Secret Subject Swap, April 2014

Welcome to another Secret Subject Swap. This week 14 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

 

My subject is Write your own Obituary. It was submitted by: More Than Cheese and Beer.

Let me just say that this is actually not the first obituary I’ve written for this blog. As a mom, I decided to go public with the sad truth about parenthood and weekends in my post Death of a Weekend.

I have to admit that this one hit a little closer to home:

Obituaries and Funeral Announcements:

Tornado, BakingInA

Born: June 14, 2012

Died: April 1, 2014

BakingInA Tornado was born on June 14th after one day’s gestation and 10 minutes of labor. Conceived on Karen’s personal Facebook Page (may need to reword this, the imagery is a little scary), and pushed out in 10 intense minutes of peer pressure by personal friends, she entered this world with nothing but flour, sugar, stress and sarcasm.

In her infancy she was best know for her fuzzy recipe pictures, inability to navigate her own website and steadfast refusal to mention farts in every blog post.

As she matured and her photography progressed she was applauded for her bravery and honesty concerning her affliction with a chronic condition. She publicly divulged her inability to pipe frosting or make her recipes look appealing in any way, a handicap which brought her widespread sympathy and compassion.

Her final year was marked by a roller coaster ride of focus and fatigue, food and fluids, fact and fiction, fulfillment and failures, features and flops.

She departed this world on April Fools Day in a set of circumstances that can only be described as a perfect storm. It seems Ms. Tornado was electrocuted in a freak accident involving a spilled cocktail and static electricity.

When asked what she’d like to be remembered for, she once answered with her iconic tag-line: “When all the walls are caving in . . . what could it hurt to bake?”

Ms. Tornado is survived by Mother Nature, her spouse Tsunami and her children Thunder and Lightning.

In lieu of flowers, a table will be set up graveside for baked goods. Wherever she’s going, you know she’ll still gonna need her baked goods.

Blackberry Key Lime Cupcakes

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swaps posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

The Momisodes

Stacy Sews and Schools

Follow me home. . .

Someone Else's Genius

Confessions of a part-time working mom

Dribbles and Grits

Impoverished Vegan

Spatulas on Parade

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

More Than Cheese and Beer

Evil Joy Speaks

Juicebox Confession
Climaxed 

 

 

 

PS: I want to thank Ash, not just for this prompt, but for inspiring this cupcake

Blackberry Key Lime Cupcake

                                     ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients, Cake:
12 oz blackberries
1 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
OPT: for more of a berry flavor you can add 1 tsp blackberry extract (or even raspberry extract) or 1 TBSP Blackberry Liqueur
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup key lime juice
3 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
OPT: 1 cup white chocolate chips

Ingredients, Frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup key lime juice
OPT: a drop or two of green food coloring
3 cups powdered sugar
 
Directions, Cupcakes:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake papers.
*Sprinkle blackberries with 1 TBSP sugar. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature at least an hour
*Put blackberry mixture into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Push through a sieve to remove seeds. You'll need 3/4 cup of this seedless puree for the cupcakes.
*Cream butter and sugar then bear in eggs two at a time, then the blackberry puree and vanilla (and any optional flavoring, if adding).
*Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt until it's all incorporated. Beat in the milk and key lime juice. If you want a sweeter cupcake, mix in the white chocolate chips. 
*Divide batter into muffin tins.
*Bake approximately 20 minutes or until center bounces back to the touch.
*Cool completely before frosting.
 
Directions, Frosting:
*Cream the cream cheese and butter. Beat in the key lime juice and food coloring.
*Gradually and carefully add the powdered sugar until it's a spreadable or pipe-able consistency. You can thicken it with more powdered sugar or thin it with milk if you need to.