I have been making so many off the wall things lately that I’m feeling like I want to just have one of my tried and trues.  I have been working really hard to successfully make Pumpernickel Bread, but it keeps turning out badly.  I have taken some of my favorite desserts and added something a little different to them hoping that they will be a new great invention – making cheesecake with snickerdoodle crust and have ricotta cheese instead of all cream cheese; chocolate brownies with peanut butter swirl and toffee bits top; butternut squash & chicken soup with acini di pepe; and so on.  Most of the “deviations” have been pretty good or at least not complete throw away (with the exception of the pumpernickel bread), but I feel like my family would be so happy if I just made something the way that it is supposed to be – no deviations please.

This week I announced to my Babydoll that I was just going to make a plain cake.  She said, “what kind”. I replied, “a lemon pound cake, maybe”.  She said, “a plain cake would be vanilla”.  That is true, but you always want something to make it a little fresh and the lemon would give it that kick of freshness. 

The thing is, as I was sitting down to right out my grocery list (I also have to make a chocolate cake for a customer for Saturday), this great idea came to mind: a swirl cake.  Then my mind went even farther…an orange and vanilla swirl cake.   My version of a creamsicle cake.  Yeah, Yeah I’ve seen the recipes for a creamsicle cake (I had to see if someone else had done this) and the recipes out there are not at all what I have in mind. 

My only fear is that my family will kill me if I make something that is horrible.  I don’t think I will have time to make a backup dessert (sometimes I have cookies on hand in case things go wrong), with me having to make a dessert for a customer, and a model home auction this weekend, and a big girl bed delivery for my Babydoll. 

I also plan on taking a pumpernickel break this week and making a batch of homemade rolls.  These we will have with our soup of the week (I’m thinking Creamy Wild Rice & Chicken) and the extra rolls will go in the freezer to be pulled out whenever we want rolls with dinner.  I think if the cake goes horribly wrong, I will have my awesome rolls as a conciliation.

Note:  When I began this post I had not made a decision about which cake I was going to make – strawberry swirl or orange creamsicle.  I chose the orange and it was a hit.  The rolls and the cake were AWESOME.  I will post about the cake later this week.