Crazy-cakes is one of my favorite expressions and for the post title I’m using it both figuratively and literally. It is crazy stupid that I’m blogging at 1:30 a.m. on a Sunday. Things have been crazy busy and the next two weeks are only going to get crazier. Finally, I fulfilled a birthday list goal and made a crazy good cake.
The past few days have been crazy on the healthy living front but I want to blog them because I don’t live a healthy living blog, I live my life. And in my life 90% of what I’ve consumed in the past week has been pizza. I’ve decided that attempting to work out over the next week would actually be unhealthy because I’m already getting so little sleep (my planner is workout-free until October 10th). I’m super stressed and not doing the best job of balancing school work with too many hours at my job. But again, this is my life.
As I prewrote these posts in my head I had a lot to say, but now that it’s been 4 days since I last blogged I think we shall go WIAW-style for the recaps. Note – there is no recap from Thursday because I took the day off from everything, took no pictures, caught up on “Awkward” and “Covert Affairs,” and ate pizza and Chinese food for dinner. It was both necessary and delightful.
The Next 2 Weeks
- (9/26) 3 homework assignments are due
- (9/27) the 4 major assignments from my community clinical rotation are due
- (9/28) I’m presenting a journal article for my research methods class. It is a 25 minute Powerpoint presentation and it makes up a large percentage of our grade.
- (9/28) we have our first Microbiology test
- (10/1) we have our first MNT test <– it is going to be so difficult that our teacher recommended that we all quit our jobs if we can
- (10/6) two friends and I are driving to Philly for 4 days for a professional conference <– fun, but also holy frick, when am I going to pack?!
Friday
Breakfast on the walk to school. Zico Chocolate Coconut Water.
Muller Blueberry Bliss Frut Up.
China Breakfast Tea with skim milk and a pb-chocolate magic straw while at work.
A See’s candy that my bosses brought us back from their trip to California. (I had never tried See’s before and now I am a fast fan; soooo creamy!)
A caramel apple non-fat latte as I geared up for a late night. (Cafe Aroma, Buffalo peeps.)
Wegman’s frozen cheese pizza and a sad salad of romaine and 1000 island dressing.
Cake!
One of my goals for my 27th year was to bake a cake from scratch. I figured I’d only do this once, so I wanted a recipe that was delicious but didn’t call for cake flour. After much pondering and Googling, I settled on this Hummingbird Cake recipe from Serious Eats.
If you’ve never had Hummingbird Cake before (I hadn’t!), it is a yellow cake with chopped pecans, crushed pineapple, and mashed banana in the batter that is frosted with cream cheese icing. This combination of ingredients ends up being amazing.
I made the following changes to the recipe and they all worked out –
- light brown sugar instead of dark brown
- low-fat buttermilk
- canola oil instead of vegetable oil
- 1/3-reduced fat cream cheese
I baked the three cakes when I got home from work on Friday night. This activity, of course, included a sprint to purchase more eggs at the co-op 10 minutes before it closed.
Then Saturday morning I layered and frosted helped Adam frost the cake.
His surgeon’s hands came in very handy.
It ended up being a big success!
I brought the cake to book club and it got two-thumbs up all around. If I ever have to make another cake in the future I will definitely think of hummingbirds.
Both of my book club offers were pineapple-based, because I also made my Tropical Fruit White Sangria.
This batch was made with –
- 2 cups chopped pineapple
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup Cruzan Guava Rum
- 1 bottle Rosebud Gold (a local sweet white wine)
- 10 oz lemon seltzer water
Saturday
Eaten before my 10 am shift at work because I had been up since 5:00 frosting and studying. Leftover bbq chicken pizza and sliced apple.
Popcorn with Smart Balance Light.
A Zevia Cola at work.
A pizza bagel on my break. (The Spot uses the very best tasting marinara sauce; it is super zesty.)
My friend picked me up from work and I immediately guzzled two giant glasses of sangria instead of helping her set up.
Book club food, a slice of cheese quesadilla with guacamole and mango salsa, plus two toasts with shrimp dip.
A slice of cake.
Drunkenly eaten at midnight, my 3rd serving of pizza for the day and carrots with french onion yogurt dip.
Sunday
Homemade cole slaw.
A slice of cake.
A See’s candy at work.
Dinner while grocery shopping. Sweet and sour chicken plus wok-seared veggies. (This was randomly really tasty and the best hot bar meal I’ve had in a while.)
A medium, non-fat (no whipped cream) Apple Steamer during our class study-session at The Spot.
Baby carrots and french onion yogurt dip while I wrote this post.
An Important Question
Don’t you think that the dog sort of likes like Oprah when he sits with his arms crossed like this?
Eating Chalk 
1)No, he doesn’t look like Oprah, but he looks like a “good listener.”
2)Your cake looks fabulous! You did have that cake (as a 2-layer, probably) as a child; our recipe is called “Dr. Bird” cake.
He’s a terrible listener!
Dr. Bird is an even sillier name than Hummingbird Cake 🙂
I’m amazed that you remember to drunkenly photograph your foods at midnight. I never seem to remember that sometimes I blog after a number of beers and cocktails….
If that puppy is Oprah, then the Dr. Bird cake can be Dr. Oz visiting.
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