Monday, May 31, 2010

Leaving sweets

I have a friend who likes to bake. And when she bakes after a couple glasses of wine, her roommate says she leaves fingerprints of chocolate in unexpected places -- like the undersides of doorknobs. I love that.

I was reminded of her while baking a cake for the Sweet Relief Bake Sale this past weekend. The chocolate bars I chopped were quick to turn melty around the edges in the warm kitchen. I was leaving chocolate fingerprints on doorknobs, too.


I found the recipe for Rosemary Olive Oil Cake at 101 Cookbooks. It’s rustic with uneven hunks of Olive & Sinclair chocolate, and I like the unexpected flavor combination. The rosemary takes you first with its woodsy scent and taste. The olive oil makes it moist, and then the sugar comes in more subtly at last.

While some other sweets like cupcakes and pastries have a dainty or feminine feel, this cake seems manly to me. And with the earthy flavors, it feels like a cake to ground you in a comfortable kind of way.


The Sweet Relief Bake Sale was born on Twitter, so the bakers were lighting up the feed from their kitchens the night before. I love to see people excited about making food for others. I also imagined lots of chocolate-smudged keyboards:

- "Cupcakes #1 out of the oven. Cupcakes batch #2 in the oven right now. Will frost and decorate bright and early tomorrow." - @loveandoliveoil

- "Krispy Kreme bread pudding done. Now to work on the spiced rum sauce! #sweetrelief http://twitpic.com/1s6ezm" - @CeeElCee

- "Oatmeal cookies made. Chocolate melting. Flood relief bake sale starts at 1:30 tomorrow at Green Wagon. Whee!" - @KAWhittlesey




The organizer, Lindsay Landis of Love and Olive Oil.

…and her cupcakes.

Beth stopped by and had a bite of cheesecake before heading out for lunch: “I’m not gonna wait. Life is uncertain.”

Sweet Relief raised about $1,000 just from $2 treats, and I love that it celebrated our city. What I like most about Nashville is the creative people who come here -- the little guys like the singer-songwriters, filmmakers, artists, artisans and bakers who keep on doing their thing.


KATIE HERZIG & MATTHEW PERRYMAN JONES "WHERE THE ROAD MEETS THE SUN" (LIVE) from SITUATION OPERATION on Vimeo.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you're the one who made the rumored rosemary olive oil cake. I'm dying to try it. I so wish I could've been there. I am in Atl now and missing my city and what makes it great so much. I either need a Nashville recipe to make down here or a dirty south atl recipe haha to get me into this new city. Any suggestiongs?

ceeelcee said...

Your egg yolk smiley face photo made my day!

CaRoLiNe said...

FINALLY! A new blog!!! YAY! Did you get that chocolate from Belcourt??? Haha. Xoxox

Jennifer Justus said...

Jackie! I heard at the bake sale about your move. I wish you the best, but sad to see you go. As for ATL, I will think about recipes. I've also wanted to go to
Paschal’s b/c of its role in civil rights as meeting place for Martin Luther King Jr. and others. I think it’s in new location now, but would still be a cool place to soak up some Atlanta vibe. Stay in touch, sweet friend.