Cake and Coffee.
Feb. 28th, 2021 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plonqMaybe it's a generational thing, or maybe it's just me.
I'm ... not a fan of Janice Joplin.
I think part of it is that I got thoroughly sick of hearing Me and Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, and Piece Of My Heart on endless repeat during the 60s segments of the radio stations I listened to back in the 80s and 90s. It's nothing to do with her talent as a writer of music and lyrics, nor to do with the importance of her work. I know that people find her voice "distinctive", but I find it about as appealing as nails on a chalkboard. I partly blame getting tired of hearing it so frequently. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Enough about that. I came here to talk about cake and coffee and interesting frost on the windows of our garage. Last week as the weather was transitioning from very cold to slightly warmer, it hit the right combination of gradients to form some very artistic ice crystals on our garage window.
I had some leftover carrots and parsnips from roasted vegetables I'd made earlier in the week, atatara's suggestion, I use them to make carrot cake. It called for three cups of carrots, so I added two cups of shredded carrots and one cup of shredded parsnip to see how it would turn out. It turned out really good. I don't know if any of the parsnip flavour came through at all, but there is nothing wrong with this cake.
As an interesting aside, I made fake cream cheese icing to go on top. The recipe I found called for almond milk (which we don't have), so I substituted some instant coconut milk for that. I could have used real milk, but I thought that experimental cake deserved experimental icing. Apple cider vinegar and lemon juice gave it the tang of cream cheese.
It was good the first day, but the next day we both agreed that if we hadn't been told that this wasn't cream cheese icing, we'd never have guessed otherwise. I am making a note here for both experiments: huge success!
When I discovered that a coffee roaster was within walking distance of our house, I started getting my coffee exclusively from them. Depending on supplies, they have a fairly broad range of beans that flow through their ovens. I kept notes as I went, writing down the various varieties on our whiteboard and making comments about which ones I liked and disliked. The Tanzania Peaberry (pictured below) received my lowest rating. It was an unpleasant coffee that I couldn't wait to finish so that I could move on to the next bag.
As you might guess from my daily picture, I bought it again. I picked it up because I wanted to give it another try. I know that grind settings, water temperature and dose can all affect the flavour of a coffee, and I have changed all of those since I last tried this coffee. I was curious to see if the changes I'd made could morph this repugnant coffee passably drinkable.
They didn't.
They made it delicious.
I have always known that a few minor tweaks in preparation can make a difference in the final product, but I am stunned at how radically different this coffee is. For the record, I decreased the grind size (a bit larger than espresso grind), upped the grind time by 1½ seconds to compensate, and use boiling water instead of water closer to 90°.
Also, it paired well with the cake.
I'm ... not a fan of Janice Joplin.
I think part of it is that I got thoroughly sick of hearing Me and Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, and Piece Of My Heart on endless repeat during the 60s segments of the radio stations I listened to back in the 80s and 90s. It's nothing to do with her talent as a writer of music and lyrics, nor to do with the importance of her work. I know that people find her voice "distinctive", but I find it about as appealing as nails on a chalkboard. I partly blame getting tired of hearing it so frequently. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Enough about that. I came here to talk about cake and coffee and interesting frost on the windows of our garage. Last week as the weather was transitioning from very cold to slightly warmer, it hit the right combination of gradients to form some very artistic ice crystals on our garage window.
I had some leftover carrots and parsnips from roasted vegetables I'd made earlier in the week, at
atara's suggestion, I use them to make carrot cake. It called for three cups of carrots, so I added two cups of shredded carrots and one cup of shredded parsnip to see how it would turn out. It turned out really good. I don't know if any of the parsnip flavour came through at all, but there is nothing wrong with this cake.As an interesting aside, I made fake cream cheese icing to go on top. The recipe I found called for almond milk (which we don't have), so I substituted some instant coconut milk for that. I could have used real milk, but I thought that experimental cake deserved experimental icing. Apple cider vinegar and lemon juice gave it the tang of cream cheese.
It was good the first day, but the next day we both agreed that if we hadn't been told that this wasn't cream cheese icing, we'd never have guessed otherwise. I am making a note here for both experiments: huge success!
When I discovered that a coffee roaster was within walking distance of our house, I started getting my coffee exclusively from them. Depending on supplies, they have a fairly broad range of beans that flow through their ovens. I kept notes as I went, writing down the various varieties on our whiteboard and making comments about which ones I liked and disliked. The Tanzania Peaberry (pictured below) received my lowest rating. It was an unpleasant coffee that I couldn't wait to finish so that I could move on to the next bag.
As you might guess from my daily picture, I bought it again. I picked it up because I wanted to give it another try. I know that grind settings, water temperature and dose can all affect the flavour of a coffee, and I have changed all of those since I last tried this coffee. I was curious to see if the changes I'd made could morph this repugnant coffee passably drinkable.
They didn't.
They made it delicious.
I have always known that a few minor tweaks in preparation can make a difference in the final product, but I am stunned at how radically different this coffee is. For the record, I decreased the grind size (a bit larger than espresso grind), upped the grind time by 1½ seconds to compensate, and use boiling water instead of water closer to 90°.
Also, it paired well with the cake.
