Coffee and Walnut Cake

Since Matt really wanted this cake when I made the cinnamon rolls, I decided to make him happy and make this next. I just had to go to the store to get some walnuts. This cake called for butter, muscovado sugar (a sort of brown sugar), 3 eggs, strong black coffee (I actually brewed it this time haha), self-raising flour, baking powder, and walnuts of course. For the icing, it only called for butter, icing sugar, coffee and vanilla.

I am really starting to find that baking is getting a lot easier, and this cake was really quite simple, other than having to bake two separate cakes, which takes a while, as we know how small my oven is. I had a lot of fun making this cake and luckily, Matt enjoyed it. I felt like there was a lot of pressure since he wanted it last time, but I think I came through. He said he liked it better than my Hummingbird cake, so that's really good since that one was my favorite. I tasted this cake too and I liked it, but not near as much as the Hummingbird cake. Thankfully, we are all allowed to have our own opinions :) Well anyway, here it is, and Im thinking next will be the cappuccino brownies.



On another note, I have been watching Julie&Julia pretty much every time I bake, and I almost have that movie memorized all the lines in it! I know, its bad. I would watch other cooking shows or anything, but here there arent a whole lot of channels to watch and I dont know what other movies to buy, so that movie it is. But I have pretty much become obsessed with the movie and more importantly with Julia Child. She is so amazing and I feel like I can relate to her with cooking and living in a new country. I have purchased My Life in France on my kindle, and I want so many more books about her. I like having that one on my kindle but I think that one and the other ones would be so great to have as a hard copy.

I also really want to get her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Last night, I really wanted to make artichokes and use her Hollandaise sauce (from Julie&Julia), but I went to the store and lo and behold, the store was out of artichokes. Luckily I had already prepared myself for this, but it is a darn good thing I am not doing what Julie Powell did. I would never be able to make it to the deadline, if for nothing else but the store being out of the ingredients. My goodness - the joys of living in a small country.

The point of all that is just to say that I love Julia Child, and she is quickly becoming a huge influence in my life, as well as Bakerella of course. It is just amazing the way things happen in your life, and how things can do a 180 turn in an instant. I went to school and all the way through college thinking I wanted to be a physical therapist, and here I am, realizing that I want to do the opposite of that! :) Not that I still dont want to be into health, but instead I want to make people feel good with yummy treats, not forcing them to do exercises they dont want to. No offense Andre and the Custom PT staff!

Its just crazy the way life takes you, and I honestly wouldnt have figured this all out if we hadnt have come to New Zealand. I know I still have a long way to go, but I have finally found my calling, and I have to give thanks to God above all, but to Matt for taking me to NZ and to all his coworkers who urged me to do this. So thanks! So many others to thank too, but this isnt the Oscars, so I wont go into those haha. :) My point is just that I have found my calling, and I am very excited about it.

And thanks again for joining me on my journey of learning the joy of baking!