In which I bake a cake.

Wow, what a beautiful day. I woke up at 6:30 when Mike left for work, threw on some clothes, and walked down to the Radical Roaster, their local coffeeshop. I had an English muffin with jam and a latte. I did a little reading, some conversation eavesdropping (a writer's job!), and a bit of writing. It felt so nice to wake up early and have a bit of my own day before work began. I came back around 8, took a shower, and now I'm working from Mike's home for the second day in a row. I must admit, I get a little antsy working from home so much. It's been such a blessing, having this option to come visit and work from here without worrying about missing work or not seeing each other very much. But when I work from home so much and am hardly in the office, I get this weird paranoia that I'm going to get fired. Old habits die hard, I suppose. I just need to trust that I am doing all of my work well, and that my boss would let me know if I was slipping or not performing up to par.

Today is Twinkie cake day! It's in the oven right now, and I'm excited to continue the process. First step? Beat four egg whites, and since Mike doesn't have a beater, I had to use the good old by-hand method. I thought I was going to go insane, beating egg whites until they were firm by hand. Do not try this at home. Oh well, that boy knows I love him and now, so does my right forearm. Phew!

I tweaked a recipe I found online, so if you ever need to make a larger-than-life Twinkie ice cream cake, here you go!

What You'll Need

• A hand or stand mixer, or a really strong arm
• 4 egg whites
• 16 oz pound cake mix
• 2/3 cup water
• Whipped vanilla/white frosting
• Vanilla ice cream, softened
• Bread pan (roughly in the shape of a real Twinkie)

First is the hard part (silver lining: It's all easy from there!): Beat four egg whites until firm. They will roughly resemble whipped cream. This is what mine looked like halfway through:

Then beat the egg whites, cake mix, and water for about 2 minutes on medium speed (or until your arm falls off). Pour into greased Twinkie-shaped pan. Then stare at it while it bakes (for about 25 - 30 minutes). [This post was getting a little photo-heavy, so scroll down for a slideshow of the process.]

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut the cake longways in half, like you're going to make a sandwich out of it. Hollow the cake out, leaving a good inch of cake on each side of the hollow area to make sure the ice cream mixture does not leak through.

In another bowl, mix together several scoops of ice cream, two tablespoons of frosting, and a few good chunks of the cake bits you just hollowed out. This part is mixed according to taste. Get creative and add candy pieces, sprinkles, or chocolate! Since I'm going for a Twinkie-esque experience, I kept it simple. Once the mixture is combined, pour it into the hollow areas of your cake. I then lined the outer edge of the cake with frosting to work as glue when I placed the top back on. Cover the cake in plastic wrap and put in the freezer to set!

Tonight, I plan to add a little more frosting to the top, pop in a few candles and put some strawberries around the edge of plate. I cannot wait.

What weird birthday cakes have you seen/made lately?

(Pictures after the jump.)