If you’re reading this, then chances are you can read. Or you’re a high-functioning illiterate, in which case please excuse me whilst I marvel at your brilliance. That made sense to me…
I feel like you and I have a good enough relationship (even though, chances are I’ve never actually met you. Hi, I’m Picco.) and I can tell you my innermost secrets. Here goes: I don’t read. There, I’ve said it. That’s probably not something I should proudly announce to the world, but as of last week it was true. I used to read all the time when I was younger, but being homeschooled (no, I don’t do school in my pajamas), I really haven’t had a “set” highschool reading list, so reading has kind of fallen to the wayside. What books do normal people read in highschool…? My problem is I have a really hard time pretending to be interested in books that bore me (unfortunately, that also applies to not just books, but movies, sports, people, etc.) and I guess I thought I was too “busy” to read. Busy with what? *silence* Now that I think about it, I realize I spend my free time watching mindless/amazing shows like Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Psych, and House, and listening to mindless/amazing music like The Beatles, Queen, and Adam Lambert. Ok, Adam Lambert is the only mindless one. But I’m going to marry that man someday. Once he, you know, breaks up with his boyfriend and stuff….details, details.
So now that I have become a reformed book addict, I’ve been speeding through fantastic books and basically can’t stop reading. Does that qualify me as a dork? No. I don’t watch Dr. Who. Ergo, me=not dork. Although I think using the word ergo is points against me. In the past 5 days I’ve finished Dante’s Inferno, read Catcher in the Rye (pretty much my new favorite book), and I’m halfway done with Brave New World. I kind of have eclectic tastes when it comes to books, obviously. I told my mom last night “Wow, I love reading.” and she gave me the I-can’t-believe-we’re-related look and said “Um, you should…”
I’m reading now. Check. AND I even ordered frames from Target and framed a Damian McGinty poster I’ve had since I bought it at the Celtic Thunder concert a bajillion years ago. Where did this new-found drive to accomplish things come from? But I weirdly haven’t had any appetite for days. I’m pretty sure I’m dying. I think this is the 3rd? 4th? death scare I’ve had this year. Although this isn’t as bad as the lead paint incident a few months back. Remember that? Even though I was only exposed to it for 1/2 hour, and I don’t even think it was lead paint, I still think that it went to my brain and messed me up for good. I’m going to start speaking in Esperanto or something, because that’s what happens when your brain is messed up, right? I’m not sure why I’ve had this weird obsession with Esperanto lately. I blame lead paint.
No appetite, no desire to check blog stats or approve comments, not answering texts or emails. I’m just kind of blah. What’s wrong with me? I decided that I needed a Snap Out of Your Stupid Mood cake. It’s a wonderful cake, really. Marshmallows, fruit (hmmm…I’m still not totally sold on the whole fruit thing. I only eat it because, knowing me, I’d get scurvy. Which might be a better way to croak than from lead poisoning.), and cake. Delicious. And it helped me behave like a normal person again. Ah, the magic of non-healthy food.
I’m usually very proud of my cooking creations, whether they turn out or not, but I’m especially proud of this one. Not only was it my first attempt (AND SUCCESS) at making a yellow cake from scratch, it also is words-can’t-possibly-describe-it good. I was going to follow How Sweet It Is’s recipe exactly for the cake and icing, but I didn’t feel like melting chocolate on the stove to make the icing (lazy with a capital L), so I decided to make a buttercream frosting. Then I remembered buttercream frosting is made with powdered sugar and it always tastes disgusting. Does anyone else notice the weird taste that powdered sugar has? Blech. So I made a marshmallow frosting, which, you know, is pretty awesome. This is a cake to make when you have rediscovered your love for books, or when you’re in a bad mood, or when you have to accept the fact that you and Adam Lambert will never be together. Sigh.
And yes, I did write Picco in blueberries.
Yellow Cake with Marshmallow Frosting
Cake from How Sweet It Is, frosting adapted from some random website. The berries were my own creation. Impressed?
makes two 8-inch layer cakes
Yellow Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside. Can I just say that sifting flour is really annoying?
Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing fully until each is combined, then add vanilla. I kinda spaced on the fact that the recipe called for 3 eggs, so I only used 2. But it turned out fine, in case you cared. After the mixture has come together, add in half the of the dry ingredients and mix. Add in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Pour batter in two 8-inch buttered and floured cake pans. Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until cake is not jiggly (heehee, jiggly…) in the middle and is golden on top. Let cool completely before frosting.
Marshmallow Frosting
32 large marshmallows
3/4 cup COLD butter
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place saucepan on burner on LOW heat (I maybe started to burn my marshmallows…I don’t remember…yeah) and combine your 32 marshmallows and 2/3 cup of milk. Allow to heat until marshmallows dissolve then remove from heat. Mix, then set aside, ignore, and go watch House. When you finally remember that you made frosting, it will probably be room temperature, which is what it should be.
On the medium speed setting of your mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, like the opposite of the Catcher in the Rye plot.
While still beating the butter, slowly add the marshmallow/milk mixture, and then the vanilla. Mix until thickened.
