My birthday cupcake... mai tai style
It goes something like this.. for the last 7 years I've been making my own birthday cakes.
Before you feel bad for me, I do it because I want to not because no one else will make or buy me one. simple fact is, store bought cake is nasty, and for the most part other people don't really know how to bake to please my pallet. I mean really it's my birthday I want to eat yummy cake damn it! And since I dig my own baking I seem the most fit choice to bake.
I read this cool web site you might have seen called cake wrecks...
hilarious, but also inspiring on the lever of I NEVER want my cakes to look like that. unless of corse it the sunday sweets edition. which is where i got the inspiration for this years cake.
my guys and i have a running joke about cthulu and that we all one one lil cthulu, and ain't he so cute! *squee squish*
then lo and behold the most adorable cake was posed on the sunday sweets edition of said cake site. and i said right then and there I want chtulu on my cake this year! a lil chibi cthulu would make me a happy girl indeed!
cute no?
And then my other obsession came to mind...the Mai Tai .. the best damn rum drink on the planet IMO.
Now i am a bit of a snob when it comes to the mai tai. I will accept no substitutions when it comes to recipe other than the traditional Trader VIc's style. I mean really they created it, they have the best flavor. so why drink anything but the original?
Victor Bergeron's mai tai
Ingredients
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Martinique Rum
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Orange Curacao
1/4 oz Rock Candy Syrup
Juice from one fresh lime
Directions
Hand shake and garnish with half of the lime shell inside the drink. * Float a sprig of fresh mint at the edge of the glass.
top 4 are acceptable alternatives en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bartending/Cocktails/Mai_Tai
now you might be asking "what about the pineapple and coconut and all the other fruit juice that i get in a mai tai"
I would then tell you "you aren't drinking a real mai tai. the only fruit in real a mai tai is the lime. sucker!" then run off giggling at your lameness for not knowing a real mai tai if it bit you on the mouth.
<
so my next challenge is how do I marry the two things I love best for a nummy birthday surprise?
Easy I make mai tai cake and decorate it with a cthulu. muhahaha i am an evil genius! but wait.. how does one make mai tai cake...
DAMN it!
Off to the internets, i shall googles it!... *20 minutes later* no luck on a recipe..
However i'm smart and have all the ingredients for a mai tai.. oo and cake... this cant be too hard.
off to the kitchen!
SO this past weekend my lovely friends became my victims.. er i mean taste testers on my crazy mai tai cake journey.
the conclusion other than me getting way too drunk on baking...
white cake with malibu rum and coconut
and yellow cake flavored orgeat (almond) and meyers rum
middle filled with lime frosting-ish stuff (real lime zest) and topped with orange curacao (plus orange zest) frosting
So i cheated a little with the coconut and malibu rum. the coconut really does not come through taste wise so it wont matter, but damn is it tasty all mixed together, and it looks pretty to boot.
The cake was super moist and not overly boozy so me being me, I am going to brush each layer with its respective rum before frosting it for some extra zip.
So this year on April 4th if you happen to be anywhere with a mai tai.. even better at at a Trader Vic's somewhere (more specifically the bay area) Toast me a mai tai and watch out for a cthulu cake. if you do happen to see the cake and a lovely drunk tattooed girl sipping a mai tai feel free to say hi and buy me another one and stay for a bite of cake.
Before you feel bad for me, I do it because I want to not because no one else will make or buy me one. simple fact is, store bought cake is nasty, and for the most part other people don't really know how to bake to please my pallet. I mean really it's my birthday I want to eat yummy cake damn it! And since I dig my own baking I seem the most fit choice to bake.
I read this cool web site you might have seen called cake wrecks...
hilarious, but also inspiring on the lever of I NEVER want my cakes to look like that. unless of corse it the sunday sweets edition. which is where i got the inspiration for this years cake.
my guys and i have a running joke about cthulu and that we all one one lil cthulu, and ain't he so cute! *squee squish*
then lo and behold the most adorable cake was posed on the sunday sweets edition of said cake site. and i said right then and there I want chtulu on my cake this year! a lil chibi cthulu would make me a happy girl indeed!
cute no?
And then my other obsession came to mind...the Mai Tai .. the best damn rum drink on the planet IMO.
Now i am a bit of a snob when it comes to the mai tai. I will accept no substitutions when it comes to recipe other than the traditional Trader VIc's style. I mean really they created it, they have the best flavor. so why drink anything but the original?
Victor Bergeron's mai tai
Ingredients
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Martinique Rum
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Orange Curacao
1/4 oz Rock Candy Syrup
Juice from one fresh lime
Directions
Hand shake and garnish with half of the lime shell inside the drink. * Float a sprig of fresh mint at the edge of the glass.
top 4 are acceptable alternatives en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bartending/Cocktails/Mai_Tai
now you might be asking "what about the pineapple and coconut and all the other fruit juice that i get in a mai tai"
I would then tell you "you aren't drinking a real mai tai. the only fruit in real a mai tai is the lime. sucker!" then run off giggling at your lameness for not knowing a real mai tai if it bit you on the mouth.
<
so my next challenge is how do I marry the two things I love best for a nummy birthday surprise?
Easy I make mai tai cake and decorate it with a cthulu. muhahaha i am an evil genius! but wait.. how does one make mai tai cake...
DAMN it!
Off to the internets, i shall googles it!... *20 minutes later* no luck on a recipe..
However i'm smart and have all the ingredients for a mai tai.. oo and cake... this cant be too hard.
off to the kitchen!
SO this past weekend my lovely friends became my victims.. er i mean taste testers on my crazy mai tai cake journey.
the conclusion other than me getting way too drunk on baking...
white cake with malibu rum and coconut
and yellow cake flavored orgeat (almond) and meyers rum
middle filled with lime frosting-ish stuff (real lime zest) and topped with orange curacao (plus orange zest) frosting
So i cheated a little with the coconut and malibu rum. the coconut really does not come through taste wise so it wont matter, but damn is it tasty all mixed together, and it looks pretty to boot.
The cake was super moist and not overly boozy so me being me, I am going to brush each layer with its respective rum before frosting it for some extra zip.
So this year on April 4th if you happen to be anywhere with a mai tai.. even better at at a Trader Vic's somewhere (more specifically the bay area) Toast me a mai tai and watch out for a cthulu cake. if you do happen to see the cake and a lovely drunk tattooed girl sipping a mai tai feel free to say hi and buy me another one and stay for a bite of cake.