Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Creative Sisterhood

Tonight was Creative Sisterhood and it was a blast. We laughed a ton tonight, which is always nice.

September will be five years since we started gathering each month to share our lives. I recently looked at the original email I sent out about getting together and realized that the way it has developed is one of the dreams I had for it. But, I also thought we would make things together at times. We haven't done that yet, but we have created something special.

Connecting with people remains something I'm passionate about. I know, deep in my bones, that those connections are essential for us and that finding ways to facilitate that is critical to our well being. Tomorrow evening is our book discussion for "Eat, Pray, Love," and I think that's a way people can connect, too - ad hoc, no definite schedule from one time to the next. I am going to be really curious to see how the retreat weekend I've planned in April goes. That may, also, be a way to make connections.

I've been working on a Creative Sisterhood Cookbook - just a little project I thought would be fun. One of the things I've learned is that we eat a lot of chocolate. It's not that any of us minds chocolate - quite the contrary - but we've eaten a lot of it. And it's no one's fault but mine since I'm the one who decides what to bake. Apparently I'm chocolate deprived, and assume everyone else needs more chocolate, too.

Because I've recently realized that I provide chocolate a lot, I decided I'd make something non-chocolate tonight. I wanted to make a double batch of something so I'd have it done for tomorrow, too. So... tonight's offering was... White Texas Sheet Cake.

I have posted this recipe before, but just in case you didn't make a note of it then, here's another chance. This is - honestly - one of the best cakes I have in my recipe files. The only reason I don't make it more often is that I don't always keep sour cream on hand. That's what gives it the wonderfully moist texture it has.

While I'm on the topic of recipes, I now have a section on my website where I will gather any blog posts about food into one place. So, you'll be able to go straight to the recipes area and find things without having to wade through the blog.



White Texas Sheet Cake


I don't know why this is called Texas cake. I got it from someone who was born in Colorado and lived in North Dakota before moving to Kansas. Regardless of how its name came about, this is a cake that draws rave reviews every time I make it. It's so rich I generally cut it in pretty small, almost bite sized, pieces. Tonight, however, I made more generous pieces.


1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder


Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts


In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining cake ingredients. Pour into 15 by 10 baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until done. Cool for 20 minutes.


Meanwhile, make frosting by combining butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, add other ingredients and spread over warm cake.




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