Oh my lordy, I am so making this for myself for my upcoming birthday. Is it fair that I will be making my own birthday cake, you ask? Why yes, I answer, it is. I like making cakes.

Almond Cream Cake

• 1 recipe white cake, dry ingredients only OR 1 white cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup oil (I might use softened butter for this; don’t know)
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon almond extract
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 can almond filling, about 10 ounces
• 1 unit marzipan (I’m still trying to figure out how much)
• Slivered almonds for garnish

1. Mix cake ingredients, water, oil, eggs, and almond extract well for about 2 minutes. Line 2 9-inch cake pans and fill with batter. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until springs back. Cool on a wire rack.
2. Roll out marzipan into about a 9-inch circle between sheets of plastic.
3. Whip cream with powdered sugar to soft peaks. Fold almond filling gently into 2 cups whipped cream; reserve remaining whipped cream.
4. Cut each cake into two layers.
5. Layer cake, almond whipped cream, cake, marzipan, cake, almond whipped cream, and finally cake. Cover the cake with the reserved whipped cream and top with slivered almonds.

Note: this will not be making an appearance on the FitFare blog. Not a chance.

It’s official, I’m going to be writing for the Fit Fare blog. You can see my contributor bio here (this is top secret, by the way, because the site doesn’t officially launch for a few days yet). My first assignment is to write a recipe and accompanying article for chicken tikka masala, which I am making for the first time tonight. It won’t be published till later in March, but I may do a trial run here.

My general theme for my posts will be how to plan ahead so you can have good meals on weeknights without spending a lot of time. For example, I started the chicken marinating last night (in a really good-smelling mix of yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and pepper), so it will be ready to toss on the grill when we get home.

The sauce will be easy: it’s pretty much just tomato sauce (currently in the freezer from last year’s bumper crop of tomatoes) and fat-free sour cream. You’re supposed to use heavy whipping cream in this recipe, but this is for the Fit Fare blog, after all. Fat-free sour cream is my savior in recipes that call for whipping cream. It adds a nice color and mouthfeel. It’s not great on its own as a condiment, but when it’s incorporated into a sauce, it’s good stuff.

If I were smart, I would have cut up the red peppers and zucchini that I’m going to use for a quick little curry, but I didn’t. I can do that while the basmati rice is soaking. I also have naan dough thawing on the counter right now, left over from the time I made a giant batch and froze it. I will cook that up hot and fresh for the occasion.