Three Quilts for Binding

 

(image credit)

Happy Valentine's Day, Everybody! As I'm writing this, I'm sitting next to a pretty posie from my sweety. 

If we can keep it alive until we get home, we're going to plant it with the rest of the azaleas in the yard. He was out picking up a few stray groceries yesterday when he was smitten with the color of this one. We don't have anything like it back home.

I was busy sewing while he was away. I finished the quilting on the "Never Enough Cats" quilt. I neglected to take a picture of the whole thing after I'd finished quilting it, but as a reminder...it's this one. It's destined for the Mewseum at home after I've finished with the binding.

Sadie was my helper cat yesterday.

Smitty was occupied with a photo shoot. He's scheduled to be the cat on next month's Sexiest Mancat Alive magazine cover. 

It isn't the best quilting I've ever done, but finished is better than perfect, right? Around the words I stitched a heart in each corner and then a looping line around the outside edge. (I never really know how to quilt around words.)

In the first border, I did a continuous row of hearts.

In the red-checked space, I quilted stylized hearts in the corners with more looping hearts around the outer edge.

And then, the same row of continuous hearts in the outer border.

I took a picture of the quilt back, but then neglected to get the front. Oh well...you'll see it once I've hand-stitched the binding. Those are little cat faces on that backing fabric. They look a little like conversation hearts.

And then I went straight to work machine sewing the bindings on the three small quilts I've quilted. This quilt is the largest of the three.

Also, Rise & Shine.

And An Irish Blessing. I'll start hand-sewing this one first. It seems right with St. Patrick's Day approaching. As I'm writing this, it has been clipped with binding clips, and it's ready to stitch around. It's a small quilt, and so I don't expect it to take very long.

And while Mike was out, he picked up some instant espresso powder, which was the only thing I needed to make this Chocolate Bundt Cake for Two. I saw the Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe in the Washington Post a day or two ago, and then I was excited to try cutting it down to make it in my 6-inch bundt pan.

It turned out great, and it released from the pan perfectly. My experience with bundt cakes tells me that, often, the top half of the cake stays in the pan.

When it was completely cool, I added a fudgy glaze.

We had it with a scoop of ice cream last night. This is actually a cake for four, and so we still have half for our dessert tonight...or maybe tomorrow since we're going out for a Valentine's dinner tonight. If you want to know how I did this, I'll share the recipe right here. You'll need a 6-inch bundt pan to make it the way I'm sharing it here. If you want to make the full-sized cake, then click on that link I gave you previously. Okay...so here's how I did it:

Chocolate Bundt Cake for Two
adapted from the Washington Post
serves 2-4

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE:
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup whole or reduced-fat milk
1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but cool to the touch
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white, at room temperature

FOR THE OPTIONAL GLAZE:

3/4 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tablespoon honey
Pinch fine salt
1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoons whole or reduced-fat milk, plus more as needed
1/16 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Make the cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Coat a 6-inch Bundt pan with baking spray, or grease thoroughly with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Pay extra attention to the center tube, where sticking is especially likely.

In a small bowl or 1-cup glass liquid measuring cup, whisk together the cocoa and espresso powders until combined. Pour in the boiling water, whisking again until thoroughly combined. The mixture will thicken and turn glossy, almost like pudding. Let cool slightly, then whisk in the milk until incorporated.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a medium bowl and a handheld mixer, beat the brown and granulated sugars, oil and butter on medium speed until lightened in color, creamy and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl and attachment as needed. Still on medium, beat in the vanilla extract, then the egg white. Scrape down the bowl again. On low speed, gradually add half the cocoa powder mixture. The batter may look separated or curdled, but not to worry. After the liquid has been thoroughly mixed in, stop the mixer, add half the flour mixture and mix again on low until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Repeat with the remaining cocoa mixture and then the remaining flour mixture.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl once more. Turn the mixer back on to medium and beat for about 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and do one last scrape-and-stir with a flexible spatula to make sure there are no dry pockets or slicks of unincorporated butter on the sides or bottom of the bowl. The finished batter will be thick and glossy, almost like a soft pudding or mousse.

Scrape the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or offset spatula. Gently tap the pan a few times on the counter to pop any air pockets in the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester (or wooden skewer) inserted into the center comes out clean. When pressed lightly with your finger, the cake should spring back a bit, but it may still feel very soft. That’s okay; it will firm up as it cools.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let rest for 10 minutes. Use a small, flexible spatula or a round-edged knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and then invert onto the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

Make the optional glaze: In a small, microwave-safe bowl, combine the cocoa powder, honey and salt. No need to stir, as it will come together smoothly once you add the remaining ingredients.

In a glass custard cup, combine the butter and milk. Microwave on HIGH until the butter has melted, 15-30 seconds. The milk may foam, so keep an eye on it, pausing the microwave and stirring as needed. Pour the butter mixture into the cocoa powder mixture and whisk until glossy, smooth and well-combined. Whisk in the vanilla. It’s possible that after whisking, the glaze will cool and thicken enough to not be pourable. If so, just pop it back into the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds on HIGH, or until it’s glossy and thin enough to drizzle over the cake. You can heat it more or less depending on how much you want it to drip down the cake — warmer and it will go all the way down, slightly less hot and it will go slower and not as far. If it still seems on the thick side, thin with additional milk, as needed.

Drizzle the glaze around the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. If desired, use a spoon or offset spatula to push more of it over and down. Let the glaze set for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving, or storing.

* * * * *

Okay, so I started the day yesterday stitching the day's inchy.

Today's was posted early, and so I'll be getting to that very soon. The rest of the day will probably be spent working on hand-sewing those quilt bindings. It's going to be very nice to make our way home with three finished quilts under my belt. I spent the entire day inside yesterday, and so I want to get out and enjoy the sunshine for at least a little while today.