The lovely K-Squared invited us over last night – I offered to bring dessert. I often volunteer to bring dessert, thinking I’ll have time to whip up something delicious.  Inevitably, I then get busy doing other things, run out of time, and end up buying something at the grocery store.

Not this time, I vowed. Saturday afternoon, I decided to bake a cake. I have quite the backlog of recipes I want to try, so this time I decided on this yellow cake recipe. If you’re interested in trying out a new cake recipe, I urge you to check this one out.

I hadn’t planned to make this in advance, and was out of a few things.  However, a few quick substitutions took care of the problem. I never have buttermilk on hand, for example – but it’s easy to make your own.  To make 2 cups of buttermilk, just pour 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar into a measuring cup. Pour in enough milk to equal 2 cups of liquid, and let it sit for 5 minutes. It’s that easy. Another ingredient I never have on hand – cake flour.  This recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of cake flour, so I took 2 cups of all purpose flour and sifted it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.  It seems like there’s a substitution for almost everything… so when cooking/baking, don’t be afraid to consult your inner MacGyver (or MacGruber) and see what you can come up with.

I had to consult my own inner MacGyver today when making the frosting for this cake.  I wanted to make chocolate sour cream frosting (see the link above), for something a bit different. However, I realized that I didn’t have all of the ingredients – worst of all, I used the last of my trusty vanilla extract when making the cake.  The horror!  I don’t think I’ve ever run out of vanilla extract before. Time to restock.

Anyway, I ended up playing with the ingredients a bit, and was pleased with the result.  Next time, I think I’ll try to make a dark chocolate version instead.  The finished result:

 
Here’s the frosting recipe if you’re interested (though I warn you – it’s a bit unusual, so it may not be for everyone):

MacGyver Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (next time I may try 16 oz.)
1/8 to 1/4 cup coffee (leftovers from the morning caffeine binge)
2 cups sour cream (room temperature – very important)
1/4 plus 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 tablespoon Jameson Irish Whiskey
2 tablespoons cocoa

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  (If you don’t have a heatproof boiler, you can melt it in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, or melt in the microwave following the directions on the package of chips.)  Remove from heat, and let cool until tepid.

Whisk together the sour cream, 1/8 cup coffee, 1/4 cup corn syrup, Jameson, and cocoa until combined.  Add the tepid chocolate and stir quickly until the mixture is uniform. Bust out your handy tasting spoon – add 1 tablespoon of corn syrup if you want the frosting to be a bit sweeter.  Add more coffee if you want as well.

Let cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, until the frosting is spreadable. If it sets up too much, just let it sit at room temperature until it is the right consistency.

Enjoy, and say hi to your puppy for me.