Finally... my 4-H training hard at work...

My blog bio was supposed to be a quaint reference to my childhood and my culinary awakening, but then this happened to me...

 

Mr Flamingo

I'm sure you're all wondering what the (blankity-blank-blank-blank) I'm talking about, you can click on Mr Flamingo... to find out who my muse (or should I say harasser?) was, or...

...JUMP!!!

PB&J Cake with Caramel Drizzle

And this is how it began...
I mentioned on my blog bio that my culinary career started with a PB&J cake, NEVER intending to do it again, but I had several people ask me about it, and one more persistent then the rest who's name (cough - Michael - cough - Curtis - cough - Blackwell) I shall not mention!

So for your entertainment: Me and my pastry skills dismally at work in the loft...

Thank GOD for Manhattans when doing something COMPLETELY out of your comfort zone!

But I prevailed, mixed up a very nice white cake batter, and got my sour cherry jam all pureed and ready to go... Oh, did I mention I don't own a cake pan... I KNOW RIGHT? Apparently when we purged to move into the loft,  a part of my purging was cake pans - LOL. So I settled for my BIG muffin pan... after all, aren't BIG (cupcakes) all the rage right now?

Swirling the Cherry Puree into the batter

And they baked beautifully...

Such pretty GIGANTIC muffin PB&J Cakes

 Oh, and did I mention how grateful I am for fortification?

With a good Manhattan - ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

But, I digress; while they were baking, I made two things that simply verge on perfection...

Peanut Butter Butter Cream Frosting

And something that deserves a blog post of its own...

Caramel Sauce

The only real glitch was...

The Cherry Preserves all sank to the bottom of the pan

However, being the culinary OPTIMIST that I am, I improvised...

Patrick's mini PB&J Cake ready to frost

I cut the top off of one, used it as the base, left the top on the other and used it as the top, then I scooped all the jam from the bottom of the pan as a center filling.... shhhhhh, this is a secret!

And I finished it with all the panache only a true fearless chef could muster...

Frosting

And the ultimate in decadence...

Drizzling with Caramel Sauce

In spite of the anxiety of finally doing it, and daunting challenges... IT TURNED OUT FANTASTIC, and if I owned a restaurant where labor cost was no object, I'd totally do this cake as a house speciality...

So pretty

DIG IN

Hey, I EARNED IT!!!

Thanks for pushing me Michael Curtis Blackwell, now maybe someday we'll actually meet LOL.