Cakes and Coconut Wine

It was my youngest sister's birthday on the first weekend of March. I had every intention of baking her cake and appearing at her doorstep, greeting her with a loud & cheery birthday greeting.

BUT I ended up exhausted from goodness knows what (a trail run and other things I cannot for the life of me recall!) and I delayed my intentions by a week.

In fact, I cracked my head long and hard, not knowing what she would like. I gambled with a Vanilla Cake with Lemon Frosting.

 I stuck to my favourite cake recipe, previously tried and tested, and made 2 layers.

The lemon frosting was one I had also previously used together with the cake recipe above at my first attempt at cupcakes. This time, the lemons I purchased were not as zesty as the ones I used previously.

It wasn't lemon-y enough!
How frustrating.
I kept adding lemon zest to it but I only had 2 lemons, you see.

The cake was not moist and fluffy either and you can see the bubbles there. Argh!

I am, however, thankful, that it wasn't a total write-off as I had worried it would be. In fact, it's so tame that I *think* my dad-in-law would be sweet enough to say it's a lovely cake. ;D


Last Saturday, a friend invited YB and I to her place for a house warming gathering. I didn't know what to bring / contribute!

Sure, YB and I brought a bottle of wine.

Instead, she opened her bottles of premium coconut wine which turned out to be interestingly delightful. I mean, it wasn't too coconut-y as I would have expected.

Check out the alcohol content in this one!

I decided on Espresso Brownies, a recipe which I have been meaning to try but hadn't managed to.

 

I admit it was risky to bring something I was making something at the first attempt but I kept flipping through my folder and really didn't know what to bake to bring!

Honestly, carrot cake without cream cheese frosting just doesn't sound mouth watering, right?

They weren't as fudgy as I was hoping they would be but they were still nice and moist.

I forgot to snap a picture before I left home so I only managed a picture of the last 2 slices that night. Heh.

And a picture of the sides I kept for myself.

And YB.

Uhm, I needed to taste the brownies before bringing them over, y'know. Had it failed, I wouldn't have brought it over!

I can't wait to make them again.

Honestly.

But ooh, I would love it if I could find a recipe for a super fudgy one!

p.s. Yes, they look dry but I swear that they weren't!

p.p.s I know, I know! I'm supposed to stop baking and focus on cooking but ...