Reading Wednesday + cake

[sabotabby]

I'm still reading Umberto Eco's On Literature. I'm halfway through and it's really good, but it's essays and I'm averaging about five hours of sleep a night, so I tend to pass out after one.

*

In more exciting news, I baked a cake.





To answer the questions:

1. Yes, the eyeballs are edible. They're made out of fondant.
2. It's vegan.
3. It does actually taste good (other than the fondant, which tastes like fondant). It's vanilla and pumpkin-spice flavoured.

Comments

[lapinlunaire]

Are the essays good enough to still be enjoyable to someone who is completely unhinged over having to write my thesis how have I made so many poor life choices leading up to this Jesus take the wheel mildly stressed about grad school?

This cake is amazing. I love it so much! It might be my favourite cake you've made. I feel so torn because I hate fondant but I love this wonderfully creepy cake but it's so creepy and tastes like vanilla and spices aaaaaah

[sabotabby]

I dunno; I feel I am enjoying them more than I would if I were actually studying this. I just finished one with a beautiful defence of deep readings. But stress is interfering with my ability to get really into it.

The nice thing about this is that the fondant is relatively minimal compared to most of my cakes, so you can just pick them off if you don't like them.

[lapinlunaire]

That's the problem. I'd desperately want to eat the eyes specifically, but they're fondant. It's like being torn between my hatred of fondant and my need to eat something creepy-looking.

Let's be real, I'd probably decide to eat at least one eye and hate my decision-making forever. :D

[sabotabby]

I didn't. I was strong. Other people enjoy fondant.

[metalana]

If you are in Canada, Bulk Barn had gummy eyeball candies on sale this week.

[lapinlunaire]

Thanks! I'm not in Canada but we have gummy eyeballs here... unfortunately they're the non-vegetarian kind. :(

I guess I'll just have to settle for the eyballs of my enemies. Sigh.

[sabotabby]

Those aren't vegetarian either but your enemies deserve to have their eyeballs eaten in the same way eating one billionaire is better for the environment than being a lifetime vegan.

[lapinlunaire]

You vegans are always trying to push your lifestyle down other people's throats. Shame on you! The eyeballs of one's enemies can very well be vegetarian.

I guess it depends on your definition of vegetarianism or veganism, like whether you extend it to all animals or just non-human ones. Personally, I think cannabalism is largely wrong because the people who do it tend to target vulnerable people for horrible reasons. So, in theory, eating the eyeballs of my enemies would be ethically ok and not conflict with my vegetarian values.

The main reason why I wouldn't eat other humans is because it sounds gross and nowhere near as good as gummy eyeballs, plus you never know what diseases other people might have! You wouldn't eat a mystery meat burger so you shouldn't eat humans either.

[sabotabby]

Compost the rich and eat the tomatoes!

[mistersmearcase]

Pumpkin spice cake actually sounds good and I'm not a fan of pumpkin spice other stuff. Um, I'm not sure I could eat an eyeball.

[sabotabby]

Pumpkin spice in cake tastes delicious. I mean it's just cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. So it's pretty much a spice cake and it cuts the sweetness of the buttercream a bit.

The fondant is ick but I think the kids will get a kick out of it. It's for them, not me. I tried the bits that I had to slice off the cake to get it flat + extra buttercream to ensure that the whole thing tasted good (it did) and that's as much sugar as I require for a week or so.

[franklanguage]

Sounds like parkin (a Guy Fawkes Day cake.)

[sabotabby]

That sounds delicious!

[franklanguage]

And Guy Fawkes!

[minoanmiss]

Yay cake art!

Yay eyeballs!

[sabotabby]

I am v. proud of myself.

[kore]

SPICE CAKE, yum. Those eyeballs are expressive!

[sabotabby]

They were really fun to do.

[whatarewordsfor]

I stared into the void...

and the void stared back at me.

And then I ate its eyeballs.

[sabotabby]

Oooh, I could have made it galaxy.

But that would have required more food dye than I had.

[welcomingsong]

Those eyeballs are seriously impressive. Well done!

[sabotabby]

Thank you!

[sara]

That...is horrible and I'm sure it will be a big hit at the party.

[sabotabby]

It reportedly was, as most of it got eaten. I wouldn't know because I helped the kids run the haunted house and spent the entire lunch break jumping out of a closet.

[chagrined]

it looks amaaaazing

[sabotabby]

It was!

[ironed_orchid]

This cake is the best cake and your fondant painting skills are A+++

[sabotabby]

Those watercolour classes paid off.

[notasupervillain]

I'd wondered if you actually liked fondant as a food-substance or if you just liked it as a crafting tool.

[sabotabby]

I like it for a few seconds and then immediately hate myself.

But it's really fun as a modelling tool.

[notasupervillain]

This seems like the most valid reason to have children that I can think of. So someone appreciates the pure sugar substances in the world.

[sabotabby]

That's why I teach. Though the person who appreciates it most is an older teacher who comes from a part of the world where extreme sweets are more common.

[notasupervillain]

America?

[sabotabby]

South Africa.

It's also the land of excellent chilli, so I might not die of starvation there.

[notasupervillain]

I did not know that. On either count.