(dinner party) charlie's postbirthday

Pitched this blog project to the rest of the group last night during our April dinner party (huge turnout with nine people!). Got an enthusiastic response, although Sarah of course strongly voiced her opinion that we should rename it “Wednesday Ink Tank,” even if that would limit our art media to mostly writing. Which it probably will be . . . but what about photography? Cooking? Sketching? (Don’t know about you all, but I sketch exclusively in pencil.)

The “assignment” for this week is to get photos and little mini-blurbs about everyone so I can complete the members page, which at the moment is very incomplete. I’d like to instill a consistent voice for the most organized sections of the blog — i.e., the parts that aren’t meant to be super-eclectic because they give the whole project some structure.

Anyhoo, I have yet to get the recipes from everyone’s dinner contributions, but as it was a belated birthday celebration for Charlie, I can at least share the recipe for our very makeshift, yet adorable, lemon cake that we piled into a bucket from his birthday night out at Howl at the Moon:

Cutest, and tallest, lemon cake ever.

Ingredients

Cake

3 cups self-rising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 cup whole milk, divided

2½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

Lemon Cream Icing

2 cups chilled heavy cream

½ cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour cake pan to prevent sticking. Recommended: use a pan with removable circle, which makes taking the cake out a lot easier (at least, this is my opinion).

Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat unsalted butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined; do not overmix. (I accidentally put in all three thirds of the flour mixture and then realized the milk and lemon juice needed to be added — don’t know if this aversely affected the outcome of the cake, though.)

Fill the prepared cake pan with batter, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40+ minutes (in our experience). Let the cupcakes cool in the pans before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.

To make the icing, beat the cream in a chilled bowl with an electric mixer set on low until the cream begins to thicken. Add the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice, a little at a time, beating after each addition, until fully incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to high, and beat until the icing forms soft peaks, about 5 minutes. Spread on the cake, which we de-crusted and divvied into thirds.

I yoinked this recipe from Allrecipes.com, which is originally for cupcakes, but I just made a giant cake in an 8" pan. Yuko definitely contributed dexterity and innovation with her idea to cube the crusts in order to create a “nest” for the three-layer cake that I decorated with organic strawberries on top.

Note: the recipe is altered slightly to conform to what took place on Wednesday.

We had some issues with the number candles, which we discovered don’t live past three uses. In the end, the cake was moist, crumbly, and tasty, if I do say so myself.

birthday boy Charlie . . .
with a failed candle.

"How do you cut this?"

 As for the earlier parts of dinner, Charlie had been so kind as to provide crackers, smoked cheddar, and Mediterranean hummus from Trader Joe’s that was scrumptious as an appetizer (which I pigged out on and subsequently prevented eating much of the rest, unfortunately). He also brought seasoned chips, which turned out to be rather prophetically romantic:

How sweet!

 Anthony prepared “brandade,” a French concoction, apparently, of fish and bread, and Shannon put together a savory salmon dish. Yuko brought a side of vegetables, and Sarah tossed together a beautiful salad with homemade dressing. Yum!

If only I’d had the room for it all . . . sigh.

Stay tuned for recipes from the rest!

In the meantime, I am happy to announce that a certain old friend and member of the group is now back in Chicago!

Scotty's back!

Good times. Haha.

It will be a treat to have him back with us, if we can ever get him out of Evanston, that is.

Update to come with the remaining dinner party recipes.