A last-minute manly man gift

A shoe shine kit for my son, who works in an office and wears dress shoes every weekday.

The only thing that I had to go out and buy was the tin of brown polish. The rest I had, here at home.

The case was an old-fashioned men's shave kit case, the kind older gents used before 911. I bought it as a gift for someone, who unexpectedly passed away just a short time later, never even taking the tags off of it.

The mat is flannelized rubber sheeting. I had 2 large rectangles of this leftover from making crib mattress pads for my daughters, 18 years ago. I used pinking sheers to cut a piece large enough to place 2 dress shoes on for polishing, to reduce the risk of getting polish on the carpet. I rolled it up and secured with a large rubber band.

The polishing cloths are squares that I cut from flannel scraps leftover from making myself some pj pants. Again, I used pinking shears for the edges. I made two cloths, and placed them into a sandwich bag, just to keep the kit all clean and tidy.

The tin of shoe polish cost a whopping $1.86 including tax, at a local grocery super-store. When I walked in the door, I picked up the week's flyers. On the front page of the home and clothing flyer was a coupon for 15% off anything from the shoe department -- talk about good fortune!

A manly man gift. Almost done with my son's gifts.

Easy holiday dessert: Pumpkin Cake Roll

I know what you're thinking, this kind of dessert looks soooo complicated to make, right? I've always found cake rolls to be somewhat easy. I thought maybe I'd just had a lot of luck with them. Then a woman on the TV show Steven and Chris duplicated my thoughts, when she said that cake rolls are very easy for the home-baker. Okay, so maybe it hasn't been luck or skill, for me.

A couple of things to know about cake rolls.

• You need to use a cake recipe that is "flexible" when baked, like a sponge cake. A cake mix cake, or tender butter cake, will crack if you try to roll it up. 
• The baked sponge cake needs to be rolled up while warm. 
• Cake rolls can be frosted, but I think they look nice just dusted with confectioner's sugar, either plain, or blended with cocoa powder, or with cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled over the top.
• They are moist cakes, so can be kept rolled, filled and wrapped in plastic, in the fridge, overnight, meaning I'm not rushing around at the last minute baking, filling and frosting a cake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Thanksgiving dessert is all about the pie, then Christmas dessert must be all about the cake. At least that's the way it is in our home.

Some years, it's a steamed dried fruit cake. Other years, it's a cake roll, sometimes chocolate and iced (Buche de Noel), other times I go "easy" and make this pumpkin cake roll. No icing, no layers, but spectacular in presentation -- it's really fairly easy. I follow one of the Libby's recipes, with just a few tweaks of my own. And, I can make it the day before, wrapping the filled, rolled cake in plastic wrap and keeping in the fridge until an hour before serving. At that point, I plate it and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon/nutmeg.

Cake rolls can be filled with butter cream frosting, 7-minute icing, jelly, or any cake or smooth pie filling. I've made this particular cake roll several times over the last few years, and always WOW! guests. I've baked these for open houses, holiday dinners, and to bring to potlucks, all with resounding welcome. 

I wish you lived closer, as I'd invite you over for tea and cake. That's how much I enjoy making this pumpkin cake roll!

If you'd like to give it a try this year, here's how:

Ingredients:

cake:

1/4 cup powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup canned pumpkin (if using home-cooked pumpkin, strain pumpkin in a sieve, overnight before measuring)

cream cheese filling:

8-ounces cream cheese

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

additional powdered sugar and ground cinnamon and/or nutmeg, for sifting over finished cake

Equipment:

15 X 10-inch jelly roll pan

waxed paper

large off-set spatula, or metal spatula

non-terry dish towel

cooling rack

large mixing bowl

mixer

Preparation:

towel sprinkled with powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease jelly roll pan, bottom and sides.

Cut waxed paper to fit the bottom of the jelly roll pan. Place waxed paper into greased pan. Butter the waxed paper, and sprinkle pan and paper with flour, then tap out.

Spread dish towel out on counter and sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of powder sugar, all over (this will help the cake roll to release from the towel later).

Instructions:

Sift the dry ingredients together, onto another large sheet of waxed paper or into a medium bowl. Stir as needed to combine.

In the large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Slowly add in granulated sugar, and mix until thick.

Add pumpkin, and beat until well-combined. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Spread batter in prepared pan, evenly to edges.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (time will depend on your jelly roll pan). When done, the top of the cake will spring back when pressed lightly.

Remove from oven, and immediately loosen edges, all around, with a table knife. Go under the entire cake with the off-set spatula or metal spatula, to loosen. 

Tip the cake over onto the sugared dish towel. The cake will still be hot. Peel the waxed paper off from the bottom of the cake. 

With a sharp knife, trim 1/2-inch all around the edge of the cake. This will allow it to roll more easily.

You'll roll the cake up without any filling, and allow to cool, rolled up in a towel. This will shape the cake into a roll. So, at one of the long ends (a 10-inch end), begin rolling up the cake and towel together.

Place on a cooling rack, with the seam side down. Cool thoroughly (a couple of hours max).

You can fill this cake roll with a pumpkin mousse, or use this recipe for a cream cheese filling.

In a medium bowl with mixer, beat together until soft: one 8-ounce brick of cream cheese (room temp), 6 tablespoons of butter (room temp). Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 cup of powdered sugar, until all is smooth and well-combined. Chill for about 15 minutes.

Unroll the cooled cake, and spread the inside curl of the cake, evenly with the cream cheese filling. 

Reroll the cake, this time without the dish towel. It won't matter if the cake looks flour-y or the filling is oozing out. The final sprinkling of powdered sugar will conceal any flour-y looking portions. And the oozing filling will be left behind on the dish towel. Transfer to a large sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour. At this point, the whole cake roll can be refrigerated until the next day, if you want to do this ahead of time.

When ready to plate, unwrap from plastic, center on plate, and sift generously with more powdered sugar, then lightly sprinkle on some ground cinnamon/nutmeg.