering the question by using the line above.
 
Luckily, my boss at the cafe has a recipe that she's known for, and she was kind enough to give it to me (besides the fact that I have to use it to make our Valentine's Day cakes--she also gave me permission to use it personally and professionally).  It's wonderful, moist, flavorful, and not too heavy.  I admit I made a few small changes to it to reflect my tastes, but it's a huge hit with my family and friends.
For her birthday last week, my Mom requested the cake below.  I was only planning on doing a top border and a single rose, but then for some reason I went nuts and added a side ribbon, more roses, and a bunch of rosebuds.  Because it's top-heavy, it kinda looks like a squished down mushroom.  Mom loves the fruffy stuff, so it was fine.

 

I have another one to make tonight.  I'm taking it to a friend (a local bread god) on Monday who's going to give his professional opinion on whether it's as good as the one they make a Central Market.  It took me a while to convince him that I want him to be completely honest with me.  After all, if I'm being humored, how do I know what needs to be fixed?  And I have no intention of being second best, no matter how long it takes.

Ok, that sounded a little arrogant, but that's the best description of how I feel.  For most of my life I coasted along the road of adequacy, but for some reason the culinary world has brought out a new competitive side of me.  Maybe it's just early menopause....

The Only Good Zucchini is a Dead Zucchini

I'm not a zucchini person.  In fact, the only two ways I'll even eat zucchini is either when it's battered and deep-fried, or when it's in a quick bread.  For some reason I decided to try making a fruity flavored zucchini bread that used the dried mango I recently found at Costco (this stuff is fabulous!).  My first attempt was heavy, dark and gummy, so I didn't even bother to photograph it.  The second time it came out much lighter in texture, color, and with a more delicate flavor.  It's still not where I want it to be, but this time it was too pretty not to take photos. 

 The green flecks are zucchini, the white are chopped almonds and coconut (although you really can't see the coconut much), the yellow are dried pineapples, and the orange are the dried mangos.  I also used just a bit of rum for the hell of it.  I'd like it to be a bit sweeter, but the rest of it is close to what I'm looking for.  My boss wanted to use it for work, but I pointed out that the profit margin on it would be much lower than our other quick breads because of the almonds and dried fruit.  This time I wanted to create a bread specifically for my cookbook, and not for the company.

As Time goes By

Thanksgiving came and went without time to blog.  Las Vegas passed on by with some updates on my other site, but no access to Vox (and for some reason I didn't photograph all the desserts that I sampled while there).  Work after returning was insane, Christmas was very busy, and it's now February.  My new resolution is to blog at least three times a week, and then we'll see about working up to five.