Two years!

Today marks two years since I had my successful brain surgery to remove an epidermoid tumour that was wrapped around some nerves. Last year I wrote an emotional piece; this year I decided to bake a cake. The emotions are there but I'm pushing them into a box. I know that later tonight I'll be sobbing just reflecting on what that day means to me. I basically got my life back. No other way to put it.

Here's the cake I made:

It's a stout cake with a key lime curd filling and Italian meringue frosting. I thought the pairing of a stout cake with a citrus curd would be weird but I love it! I wish the stout flavour was stronger but the lightly flavoured cake gets a great boost from the curd. As for the meringue, I love that it's light and not overly sweet. My friend wants me to make her a wedding cake which means I need to start learning how to decorate cakes. I think closer to the date I will practice and/or take a cake decorating class. I have more than a year. She wants a lemon cake with a lemon curd filling. It turns out that curds are easy so my main concern is decorating. I think I will use an Italian meringue buttercream for that. I made that in January and it was good. 

This was supposed to be a simple cake - no big deal. But the bottom layer spit in two when I tried to remove it from the pan. I almost decided not to bother. I put it back together and did my best. If you look you can see where there's more curd at one spot. That's because there was crater left when a piece of the cake stuck to the pan. Ha. It's a very light cake and I should have been gentle. I put it in the freezer overnight before I filled and frosted. That made it a lot easier to handle. The problem really wasn't the cake it was what I used to grease my pan. I used margarine only and it's a margarine that has a high water content. I'm not sure why I didn't use my Pam for Baking or simply floured the pan too. Laziness? Perhaps. Either way, the cake was just for me and if a friend stopped by so I'm not stressing it. 

Wait a sec, does Italian meringue freeze well? I typically toss cakes I bake into the freezer because there's no one around to eat it and I shouldn't eat cake everyday. Hmm. I guess I'll find out.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

PS - If anyone has any questions about epidermoid tumors or brain surgery, please ask. The epidermoid tumor is rare and so it's hard to find a lot of information about it. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone may have. My tumor caused me to also have trigeminal neuralgia. I can answer questions about that too.