tomatoes//chai tea cake

The last of our garden veggies have been harvested. These tomatoes above were roasted in the oven with an entire head of garlic which was minced, some chopped herbs and olive oil. Served with bowtie pasta and grilled eggplant, our last night dinner was delightful. We celebrated the last night before my brother came home from his choir camp. Aren't we just the perfect family.
Still, while I set the dinner table I had uncertainties about the pasta I made for the meal. Going garlic crazy, I used another head of garlic, pureed it with some chopped onions and sun-dried tomatoes in our wonky magic bullet. In a skillet I cooked the puree with some olive oil hoping that the garlic bits would cook entirely so that the dish would be sweeter. That didn't work out. So how did my parents rate it? Dad: could have used more garlic. Mom: perfect. I guess that I made a boat load of pasta that evened out the garliciness. <- had extras for lunch today =)

There are days where my mind ceases to work. The text books on cognitive, social, and biological psychology lay open in front of me while the mass media and learning disabilities books are spread open on the floor. A mess. A crazy girl mess. Nothing gets into the brain. Not even the simple bystander effect.

How pathetic.a

As my brain becomes mush, I figure out a way of getting productive with the distressing technique of baking. It took me 2 days to complete the cake. Monday = baking. Tuesday = frosting... Only to tear into it again to flavour it in minutes. 

You like my solstice 5 gum wrapper? I took the gum out  to chew, hoping that it would energize me with the minty freshness on Monday. It didn't work. I just used the gum wrapper to write down the list of ingredients that I was going to use for the cake. No need for the steps - it was the basic mix the wet and dry ingredients separately then mix them all together.

I forgot to write down that I needed freshly grated ginger. Fail.
I got the recipe from WhiskKid. Only things I did differently was: forgetting the ginger, substituting some of the white sugar with agave syrup, using 3 chai tea bags and 3 chococate chai tea bags for the chai milk.

Oh most importantly I used another icing recipe.. but still a honey ginger flavoured one.

I used a simple cooked flour frosting recipe and doubled the ingredients plus the addition of stuff. Stuff.

So approximately what I used:

1/2 cup AP flour

2 cup sugar (the honey makes it sweet so decrease the sugar to 1 2/3 cups)

2 cup milk

Cook on medium low heat until it reaches a thick glue consistency. ~20 mins or more. Let it sit until cooled to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl pour the roux (flour/sugar/milk). Beat for a minute to make it smooth. Beat in:

8 oz of cream cheese
1 cup of room temp unsalted butter
2 tsp of vanilla
1- 2 tsp of cinnamon
then after mixing it all together add in 1/3 cup honey or more (depends on your preference) some grated ginger and 1 tsp of ground ginger.

Let the frosting sit in the fridge to thicken up a bit. 

Level your cakes, layer your cakes with the frosting and seal the sides with some frosting. cover with a lid (upside down mixing bowl) and allow it to sit in the fridge for a while. Also put the rest of the frosting in the fridge. Maybe 40 mins later completely cover the cake with frosting and sprinkle some candied ginger on top!
I had more than of frosting left over. = )