Monday, April 09, 2012

Of cakes, cats and man-eating plants...

We went over to my mother-in-law's place for Easter dinner yesterday. I made this cake for dessert:


New Wave Chocolate Tunnel Cake from Marcy Goldman's A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking. I am neither religious nor Jewish, but I do love Jewish cuisine!! So while the dessert was definitely not kosher for Passover, it was okay for Easter.

A tunnel of cream cheese and chocolate chips runs through it!


The recipe is here.  I tried baking with duck eggs for the first time yesterday, and boy did this sucker rise up! (Appropriate for Easter, I  should think. ;))

Gordon got some chocolate for Easter, and this:


He wanted a Venus Flytrap when he was a kid, so I indulged him. I had one when I was a child but I killed it by, among other things, feeding it cooked hamburger. 

I have looked up care instructions on the internet, so one hope this Venus Flytrap (not really man-eating, just bug-eating) will last a little longer than the one I poisoned with cow.



And here is Julius, not helping me to draw by lying on my pencils. 

Hope everyone had a good Easter/Passover/weekend!

Mama Duck continues to heal and walks a little better every day. Her leg swelling is going down nicely.





20 comments:

  1. Julius always has such a delightfully smug expression. In this photo, he seems to be saying, "Yeah, just TRY to move me from my spot, sweetheart."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That about sums him up!! He gets a little feisty when I attempt to shift him.

      Delete
  2. Would Venus eat fox?!
    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  3. And why can't you feed it hamburger??? I mean, it sounds like it'd be similar to a bug, protein and all. Hmmmm, who knew? Just do not let your friends feed it paperclips!

    The cake looks amazing!!!! Was it good? I'm still feasting on my blueberry cobbler that I made Sun. I constantly tell myself I'm not gonna bake again, but I keep doing it! And then I eat!

    Happy Easter Monday!
    ~Lynn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm thinking the hamburger was too fatty. Or maybe they don't like their meat cooked! Or maybe I just shoved too much in there. :)

      The cake was great, very moist and chocolatey with that yummy cream cheese filling. I love blueberries, though, and your cobbler look fantastic

      Delete
  4. Beautiful looking cake and where did you ever find that plant??? Hope the cats stay away from it, especially the kitty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of all places, at the nursery in Hawkesbury! They were up by the cash register!

      Delete
  5. That cake looks fabulous - just when I think I don't want to see any more chocolate someone comes up with something chocolatey and sets me drooling!

    ReplyDelete
  6. NO! I will NOT bake that fabulous cake. Much too tempting! I would probably devour half of it before my son's visit, and still feel virtuous that I didn't eat it all. Julius is so determinedly lovely. How could you dislodge him. Happy plant feeding!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had to freeze the cake leftovers so we wouldn't gorge on it until we exploded! :)

      Delete
  7. Julius, you´re a imponent guy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yummy cake :)
    What I heard about those fly catching plants is that you should never tickle them, so they don't close their flaps while it's empty. That would cause them to eat themselves and self distruct. They should only close when a bug is caught in there for nutrition.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, good advice! I will be careful not to touch the "traps"!

      Delete
  9. I nurtured a Venus Fly-Trap from seedling to plant-adulthood. I was so proud the day he caught his first fly - a great big juicy Bluebottle. Then he died.

    So sad. I assume it was a combination of shock and terminal indigestion. I buried him on the compost heap after a short ceremony.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Argh! This awesome comment went in my spam folder. But I have rectified the situation.

      I wil have to make sure I keep the bluebottles away from our Venus.

      Delete
  10. I've seen that face before...looks like my cat when she doesn't want me to read the newspaper, map, or the house refinance documents (yup, she has to jump onto the docs).

    How did you compensate for the duck eggs? One duck egg equals 1 1/2 chicken eggs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mil!

      I've read that you can use duck eggs one for one with to replace chicken eggs. But when I made the cake, I tried to pick the smallest duck eggs! :) Anyway, that seemed to work fine. Apparently ducks eggs have more yolk and less white than chicken eggs.

      Aren't cats good with that look of disdain? :)

      Delete

Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!