Kitchen Goddess: Laganophobia

Son of a muffin top! I've done it again! I've overshot the mark and must now pay the price.

For Piper's 1st birthday on July 27th I resolved to have a "small get-together."  After all, the kid won't remember and it's pretty much for photo ops, right? WRONG. Apparently, you need to order the original square cupcake stand that holds 100 damn cupcakes for your "small get-together." By buying this cupcake stand, you have not just committed to baking eleventy billion cupcakes, but in order to make the entire thing not look totally amateur, you can't just slap on some frosting ghetto-style with a butter knife like you're used to doing. Oh no, you must figure out a way to make it all come together. A) You must have a theme (I chose a beach theme since she was born on an island), B) You must learn how to use a pastry bag, C) You must learn which nozzle to use on said pastry bag, D) You must buy or obtain trim/sand/seashells/sponge/driftwood to accommodate your theme, and E) You must learn how to perfect a homemade buttercream frosting as store-bought frosting from a tub is too thin and will not maintain body and style atop your stupid cupcakes.

It may sound as though I'm playing the victim a bit, and maybe I am.  Perhaps I should seek help. I have a self-inflicted fear of cake.  I suppose there's no better way to overcome a fear than to face it, so come July 27th, LET THEM EAT CUPCAKES!!! CARPE LAGANUM!

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What's For Dessert? - 4th of July Rhubarb Crumble Pie

It seems as though this time of year is busier and more eventful than the Christmas season! I hope all of you had a wonderfully patriotic Independence Day!  Piper and I attended a killer BBQ at a friend's home and I decided to try my hand at rhubarb. This was totally new for me, and from what I gathered this recipe was a winner!  The best part about it is the freedom to improvise a little and you can cheat by buying frozen rhubarb in the frozen fruit section of your grocery store!

~Ingredients~

Filling - 

1 lb rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cups of white sugar

1/8 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. ground cardamom

1 graham cracker crust

Crumble topping - 

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup of butter (or a 1/2 stick), cut into pieces

dash of cinnamon

dash of cardamom

dashes of vanilla extract

~Instructions~

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  In a medium bowl, mix together the rhubarb, white sugar, 1/8 cup of flour, vanilla extract, and ground cardamom.  Spoon into a graham cracker crust.

 2.  In a food processor, pulse together the 1/2 cup of flour, salt, and brown sugar.

 3.  Add the butter and pulse until butter pieces are pea-sized.

 4.  Spread topping over rhubarb mixture.  At this point, I sprinkled more cinnamon and cardamom on top and dolloped splashes of vanilla randomly over the crumble topping.

 5.  Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is slightly browned and your house smells like a baking utopia of goodness.  Enjoy!!

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