Skip to main content

Signature Desserts


Inspired by the great cooking done by my wife and three daughters, and daughter-in-law, I knew it was time for me to do as they do, which is,
(1) make a delicious something,
(2) take a sumptuous-looking photograph of it, and
(3) upload it to my blog for all the world to enjoy vicariously.

This would not be difficult for me, as I like to bake from a box, and I like to take pictures.

So since it's Friday (every day is Friday in my world) I rolled up my sleeves and got started, noting without alarm that the sell-by date was 4 years ago, seriously.

My choice dessert for this project was the Boston Cream Pie, which honors my New England roots, of course.

So let's go.

(1) Start the oven
(2) Add milk, oil, and eggs to the cake mix,
(3) Bake at 350 in a 9" pan,
(4) Cool cake on a wire rack, good so far,
(5) Slice horizontally.
The package didn't say that slicing a layer cake horizontally is not possible, as I have now discovered
(6) Prepare the vanilla-pudding and spread on what will be the bottom layer.
Well, by this time my top and bottom layers had merged into a single layer of vanilla cake chunks, randomly sized, randomly located. There is no provision for this occurrence noted in the directions
(7) Knead the chocolate packet and drizzle over the golden cake, allowing the glaze to drip temptingly down the sides.
(8) Suggested preparation time 20 minutes (actual, 120).




Pretty good, don't you think? Oh.

Comments

Heather said…
I'm loving your blog dad! The cake story and picture made me die laughing. Very funny! Love how the pic is of the cake in the fridge...mayo in the background...
lil' mama said…
Fun new blog to add to my list!

How did the cake taste? Boston Creme Pie is one of my favs!
Hilary said…
It may not be the prettiest Boston Cream Pie, but I would eat it. Wait a minute, I also eat cake out of public park garbage can, so maybe that's not saying a whole lot. : )
Kari said…
Wow, this is impressive Paul! Now I can check to see what I can have for dinner on Vivi's blog and then click over to yours and see what is for dessert! : )
Looking forward to next weeks cooking with Paul addition. : )
Vivi said…
I'd like to think the 4-year-ago expiration date had something to do with the final result???
scott said…
It looks to me like maybe you had a few "sample bites " before the picture was taken..I see all the skim milk is gone out of the frig !

Popular posts from this blog

The Gentle Smith Matriarch

We met in 1966 when she was 18 and I was 22. We began dating soon afterward, and as I recall never disagreed on much. Our childhood homes were 3000 miles apart and we loved Minnesota and each other, so we got engaged in July 67, married in December and moved into a house with a teenage foster daughter. This was followed by , Daughter 1 the following September, Daughter 2 three years later, Daughter 3, a year and a half later, ..and eventually Son, 3 years later. There were also about 15 different short-term teen-foster boys in those years. The gentle matriarch has worked her whole life, hard. I went to college nights for a few years, she worked outside the home part-time while the kids were growing. She spent frugally, loved lavishly, and has always cared first and foremost about her family. She is a gentle giant who has brought love, fun, discipline, imagination, good food, and artistic, creative homemaking to our big family....and as I write this she's preparing for Easter Dinner...

Red fiche- table with impatiens

It's an odd practice, in a way, but one I've come to like: you set a piece of old indoor furniture outside, and just let it weather, ......forever. I grew up in New England,where there were a lot of roadside antique (or junk) stores, which converted to fruit and vegetable stands in the growing season, or Christmasy craft stores and maple syrup places in winter. At any rate, I'm accustomed to indoor furniture outdoors, and since Nana likes it, everybody's on board at our house. She's selective, however, and requires that the pieces have some interesting, enduring quality. In the case of this red table, it served it's first 30 years as a sturdy table for fiche at Bethel College. When BC became BU, the fiche lost out to digital media, and the sturdy table hitched a ride 45 miles south to our Lakeville back yard, where it is now learning to give itself to a new audience of human admirers, plus a few daddy long-leg spiders, and a specimen or two of   summer-sno...

I was invited back to Paragon for a day of fun

On a gorgeous August 13 morning, Sandie picked me up at home so that I could tour the new Paragon office and hang out with lots of great work friends for lunch on a river cruise aboard the Mississippi Queen. Jesper and Bill Lunch was a banquet of fine food, drinks, and desserts, which we enjoyed while leisurely cruising the vital Mississippi, including a couple of the locks, and a great view of the Stone Arch Bridge near downtown Minneapolis. Martin met me with a huge cucumber, which made it seem just like the old days for me. Paragon occupies a bright new suite with terrific views in all directions. Mid- morning I got called into Martin's office. When I stepped in, there were already people there, and they presented me with a handsomely-framed collage capturing many of my fondest days with this extraordinary collection of work-friends. I am a blessed and lucky man!