This Month’s Daring Baker’s challenge, hosted by the lovely Morven, of Food Art and Random Thoughts, was one that made me giddy from the get go. Why? Because this time the rules basically said “do what you want”. The challenge was to make our own version of Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. The only guidelines were that we must use the basic recipe and that it hadda be a layer cake. That’s just fine by me!

The original recipe called for buttercream icing. I’m not strictly a fan of buttercream, so I went with an orange-infused ganache instead. The original said you could use whipped cream if so desired, but that sounded too sweet for me, so I just whipped the ganache to something of a whipped cream consistency. Again, works for me.

The other change… Well, the original recipe was for a lemon based cake… I don’t have anything against lemons, but I have a TON of oranges lying about right now, so I changed out one citrus for another and skipped any type of fruit filling on this round. The cake will probably end up at my wife’s office, and I wanted it to keep well.

How did all these changes turn out, you ask?

Fantastically! The cake is light, spongy, dreamy and jam-packed with orange flavor. I may never look at any other white cake again for the rest of my life. Seriously, those relationships have grown stale in an instant. We’re just not on the same page any longer.

The ganache is almost like a chocolate-orange cloud, and has just passed up any other icing choice I’ve ever had. I’ll just use a white chocolate for it if I need a white frosting in the future. I think I may have over whipped it a bit, which made it difficult to spread, but the flavor… Oh, the flavor…

Pardon me.. I gotta grab another slice, why don’t you just print up the recipes below this and go make some for yerself…

!note: I just read that I wasn’t the only one that substituted orange for my cake. Check out the rest of this recipes’ variations at the daring bakers blogroll!

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Ladies and gentlemen.  It took a full day of emails back and forth with the plugin developer, but I’m happy to announce that the email to a friend and print this page functionality of Cooking by the seat of my Pants has been restored to full operation!

Unfortunately I managed to delete the records of how many of what have been emailed to whom in the process, but at least everything is back online and ready to work as expected.  This is a great relief to me, as I know that a lot of my visitors do use these utilities quite often.  I hope that the time it took to repair the issues has not affected anyone’s visit here in a severely negative way.

This is also the reason that nothing has been posted for the past several days.  When an issue comes up with the site I tend to simply focus my attention on the repair, rather than trying to ignore the fact that something I count on to work has gone horribly wrong.

There are still a few other plugins I need to get back online but none of these is critical to the day-to-day user experience.  These can be addressed as time allows and will be operational as I get to them.

For now it’s back to cooking!

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I grew up in California’s Sonoma Wine Country. For those unfamiliar with California’s geography that put my childhood home just 45 minutes north of one of the largest city’s in the state, San Francisco. I didn’t get to see the City by the Bay all that often until I was a teenager, but once I was able to drive I spent quite a bit of time in the melting pot that is San Francisco, California. I wouldn’t trade a minute of those times for the world. (Including the time I came down with the flu right off the Embarcadero… Embarrasing!)

There are so many things to do in San Francisco that it really isn’t possible to detail them all in one post, or even in one day. The sheer number of family vacation ideas is boggling. A visit to Ghirardelli Square is a prerequisite for foodies, while some families may prefer just to see the San Francisco Zoo, Golden Gate Park or take an Alcatraz tour. In any event, don’t miss China Town; it’s very much worth the trip!

Trusted Tours and Attractions can help your visit to San Francisco be a memorable one. All you have to do is sign up for the newsletter and have all the latest information delivered to you. If you’re looking to get in on winning another iPod, they’re giving away a nano, so get on the list before March 31st. Even if you don’t win the iPod Touch I’m giving away, you’ll still be in the running for something!

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This was supposed to be a post on the status of repairs here at cbsop, unfortunately it seems that it was stuck in the backend of the system.  I’m letting it through now because I want it here to remind be that there was an issue, so please disregard.

(If WordPress 2.5 is going to hide posts from me, I want to remember it!)  Other than that, it seems everything is working as it should around here now, so back to the fun!

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If you’re really serious about promoting your blog locally, why not use the same method that businesses all over the world have used since the advent of the automobile, door magnets! These have several benefits, especially if you are running a blog that makes an income.

First of all, every time you drive to the grocery store you’re advertising what you do. Most likely someone will see your message and stop by. At the very least you’ll attract a few looky-loo’s and with any luck a few of those will turn into full time readers. The second advantage to car magnets is that if you are using your car as a mobile advertising platform you can deduct a portion of your mileage and maintenance costs from your taxes, and who doesn’t like the sound of a new deduction in April?

You don’t need to run out to the local sign shop to get a pair of these beauties either. Just run over to Vista Print, use their online designer and order a pair. It’s fairly simple to use, I designed the image in this post in less than 5 minutes. (It shows, I know!), but with a little effort you could have something pretty amazing. (I think for my camaro I’m going to go with window stickers, but hey, it’s not your basic grocery-go-getter)

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I don’t post a lot of video here, but this one is so off the wall that I find I just have to share. It’s completely non food related, but it was just too cool to pass up. As a matter of fact, I posted it on my ADHD blog as well!

Before anyone gets upset, please let me say this… I find this video hilarious because I have ADHD. This is not a slight to anyone, please don’t take it as one. Besides, I think my dog might need this!

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Far too many people, my wife included, feel that they need to loose weight. (I don’t necessarily agree in the case of my wife, but in the end, she feels that she should, so I’ll stand behind her.) With only God knows how many weight loss systems out on the market today, which one is the right fit for you?

Seriously, how are you supposed to decide what will work? There’s carb counting, calorie counting, glycemic indexing, the grapefruit diet (gone from the world, thankfully!), South Beach and too many others to count. Most are unhealthy at best, some can be detrimental to the point of placing you in a hospital bed. Wasn’t someone trying to stop the madness here?

Weight Watchers has a good track record, but for me the thought of counting points for every meal is somewhat inane. (The fact that I hear women discussing to “points value” of frozen fried dinners is even more inane, but that’s a different topic altogether.) Nutrisystem works pretty consistently as well, but even considering buying someone elses’ food in a package is on the “I don’t eat out of a box” list.

Whether your plan was tuned to losing weight fast with Nutrisystem, eDiets.com, Medifast and Jillian Michaels, or to being more practical about the process, please. Please! Do your research first. Incorrect dieting methods cost someone very special to me an organ that cannot be replaced. I never want anyone to have to go through that because of a lack of information.

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We interrupt out regularly scheduled subliminal manipulations to bring you the following announcement:

For anyone that was wondering no, I have not been injured, I have not suffered from a serious illness and I didn’t just decide I wasn’t going to do this any more.  The last few days have been spent firmly in the grip of finance hell as I move my way towards getting my business plan written and my finances in proper order.  It seems that I’ve started making enough money with my work on the Internet that good old Uncle Sam needs better records kept.  It’s a necessary evil.  (Please put heavy emphasis on EVIL!)

The loss of service this afternoon was an issue with the data center where my servers are housed.  It was completely unexpected and I apologize profusely for any inconvenience it may have caused.  I truly do love the company I host through and issues like these are few and far between, so for now I just have to chock it up to the fact that computers have issues sometimes, regardless of the operating system installed on them.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reading material.  Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.

This, and other announcements like it are made possible by Barnaby’s Bunion Creme.  If it’s bulgin’  Think Barnaby’s!

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And if you were thinking anything other than employment position, then shame on you!

If you’re like most job seekers today you’ve probably used online job markets or directories in your search for a good job or new position. And if you’re like most of us you’ve never had a single good thing come of it, just frustration at the prospect of spending another day with your resume unnoticed among thousands of others. I’m pleased to say that there is a better way to find that perfect position, and it’s called realmatch.

Realmatch uses a new and unique system of pairing employers with prospective employees based on skills, not the buzzwords in their resumes.  Business week is calling Realmatch “Scary competition to Monster”. I for one think that is a good thing.  It’s time for a more intelligent choice, and it seems that time is now.

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In yesterday’s review of the Changeling Family Cookbook, I somehow omitted links to the book itself. (OK, Not “somehow”  Mr. Seat of his Diaper was being fussy and I hit save when done typing on the third round.  Totally an omission caused by frazzled Daddy-nerves, but still a bit unforgivable.)

The post has been repaired, and just for the sake of completeness, you may find the book here.

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