BWD#3 Great Grains Muffins

A day late.  Again.  I have a great excuse.  Here he is:

Spending some time with Deacon...world's cutest nephew!

Last minute trip up to Milwaukee, WI to visit my brother's firstborn (and the man to whom I devoted Bill's Big Carrot Cake) and spend Easter weekend getting some much needed relaxation, sweatpants, and baby time!

As promised, I baked the Great Grains Muffins bright and early this morning...er...this morning.  Not so early!

Pot of tea and muffins, anyone?

Mmmm....love the smell of cornmeal!

One of the things I'm growing to appreciate as a budding baker is the fact that Dorie's assembly is so simple.  Seriously...how much easier can combining the dry ingredients...combining the wet ingredients...then pouring the wet into the dry, stirring and baking be?!  Plus, none of these ingredients has thirty components, all of which need to be Googled and none of which can be pronounced!  I love it!  This is definitely a versatile muffin---I mixed in golden raisins, and William reported it was a bit on the sweet side.  I'd imagine I could have added a combination of just about any dried fruit or toasted some walnuts or almonds and created more subtle changes.  Moist crumb, subtle flavors, a hint of maple and cornmeal---perfect addition to a morning cup of tea or coffee.  Looking forward to the next BWD!  Bring on the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake!!! I'm armed and ready with my 10.5" French fluted tart pan.  See you in two weeks, BWD friends!

BWD #2, Part 2: A Birthday Cake for Deacon

As of this morning at approximately 8:51 or so...I'm an AUNT!!!  My brother and sister in law had their little boy, Deacon, and he was 19" and weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz.  Considering our anniversary was two days ago, and now Deacon's here---April is shaping up to be quite a memorable month, indeed!  Reason for celebration with a carrot cake!

As promised, I've included a few more deconstructed...and fully assembled pics!  I chose to make it with homemade lemon curd and homemade whipped cream, rather than the sugary sweet cream cheese frosting.  Husband will be home shortly to give his review!

The elements...whipped cream, lemon curd, and three layers of carrot cake.

Lemon Curd-Whipped Cream and a base layer of cake.

The leaning tower of Bill's Big Carrot Cake!

Much better.

BWD #2 Bill's Big Carrot Cake, Part 1

So...the saying "Failure to plan is planning to fail" comes to mind when thinking about this week's BWD.  I decided to try a different variation---rather than make the lemon cream cheese frosting that uses an entire pound of confectioner's sugar, I'm making my very first batch of homemade lemon curd, which will include an addition of whipped cream.  The lemon curd is currently sitting on the counter, cooling to room temperature before it can be refrigerated.  Strike 1!

This is, by no means, a baking catastrophe, and I'm quite excited to see how it turns out.  That being said, I'll post the deconstructed photos of BWD this week, with a promise of the completed, assembled product tomorrow.

In honor of our first wedding anniversary...this cake shall henceforth be known as William's Anniversary Cake. :)  Sorry, Dorie---the top layer of our amazing Dairy Queen Blizzard Cake is safely stored in my parents' freezer up in WA.

I have about three cups of leftover shredded carrots, so I'll be perusing the book to see how I may use them!  Shout out to my hubby for letting me test recipes out on him...and to our 366th day of wedded bliss.  Love you, Mr. Behr!

BWD#2 Bill's Big Carrot Cake, a variation

Bill's Big Carrot Cake---deconstructed---and smelling AMAZING!

Homemade Lemon Curd

The beginnings of homemade lemon curd+muscles (not shown)