Friday, September 17, 2010

Lazy Daisy Cake

It has turned chilly here. Days in the 50s, nights in the 40s, and my house is down to 64 degrees inside. So, on Wednesday, my dearly beloved turned on the furnace for the season. Uh Oh!

It didn't go well. OK, that's an understatement. There was water pouring out of the center of the furnace. Turns out the cast iron body cracked. WTF??? That sucker doesn't move, no one abuses it, and, well, gee, it didn't even freeze up down there in my basement between May and September. "It just happens," the plumbers say. Fortunately, we have a spare furnace sitting in
our basement, one that we had replaced in 1999 because we converted to oil (we're now back to natural gas). So we can just have that one put right back in. Simple, right? Except that they're making a federal project out of it; I'm not enjoying the words I'm hearing drifting up the stairs, like "retrofit". I can only hope we'll have heat, or at least hot water, for the weekend.

So, what better to do while it's chilly than bake a nice little cake? This one came from Fannie Farmer. It's easy; you'll like it.

LAZY DAISY CAKE


2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

Beat the eggs until thick and light colored; beat in the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and the vanilla extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Heat the milk and butter until the butter melts; beat the batter until smooth. Pour into a greased 8" square pan, and beat at 350F for about 25 minutes.

You can either let the cake cool somewhat and top with the glaze I used on my Apple Zucchini Cake, or top with Fannie's suggested topping:

3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded coconut or chopped nuts

Melt butter with cream; stir in brown sugar and coconut or nuts, spread on top of the warm cake, and broil for a minute or 2, until the topping browns. This option wasn't open to me, because I'm the only person currently in residence who likes coconut, and only my dearly beloved
and I like nuts. And I promise that I didn't need this entire cake attaching itself to my derriere!

As for the furnace fixit guy? Well, Thor doesn't do stairs, but he's laying next to the basement door, making sure the guy doesn't leave without us knowing. Or maybe not until he shares his lunch. It's hard to tell sometimes.

20 comments:

Diane said...

Bet Thor thinks that cake is good to.

Sorry about the heating, we are certainly nothing like that cold yet:-)

Pam said...

Thor's a watch dog with a big appetite.

I am loving how simple the cake is. I bet it's great with either frosting.

Hope you have heat tonight!

Lapdog Creations said...

lol, Did Thor get the nice man to share his lunch?
Sorry about the furnace... but part of me wants to say just WTH are you doing turning it on in September to begin with? Geesh... we'll try for no heat right thru October, at least..... =)

Paula said...

Okay ... feed this to the worker guys and then you will hear words like "whatever you want" "sure, no problem" and "anything for the baking goddess"!!! Hope you stay warm and cozy this weekend!

Tatersmama said...

Paula's right... feed this cake to the furnace guys, and they'll be eating right out of your hand!

If Thor lets 'em of course! ;)

Faye Lewis said...

Yummo! At least I can look and take in zero calories.

gMarie said...

that cake looks yummy. I just about died when JB turned our furnance on in AUGUST!! What?! The furnance doesn't come on in my house until October - what crazy wheather we're having.

Hope you have heat and hot water soon! g

Claire S. said...

Oh man - what a nasty surprise. I hope they fix it quickly! I agree with the others, try feeding the workmen the cake. It does look yummy. We'll have company tomorrow, maybe there will be a lazy daisy cake for dessert, hmmm.

Linda said...

I could sure use a piece of that after the day I've had.

pam said...

Furnace time already!!! I wish I had Thor to supervise our floor guys. I bet it would have been done in half the time.

Dexter said...

You and me both. Stairs are just not made for mastiffs. In fact master totally rebuilt the stairs from my observation deck just to make them more comfortable for me and those are the only ones I use.

Slobbers,
Mango

Rose said...

Ditto on feeding the cake to the furnace guy! After all, food is the way to a man's heart! I do hope Thor will share with them! I also hope everything works our with your new (spare) furnace!

Anette said...

Mmmm! lovely! I wouldent mind that cake, with a good cup of tea or coffee!
Hope you've got something chocolaty for the Culinary Smackdown September 2010?

http://krakilette.blogspot.com/2010/08/being-winner-then-host.html

Mickle in NZ said...

Oh dear, I hope your furnace woes are soon remedied, and am very thankful that this didn't happen to you in mid winter.

That cake looks like just the right sort of cheer-me-up for you all. Zebby says reward Thor with fish! Yep, Zeb has had smoked fish two nights in a row along with His human.

Wishing you abundant, flowing hot water, Michelle - xxx and huggles

Dexter said...

Hey Thor! You wanna help me with my contest? Send me a peemail to backupdog AT comcast DOT net

Slobbers,
Mango

SissySees said...

I'm in need of socks for my cold feet. The cake looks lovely, but I hope the furnace situation worked out okay!

Thor could be multi-tasking...

Kapitein Haakje said...

thor looking very good today

thats a very silly name fur a cake :D love it!

Kissslobbers
El'bow & Hauwii

Chef Dennis Littley said...

I can't believe you have the furnace on already..yikes...I hope it gets fixed!! your cake looks positively delicious, lazy daisy, I'm on it!!!
Glad to see your big guy watching the repairman!

Anonymous said...

Great recipe!
Yummy.
Thank you :)

Unknown said...

Your plumber should have given you a much more elaborate explanation as to why the furnace broke, other than “It just happens”. I just don’t think one could fix something he didn’t even know the cause of the damage in the first place. Anyway, I hope it was fixed soon after.

Levi Eslinger @ Capital Plumbing