No-Bake Russian Wafer Cake or Oblatne

Is it any surprise that my ideal adventure has nothing to do with camping or wild animals?  I’m a city girl, born and bred.  Roaming around a neighborhood filled with ethnic grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and bookstores is heaven to me.  

On a recent trip to New York City, I explored Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.   The neighborhood is home to a large community of Russian immigrants and as we walked around, it felt as though we could have easily been in Eastern Europe instead of NY.  

With amazing dried fruits, fresh baked bread, deli and beautiful baked goods all around me, I browsed my way up one street and down anlther.  Shoppers and sellers all seemed to be chatting in Russian.  Though I’m sure I could have found someone to answer questions in English, I was content to wander on my own through store aisles and open-air displays crowded with food and people.

I could easily have bought lots of goodies.  However, my better half reminded me that transporting heavy bags by subway and on foot would be difficult.  Reluctantly I limited my purchases to 2 packages of the lightest and least expensive item I saw – these wafers.

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The Great American Bake Sale

If you love baked goods, you should have been there.  "There" was the DC site of the Great American Bake Sale, which happened yesterday at the Washington Post building.  DC food bloggers, friends, and supporters put their incredible culinary talents to work for the benefit of Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign and the results were pretty impressive.

Cathy Barrow headed the effort with her incredible energy, enthusiasm, and organizational/marketing skills and Bonnie Benwick, the paper's Interim Food Editor kindly arranged for the room and publicity that brought folks streaming in to do their part to help end childhood hunger.  The Bake Sale raised $3,500, a gratifying result for a great cause.  I forgot to take pictures at the event because I was too busy selling, chatting, and generally enjoying myself during the time I was there.  But you can see photos from Cecilia of OneVanillaBean and read all about it in Cathy's latest post.

My own contributions were fun to make and even more fun to watch fly out the door at the Bake Sale.  I made 3 items:

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Glazed Chocolate Orange Mini-Cupcakes

I make snarky comments just about every time I pass a cupcake shop.  So, when I found that this month’s Avid Baker’s Challenge is a cupcake recipe, I had to give myself a serious talking to.  “No bad attitude about the concept,” I told myself. “Just bake the most enticing version you can imagine.  Enjoy the experience and then write a post.”  The tone of my sermonette-to-self was pleasant but firm, and expectations were modest. 

The afternoon spent playing with chocolate was, in fact, a whole lot of fun.  The aromas in the kitchen are unbelievably wonderful and I can attest that the resulting cupcakes are tender and delicious.  Now I'm more interested in eating these than making fun of them - or the craze.  

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