Sponge Cupcakes with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Frosting

Let it be known that I have never had a real job. Nope, not ever. I’ve never had a nine-to-five, five day a week, holidays off kinda job. Sure, I’ve been employed since I was thirteen, but I can’t seriously call any of my jobs a profession.

My first job was as a coat check girl at my mom’s hotel. I would take the coats and give out the tags. For the next three hours I would guard the coats and read a book. At the end of the night I would return the coats to the correct ticket holders and reap the rewards. Drunk people and guys with fancy hats were good tippers. Once everyone was gone my mom and I would head home, my pockets full of one dollar bills. And yes, jokes would be made as I paid for things, through the week, with lots of ones.

Eventually, I got myself a job with a paycheck. A job with tips. A job with an awesome title. I was a Soda Jerk. I spent evenings working at a diner, making ice cream sundaes, chocolate milkshakes and brown cows. I wore my hot pink t-shirt and a pony tail. I ate way too much ice cream every night and came home with caramel in my hair and down my leg and on my back. Not quite sure how it got where it did. I would inevitably slip on some ice cream, entertaining all of the customers with my mad falling skills.

The job I held for the longest actually started out as my senior internship. In high school, I decided that I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up. I was going to zip around the world and shoot for National Geographic. Since Nat Geo didn’t have a local branch, I got an internship at a portrait studio. I got to learn the ins and outs of taking portraits, camera equipment and running a studio. I learned so much more as the years went by and I became great friends with the owners. People I’m happy to say I stay in touch with, even though I haven’t worked at the studio for eight years.

Eight years ago is when I held my last real job. Now, I haven’t been unemployed since then, I entered into the world of academia. Academia is a totally different world from the industrial or consumer world. I’ve passed from undergrad in a lab to graduate student with a hood of my own to postdoc on a mission. Working seventy-hour weeks, seven days a week, getting one paycheck a month and eating very haphazardly.

The most noticeable thing about academia is the constant flux of people. Every year there are new people coming and old people leaving, someone never being around for more than five years. Your facebook friends list gets longer and longer as your labmates shift through the years. It seems like you’re either saying hello or goodbye to someone, just like today.



Ignore that missing one, I don't know what happened to that cupcake. 
Must have wandered off...

Today is the last day of a labmates academic life. I know, it sounds dramatic, but it is a great thing! He’s leaving us for a job in the real world, with all those real world benefits and pitfalls. It’s the day that everyone in the academic bubble dreams of. (Unless you want to be a professor, then you’ll live your life in the academic bubble!) To celebrate his departure I made him cupcakes. Good riddance! Get out of here! We won’t miss you! I’m just kidding, you’re awesome, but then again, you already knew that. It says so on your laptop.

Cornbread Pancakes

There are those recipes that we keep coming back to, again and again.  Pancakes are my thing.  It's not one particular recipe that gets me.  Actually, I love trying out new recipes each time I make breakfast.  I've made peanut butter pancakes, fluffy buttermilk pancakes and chocolate chocolate chip pancakes (coming soon!) but this time I decided to make something a little different.

While wandering the streets of New York this weekend, boyfriend and I happened upon a random street fair.  Nothing special, no carnival rides or popcorn machines, no theme or clowns (thank goodness, clowns are totally creepy).  It was just a few vendors, in their white tents, taking up some space between sixth and seventh.  You find these things all through the summer, popping up all over the city, selling the same screen-printed shirts from Pakistan, "hand-made" bracelets from Taiwan and character hats knitted by someone's grandma (factory worker) in India.  Now don't avoid these little street fairs, there are also some local artisans thrown in the mix and their stuff is amazing.

Don't skip these fairs for another reason, the food.  I've decided that street food is among the best food in the world.  It's hard to truck this stuff in from the Far East, so you know you've got something that was made locally, most likely by the person dishing it out.  Let the aromas of crepes and gyros, chili fries and pulled pork, draw you in.  Just try to limit yourself to one indulgence, these are not low calorie treats!

The item that peaked my interest was so simple.  Two cornbread pancakes, sandwiched with mozzarella cheese.  The cheese was just oozing out from between the two pancakes, calling my name.  The four dollar price tag however, was making me turn in the other direction.  I can make that at home, for like ten cents!  And that's just what I did.  Except it was breakfast by the time I made these and I wanted syrup.  So I added a little sugar and called them pancakes.  I have plans on making the savory version of these, all cheesey and delicious, but for now I have breakfast!

Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker's challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria's Collection and Jamie of Life's a Feast.  Ria and Jamie challenged the Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted meringue coffee cake.  I love breakfast and when I learned that this months Daring Baker's challenge would be a coffee cake, I was jazzed.  I've never made a yeasted coffee cake before and this was something new to try out. 

To just look at the pictures doesn't do this recipe service.  The dough was so smooth and springy, it was a treat to work with.  Many people called this dough "sexy" and after making it, I have to agree.  It was so easy to roll out and fill, it rose and baked up like a dream. 

When it came down to deciding what to fill this sexy dough with I thought to keep it simple.  When I was little, we would get an Entenmann's walnut danish ring for breakfast every weekend.  When picking out the ring, my dad would go with the ring with the most frosting on the top.  As a kid, I couldn't help but agree with this method of choosing breakfast.  More frosting = more sugar!  I decided to fill my coffee cake with something similar to the Entenmann's version.  Cinnamon sugar with dried cranberries and walnuts, coated in a delicious layer of orange icing.

How did this coffee cake compare to the Entenmann's version of my youth?  Listen up dad, THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!  The meringue melts into the coffee cake making it unbelievably moist and the cranberries and walnuts give it great sweetness and crunch.  Give up your storebought danish ring and head to the kitchen with mom, you won't be sorry.