Booze in Yer Cake? Nay Nay Nay!

Well I can't make the Salted Caramel Upside Down Cake today. I did want to do these in order. I SHOULD do these in order. Instead, it's to be Red Velvet Cake with Cooked Vanilla Icing and the Upside Down cake tomorrow. Why can't I make the Upside Down cake you ask? Cause it contains demon rum. Literally. Oh I can get rum. And I can bake a cake with rum. But I can't bring it to yoga and serve it to my more conservative Muslim lady friends. And since they are my closest friends here, I don't want to freak them out by giving them booze cake.

Red Velvet Cake as pictured in the cookbook. We all know how mine will look. 

A quarter cup of rum in cake? Hmmm...While it's no secret that plenty of Muslims hit the booze now and again....or nightly... or every ten minutes,it just isn't on to serve it in cake at a social gathering. A lot of Muslims, like conservative Christians, don't drink (or pour it into their food). I am not an expert on what is haram, or prohibited, by any stretch of the imagination. If something is haram, I  think verses in the Quran usually begin with "forbidden unto you" or contain warnings about hell-fire if something is absolutely off limits. As in, "forbidden unto you are carrion and blood and swine flesh." (5 Al  Ma'idah :3). So we can't eat rotting flesh, drink blood, or eat pork. This admonition doesn't happen with booze. Again, not an expert.

One doesn't find "forbidden unto you" connected with the five passages about drink in the Quran. We do see an admonition about being drunk in the mosques. Reasonable. Another passage compares drink to the handiwork of the devil. Many a battered wife might agree eh? One passage (5. Al Ma'idah :93) is not so much about alcohol as much as it is about being mindful of how much we consume. It's pretty interesting to see one passage in the Quran (16 An Nahl :67) state drink can be nourishing. Well can I get a witness! As near as I can see from my limited, half baked research, it's a lot like anything else done to excess. However, it's human nature to use sources that agree with our already established point of view, and since I enjoy a refreshing pina colada now and again, the first place I looked agreed with everything I wanted it to. But good heavens there are many who would disagree with me. Therefore, the gals of yoga are getting a different cake tonight. It's red, so I shall dub it "Shaytana" cake.

I really crack myself up. Now it's off to the grocery store for more supplies.

Red Velvet Cake

Not my original recipe by far

• 1/2 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup(s) sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoon(s) red food coloring
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup(s) cocoa
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 cup(s) buttermilk
• 2 1/4 cup(s) sifted cake flour
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon(s) white vinegar
• Make the batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using a small brush, lightly coat two 9-inch cake pans with butter or vegetable-oil cooking spray. Dust the pans with flour, tap out any excess, and set aside. In a large bowl, using a mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar until light. Add the yolks and continue to beat for 1 more minute. In a small bowl, stir the food coloring, the vanilla, and the cocoa together. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the cocoa paste to the batter. In a glass measure, mix the salt with the buttermilk and add it to the batter by thirds, alternating with the flour. In another small bo


• wl, mix the baking soda with the vinegar and blend into the batter.
1. Bake the cake: Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until a tester inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean -- about 30 minutes. Cool in the cake pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a knife, loosen cake layers from the sides of the pans and invert the layers onto wire rack to cool completely.
2. Ice the cake: Use a serrated knife to split each layer into 2 even layers. Line the edges of a cake plate with 3-inch-wide strips of waxed or parchment paper and place a cake layer, trimmed side down, on top. Evenly spread 1 cup of icing over the layer and repeat with 2 other layers. Top with the final layer and cover the top and sides with remaining icing.

Cooked Vanilla Icing

• 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 cup(s) whole milk
• 2 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cup(s) confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk the flour and milk together until smooth. Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thick -- about 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and set aside. In a medium bowl and using a mixer set on high speed, beat the butter and sugar until light.
3. Add the vanilla, reduce mixer speed to medium, and slowly add the cooled milk mixture. Beat for 1 more minute.

This is how I cooled off the milk mixture to room temperature. You know there is no air conditioner in the kitchen. Why is it in the desert they put AC in EVERY room except the one we cook in? Gar! I promise the floor is clean. 

Have some orange velvet cake! It isn't red, and the picture from my crappy cheapo tablet doesn't have good color, but this cake is ok!

I'm pretty sure the cake has a couple eggshells in it. I didn't mean to. I was dropping egg yolks out of the the shells into my new fabulous mixer when I dropped a shell inside the bowl. I yipped really loud, but squelched it before my husband could figure out I'd done something dorky again. I fished them out...but it's hard to say if a couple little bits are left. I guess someone will find out! Fortunately nobody at yoga tonight bit into one. If the hapless victim did, she said nothing. That is what we do on Monday nights now. Yoga and cake. In that order, which is very important. 

I very much recommend this cake, assuming you have a mixer. The Cooked Vanilla Icing is really nice. It helps that I didn't add 5 teaspoons salt like in yesterday's cake. 

Tomorrow is another cake day. I can't believe how tired I am already. Only 362 more to go!

Love,

Felicia El Aid