Back at it!

Okay, so I don't have any fabulous creations to share at the moment. Not that I haven't been creating masterpieces. I've just been lazy about photographing and writing them up. Like the amazing S'more Cookie Bars I made the other day, or the awesome seafood salad (the recipe's term, not mine...more like a feast or an extravaganza or some other over-the-top-implying term) that I made last weekend. But I'm so unreasonably excited about what's coming up that I felt the need to share something! Major need for therapeutic baking has arisen, courtesy of the job so insane that it defies comprehension. Thankfully, going to a friend's birthday/going away party on Saturday. Cake time! Somewhat sadly, when I pressed her for some guidance on flavor (I was going a bit insane and was seriously contemplating three different forms of cake - traditional, cup, and pop - simply because I couldn't settle on one flavor), she chose carrot cake. Now mind you, I have an AMAZING recipe for carrot cake. It's truly delicious. But...I already know that. It's been done before.

Well, okay. She is, after all, the birthday girl. So how do I make it special? How do I make it stand out from the one I've made before? Well, first off, it won't have dog bones on it, as this time, it's for a human (which Amanda was actually rather shocked to learn, as the last two carrot cakes either of us have made were for a dog). Amanda was very sweet and helped me try to come up with ideas for decorating, without even getting annoyed as I continually rejected them for one reason or another. But really, some of them did sink in and percolate for the afternoon. As I was talking to my roommate (one of the two new fabulous roommates) about the cake, a picture began forming in my head. I decided to sketch it out (very roughly...drawing is clearly not my forte), and then decided that I was so excited to make it, that I couldn't help but start on some pieces of it tonight. So I did, with her help, and now I can't wait to make the whole thing and put it all together! This will definitely require pictures and a new post!

Oh, and as an aside, I'm thinking of joining the Daring Kitchen. It keeps popping up on Food Gawker, my current addiction/obsession. Sounds like a lot of fun! Only question: baking, cooking, or both?