When You're Having a Dinner Party...

It would be wrong of me to ignore the hospitality gene that has been passed down to me from my parents and grandparents. You just can't ignore the need to entertain forever, and I've just decided to give in, once and for all.

On Saturday night, Anna made the trek all the way across town to my apartment, for a nice, gluten-free gourmet dinner! To spruce the place up, I stopped by Kabloom in Coolidge Corner for some gorgeous, vibrant carnations. (And Anna brought some GORGEOUS pinkish, purplish tulips that are thriving nicely.)  Since I'm big on black and white dish and tableware, I like to add eye-catching pops of color to the table any way I can.

On the menu? California-style BLTs, with a little twist. Instead of bacon, I used proscuitto. I added avocado. AND, for the piece de resistance, I added basil mayonnaise. Believe me when I say, basil mayonnaise can take any good sandwich to an entirely different level.

Side note: shout out to Crate and Barrel for the super cute plates! I paid $5.95 for each, but it looks like I paid much, much more! (When is it appropriate to call myself a Bargain Princess?)

And for dessert? Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a generous dollop of buttercream frosting in the center.

So...I feel like no matter what I write, it actually won't do this cake proper justice. Never in my life have I made something so decadent, so rich, and yet so pleasantly light and airy. With every spoonful you get that sweet choclately taste, which is complimented by the slightly salted, very creamy buttercream frosting. It's like eating a fudgey brownie, but one that's made from chocolate clouds. I may or may not have had one for lunch today. (I did.)

Summertime means more free time, more of my favorite foods, and more dishes to be made and served. BRING ON THE WARM WEATHER THAT BRINGS ME AND MY FRIENDS TOGETHER.

You HAVE to try this basil mayonnaise recipe from The Kitchn, and of course, the Flourless Chocolate Cake from What's Gaby Cooking. But not in that order...unless that's the kind of food combining you're into.

Happy Tuesday!

Cakeland Adventures Continued

This weekend I decided that I wanted to make a cake.

In my life, I've only made two cakes, whether it be alone, or with a little help. And I have to say it: this is no easy feat, is it? Making a cake is a lot of work, but it's incredibly rewarding (And obviously delicious) in the end, and that makes it all worth it.

Let me first start off by saying that I went all over Boston (Okay, just to Macy's) to find the proper tools for this cake. While I've got buttercream frosting on lock, I didn't have an icing spatula. And while I have plates to serve the cake on, I had no cake stand. These are both very essential to proper cake making. In two years, I want people to come to me asking for me to make them a cake. I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO, but practice makes perfect, no?

So with my nine-inch cake pans in place, my favorite apron on, and about a million ingredients littering the counters, I set to work on a two-layer, vanilla with buttercream frosting cake. Four hours later (There was a lot of checking, then double-checking, then triple-checking the recipe to make sure I was doing it right. Then I had to wait for the unusually hard unsalted butter to soften)  I had my two-layer cake, and a countertop, and arm, covered in buttercream frosting. But HEY, I made myself a cake, and I'm proud.

Ahem. Couple things: this isn't the prettiest cake in the world. I know this, I said this several times to my roommate after I set in on the table. BUT IT WAS DELICIOUS.  This was my first time using cake flour instead of all purpose, and I must say, the consistency is interesting! it's a bit lighter, and I like it. I still prefer AP flour, but I like it enough for this cake.

In case you can't tell (icing gel from Betty Crocker is THE. WORST. I had these neat designs in mind for the cake, but couldn't snip the top off the tube like it suggested. After probably a good five minutes of snipping that top, I got a little frustrated and cut off the entire bottom, then filled a squeeze bottle we have for icing. There wasn't enough gel from the tube to fill the squeeze bottle, so I had to change up everything. Bottom line: be careful buying Icing gel from Betty Crocker) I wrote "One" on my cake. This is try number one. And there will be many more tries in the future, and they'll all be documented here.

At the end of the day, I'm still learning. Baking makes me happy. It's something that I love to do, and it's gotten me a few friends along the way. But I'm still learning, and I'll continue to learn until I can't anymore. And that's what DaintyDwellings is about for me. It's about always learning, always trying to better a craft, always trying to learn more about the things I'm passionate about, always trying to build a community with bloggers trying to do the same thing. I want to be the best, so I have to learn from the best.

And I've still got a lot to learn, so keep those challenges coming.

Night, Dwellers!