I dipped into Nigella's Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame in her book Feast for this honey chocolate cake complete with marzipan bees. I was pleased with the result--very whimsical and delicious too. The combo of brown sugar and honey made a very woodsy cake, while the glaze of honey and confectioner's sugar practically needed to come with its own insulin shot.
I have now done four out of the fourteen cakes in the Hall of Fame, each with varying results. Baking all the cakes listed used to be a lifetime goal, although one is topped with coconut, one of the few foods I can't stand. Mentioning this led to a giant Facebook debate as to whether one should bother baking something one does not intend to eat. In general, I would say no, except I would have to do it to be completist. An ongoing debate, indeed.
This weekend, I baked some basic butter cookies with my daughter.
She wanted to do some "cowboy cookies," but I also had her pick out some other cookie cutters, which accounts for the numbers. She insisted on green colored frosting and went nuts on the sprinkles.
For the record, I don't have the Zen of Baking with Children down quite yet. I know that it's a process--slowing down, allowing mess and mistakes. Where I got the most frustrated was when she kept jumping down from the stool and messing around with stuff on the floor, which meant washing hands again and again until I simply sent her off to play.
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