Thank goodness I've finally gotten to post again. Things have been crazy between Christmas and New Year's and some very, very unreasonable deadlines for school.
Anyways! Tonight was supposed to be the night of one of my classmates' art show. It's a really amazing showcase of teen talent in our city, with live musical performances, theatre, dance, a reading, and, I believe, an art gallery. It's all the more impressive because it's been organized solely by teens. I offered to cater the event (on a small scale - no buffet tables here), and the organizer has been great about working with me, and everyone involved, to put together an exciting and smoothly-running show. I was very much looking forward to it.
Of course, the weather had other plans. Pretty much everything around here has been canceled. While usually I would be wiping my brow and starting the hot chocolate on a snow day, today I'm wishing the art show hadn't been called off. Because I was excited to see my city's young talent bring their best. Because I wanted it to all go smoothly for my very hard-working classmate.
But especially because I now have a basement fridge full of buttery, tempting, drool-worthy baked goods.
I was originally going to make four things, since the event is fair-sized but isn't huge. Brownie cupcakes, lemon poundcake, vanilla cupcakes with buttercream, and vegan fruit muffins, since, you know...we're artsy here. Thankfully, I'd only gotten to making the first two before the weather reports came in and the show was canceled. But they're still sitting there in their cake carriers, calling my name...
Billie...Billie...look at our numiness...
No, Mr. Cupcake, I will not sacrifice my girlish figure for you.
But just look at that ganache! Not licking it off the cupcakes while spreading it was the hardest thing I've ever done. Maybe not. But it's up there on the list.
The good news is that the cupcakes were absolutely delicious. I simply baked brownie batter in a muffin tin and then topped it with a thick and (really, really) decadent ganache. I was originally planning to pipe it on in pretty little swirls, but I'm a pansy and chickened out at the last minute, since I've never done piping work before. So it just got slathered on by hand. They still look pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.
Then there was the lemon poundcake. And oh, what a lemon poundcake it is.
Gaaahhhhh.
I caved and had a slice this morning (I also caved and had a brownie last night, but we'll ignore that). It's...incredible. So buttery. The perfect amount of lemon. The most beautiful crisp, golden top. And it's all mine. Which really isn't a good thing.
I just wanna take a fork to it and go to town.
The good news is that the art show will be rescheduled, and I'm still on for catering it. While I'm disappointed it won't be tonight, this has been a lesson not just in pastry preparation, but in business preparation. Sometimes things happen, and you have to work around them. I was so impressed by how my classmate handled it...she has been the essence of calm, organized, and helpful. She made every effort to make sure everyone else involved in the project knew what was going on and was rescheduled, without once freaking out or becoming unprofessional. I admire what she's done a lot, and have learned from her handling of all this. Whatever career I do decide to go into, whether it's baking or not, I'll have to be able to deal with the unexpected and the unfortunate. Just like this time, I, and everyone else, will simply have to cope with it.
I'm inspired.
P.S. My family spent Christmas in Florida, and I hope to post about that soon. It was lovely, and there was some fantastic food! I hope everyone had a great holiday and is enjoying the new year as much as I am.
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