TWD: tiramisu cake (or why I shouldn't be a cake decorator when I grow up)

Mmmm...cake. I love cake. I can't say I've ever had tiramisu before which has a lot to do with soggy lady fingers. Just writing that gives me the gag reflex. Who would name a cookie lady fingers? Back on topic, I really had no expectations going into this. I just wanted some cake. The only thing I was concerned about was the coffee taste. After college and law school you would think I would have developed a taste for coffee. Not the case. I still think it tastes like dirt. I do love the smell of fresh ground coffee beans and the smell of coffee shops. How is it that something that smells so good going into the coffee pot smells so bad when you have to empty the grounds? 

I found espresso powder with my BFF, Erin, from Dog Is My Sous Chef after spending the afternoon at work filling out lengthy and tedious applications to take the Nevada Bar. I just want to curl up under my desk and cry. I can't believe we have to take another bar exam. Yuck. The bar exam is much worse than soggy bread products. I'd eat a lot of nasty soggy lady fingers if it meant no exam. 

I also picked up some chocolate covered espresso beans because the husband likes them to snack on (chocolate covered dirt anyone?). The cakes came out fine. I don't think my oven is level though since they were both a bit lopsided. I have yet to find the energy to find the level and see what is up with the oven. Someday, just not today or tomorrow or this week.

I might have overwhipped my whipped cream. I do like making butter. Here is the cake slowly being assembled. I think next time I will add a bit more of the espresso syrup. I went a bit light due to my coffee aversion. 

I had big ideas for how awesomely I would decorate my cake. It would be the best decorated tiramisu cake ever. I always have these great visions and when it comes time to execute something always goes just a bit wrong. I saved some of the frosting to pipe on top but only enough to make five poorly placed blobs. I then delicately placed (okay, smooshed ) a chocolate covered espresso bean in each blob of frosting. I was laughing a bit at the looks of my cake and decided I would sprinkle (more like drown) my cake with some cocoa powder. I need to work on my sprinkling technique. Here is a picture of a slice of my cake. Not the best decorated cake ever but the husband lovingly lied and told me it was pretty. He wouldn't look me in the eyes though. He has to be one of the worst liars ever. Which comes in handy.

The verdict on the cake is that the husband likes it enough to "eat it again." I thought it was okay. I made the cake on Sunday and we had our first piece on Sunday night. I did try it again last night and thought it was much better. I just liked it. Didn't love it and probably wouldn't make it again unless the husband asked nicely and promised me something pretty. Thanks to Megan of My Baking Adventures for choosing this week's recipe. Check out her blog for the recipe and also stop by TWD to check out all the other bakers' pretty cakes.

It rained this weekend. Pretty much all weekend it was misting, as can be seen from the photos taken off our balcony. The picture on the left just doesn't show the mist well enough so to add some drama I added a rain action to the picture on the right to make it look like it was actually raining. Maybe once or twice it looked like that. Mostly just mist.

The animals are showing how we spent the majority of this past weekend. Charlie's new favorite sleeping area is our bed. Here he is lying against freshly washed bedding while Willa snuggles in her dog bed. Although we bought her the big dog bed at Costco she just lies in one little section. Our pup hates any sort of inclement weather and despises getting misted or rained on. So she was happy inside. No fun hikes this weekend. Lots of naps.

Song I was dancing to this week as I decorated (or uglified) my cake:

Lessons Learned - Matt & Kim