It’s been overcast this weekend, and it finally started to rain this morning, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say I find the dark and slightly dank inspiring, I will tell you that I’ve always liked the way rain-splotched light looks in my kitchen. It’s soft and cool — rare commodities for New Mexican light. Rainy days soften the edges and lend a bit of gentrified glamor. Well, maybe “gentrified” isn’t the right word, but you get my meaning. Nothin’ like a bit of an overcast to give my kitchen and my cupcakes a touch of that Muffin-in-the-Aspirational-Lifestyle-Magazine feel.
These are Devil’s Food jobbies with a banana cream cheese icing. The cake itself is standard — any recipe you dig up for Devil’s Food will do — it’s the icing I’m bragging on. It came out runny, lumpy and tasting like heaven. I’m not quite sure why I haven’t run across this flavor before; it seems like the sort of thing the local cupcake shops would be down with.
And another thing to brag on — this is the first time in the new year that I’ve felt well enough to bake. The Capt’n and I were both felled with a Milwaukeeian Death Cold over the holidays. I went to bed on Christmas feeling kind of stuffy and woke up the day after New Year’s with a chapped nose and no memory of the preceding week, with the exception of one blurred recollection of me standing in the kitchen in mismatched pajamas trying to replicate a hot toddy for the Capt’n, who couldn’t do much past coughing.
Evil, evil virus.
Banana Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter, softened and cubed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 ripe banana
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
In a mixer, beat banana until mushy. Add butter, vanilla and cream cheese, and beat until fluffly. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. For frosting (rather than dribblely icing) add two to three extra cups of sugar.
The Capt’n's Hot Toddy
In a mug, combine two packets of instant hot apple cider, two tablespoons of honey, several drops of lemon juice, a jigger of rum (optional) and hot water. Stir until everything dissolved and add cinnamon stick. Serve to grateful invalid