Twelve Days of What?!?!?!

Most everyone knows that on the first day of Christmas, your true love will give to you a partridge in a pear tree. Hhhhmmmm - how ordinary. I have decided to embark on something a bit different this year....I am baking desserts for 12 days. I was flipping through the channels and landed on Fine Living Network Sunday night and started watching a program titled "Twelve Days of Christmas Desserts" and in a brief moment of either brilliance or baffling stupidity - I decided that I could do that. So yesterday, armed with a lengthy list, I set off for the grocery and with a cart full of various powders, extracts, and liquids that would amaze Martha Stewart (if she did her own shopping) - I headed for the checkout. When you buy a pound of sugar here and a pound of flour there - you never really realize what it costs to bake. I am already about $100 into this adventure and the oven hasn't even been turned on. What was I thinking?!?!? Maybe I have gone mad!!!

So here we are Tuesday morning and the first recipe is Apple Cranberry Upside Down Cake. Really?!?!?! I have never even made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake and after coring and peeling the apples - I believe opening a can of pineapple would have been much easier. So first hitch was that I couldn't find the peeler so I pared the apples the old-fashion way - with a steak knife....yup I said a steak knife....why make it easy..it was the first knife that I grabbed. Apples peeled and drizzled with lemon juice (to prevent browning); off to soaking the cranberries. This was easy as the recipe called for dried cranberries to soak in water. In hindsight, I might have modified the recipe and possibly soaked them in orange juice. On to the cake batter.....eggs, oil, etc......stir, mix - not too much - should still have some lumps. Yup - still have some lumps even after mixing for 2 minutes.....no hand mixer for me.....all by hand today. Now I need the "syrup" - brown sugar and butter melted together. Here is where I now know that I read the recipe wrong......1 cup of brown sugar - not a 1/2 cup AND 4 tablespoons of butter not 2 tablespoons. I did think that it looked sparse as I poured it over the layer of apples and cranberries, but what did I know since I have never made the recipe before......and of course you don't realize this until after you invert and turn over the cake. Hhhmmm....maybe I will spoon some caramel sauce over the slices when I serve it.

Bake for 32 minutes at 325; cool for 5 minutes and invert. Done, Done and Done. Only 1 piece of pineapple stuck to the dish...again...not too bad for the first try. I wonder if Martha ever has her cake stick?!?!?! I am thinking not, but then again I wonder if she really does her own cooking anymore.

I think this will be a great fun - 12 days of desserts; however, stay tuned as it may become 12 days of stressed (desserts spelled backwards).