Cappucine Toffee Cake Recipe

I hope you are all having a wonderful day. It is sunny here today. Not too hot, slight breeze blowing on the back of the patio. It's a great time to celebrate life, to pause and think over the day's activities with friends.

This time last year the college had several fundraising opportunities in support of the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. My favorite was the cake auction we had. Every day for a week, 5 people brought cakes they baked at home and they were auctioned off. This is the cake I baked for the auction. Today I am just making it for the folks on the patio. Enjoy!

Cake Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons french vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup coffee or cappuccino

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 round cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the coffee until batter is smooth. The coffee will make the batter thin. Here is where you want to personalize your cake. Some people like black coffee and some like a little bit of coffee with their sugar and creamer. Black coffee will be sweetened by the sugar and icing. Remember cappuccino has sugar in it so you can cut back on the sugar you add if you like. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Place a toothpick or fork in the center. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
4. When the cake cools, add icing. I used French vanilla icing.
5. Then, place toffee bits around the side.
6. Decorate with chocolate covered espresso beans.

Icing Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup margarine
• 3 cups confectioner sugar
• 2 tbsp French vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk

Combine margarine and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, alternating with milk until smooth and creamy.

Two birds with one stone

I was down for the count for about 6 weeks. When I finally felt well enough to get off the couch, I wanted to make myself useful. The house was a wreck, not that my husband didn't try to take care of it. He was taking care of him, managing a store, taking care of me, not getting any sleep, and trying to do housework too. The poor guy ran himself ragged without a single hint of complaint.

So, the fist thing I decided to do was a cook a meal for him. Not just any meal mind you but something special because he has been so amazing.

And then I thought, that maybe it was so special that maybe I could even win a contest. I could use that little bit of time that I felt well to do something for my family and friends and maybe win money too. So, I cooked and entered contests using the recipes.

Well my husband and I love Lo Mein. So along with the lo mein, I made us a bowl of wonton soup using raviolis from Chef Boyardee. My hands were shaking when I was typing it in and I hit enter too soon which left off the last step: Heat over medium heat. Needless to say, I didn't win that contest.

Then, the next time I entered The Rajun Cajun contest with Wisconsin potatoes. I was really concerned about my shaky hands messing me up again. I can't  tell you how many times I backspaced typing that in. My dear spouse kept telling me to wait and let him do it.But, I was determined that I would be the one to enter it. If I couldn't do anything else, the least I could do is cook a meal and document it.

This was a really cool recipe: Me o My Jambalaya Fries. Picture chili cheese fries but instead you are using chicken jambalaya and pepperjack cheese. But, I made the most embarrassing mistake even with all the precaution in the world. I had the love of my life proofread my recipe before I sent it in. After I clicked and sent it, we went and chilled and ate dinner and had a great night.That evening,I went to go turn my computer off for the evening. The recipe was still pulled up. Right in the middle of the screen on two of the steps, I had typos. You know how in recipes, it says to add something and then stir or add something and then cook. Well, the letter "d" is right next to the letter "s' and shaky hand fool that I am, I wrote Ass salt and ass something else or another. I was so mortified. Laughing and crying all at the same time.

Well I worried about being disqualified for defamatory language but it wasn't actually in the official rules and I don't think the judges noticed. It is still there on the web. My sweet spouse tried to cheer me up. He assured me that they sell butt rub in the store for pig meat and there probably was even some Ass salt somewhere. So, he did a quick search on the internet for it. Do you know what it is? I didn't. Ass salt is a street word for meth. So, there are drug addicts in the world, using cold medicine to make meth and I am writing recipes that say meth makes great french fries. I am such an idiot. Ofcourse, I didn't win that contest either.

My most recent contest is for Traffic Light Stew. It's a cross between Cuban bean soup and chicken and yellow rice. It has the ingredients I like the most and I left the others off. It is still posted too if you want to see it. The verdict is still out on this one. Haven't won or loss yet. Cross your fingers for me. At least this time, I didn't have typos.

My next meal is just for my blog followers. No contest, no money involved. Just a recipe between friends.

How do I get there from here?

How do I get from here to there? I am stuck somewhere in between. I have worked full time and overtime in several arenas. Full time mom,wife, student, librarian, archivist, financial aid clerk, teacher's assistant, nurse assistant, caterer, vendor, waitress, and concessions. Now, my kids are grown and my health has forced me to leave my career.

 A part of me is happy. I have a loving husband, family, and friends who think my health is more important than my job. My coworkers and students have remained in my life and are concerned for my well being. That hasn't always been the case. God knows, my ex cared about nothing but my paycheck....still does. Hmph, one sentence is more than enough about him.

But, how do I go from working full time to not? From raising kids to them leaving the nest? From doing whatever life needed me to do to having no direction at all? A part of me thinks I should file disability and bring some money in. But, a part of me isn't ready to do that. I don't want to be useless. I know a lot. I don't mean that to be arrogant but it doesn't seem like all my experiences and knowledge should account for nothing just cause my body isn't cooperating.

I am not elderly nor a baby. At my age, the world wants me to work. And what I have is a nerve condition so it isn't something that reacts the same everyday or that people can see. The doctor said it was degenerative nerve disorder or early stages of Multiple Sclerosis. Yeah, MS is the one that Montel Williams has. The guy looks fit, doesn't he? Me too.

Unfortunately, my neurologist died. How's that for bad luck? Right in the middle of the time I feel the worst, feel so bad I have to leave a career I went to college for and did for over a decade, the one physician who could help me the most dies. And all those horrid tests I went through, they aren't all there. And this award winning physician's office is being run under a new doctor who is so young and inexperienced, she doesn't have a clue. So, now I have to meet a new doctor, be poked and studied like a lab rat all over again to get any kind of care.

Stuck with no doctor to help me and looking healthy on the outside but feeling dreadful.  Family and friends assuring me only my health matters but feeling low cause I don't want to be useless. Coping with the transition of a world of things to do before and nothing now. But, I don't want to adjust to that. I want to get back to good.

How do I do that? Do I eat rolaids and talk to a shrink? Maybe a barbecue with the neighbors will lift my spirits and give me some ideas?  Do I have a beer and appetizers while I talk it over at the bar with friends and strangers? Do I eat a brownie and have a cup of joe with my family and friends? I don't know what to do but I could use a bite to eat and someone to talk with while I figure it out.