CIDER house rules.

broskis,
i used cider IN the cake.
y'know?
like,
instead of a different liquid.
yeah.
you got it.
i made a cider cake.
wanna see?
check the slices-and-sauces-type teleport:

C'MON, neighbors!!
there's something about pectin that makes a cake especially moist.
i mean,
when used in conjunction with a portion of tapioca,
a.k.a. puddin'-in-the-mix.
wait.
ok.
you're right.
i'll slow down.
i love baking.
we know this already.
i especially love to improvise.
that's a whole other well known fact.
but,
in addition to my love of improvised baking-
that intuitive meditative in-the-moment path of preparation and productivity-
i ALSO love to eat cake,
especially seasonally-appropriate site-specific slices of some
supremely septembery spiced apple ingredient jauns.
that's no joke.
you want this cake.
i know it.
here's what i think i did-
.
-1 stick of vegan butts
-and roughly 1 cup of sugar-
i used the remnants of three separate kinds,
but i doubt that it would matter much if you used just one.
-2 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp salt
creamed together in a stand mixer,
plus:
-1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy yogurt (i used coconut for the record)
-2 1/2 cups of flour
-1/3 cup tapioca
-baking kapow and soda in individual tspfulls.
1 cup apple cider
lots of cinnamon, some ginger, a little mace, a pinch of nutmeg.
whisked until fluffyish,
and placed in a greased springform pan,
to bake at 360ish for 45ish minutes.
it was waaaay wetter at first, but it stayed waaaaaaaay moister when it was finished.
yum yum yum.
the apples on top were cooked a bit, to soften them.
that's three apples' worth of slices, with cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar,
plus a squeeze of lemon to keep 'em nice.
friends,
that sh!t right there is THE TRUTH.
i didn't even have to frost it.
it's too damned good all on it's own.
*
from out of nowhere,
i'm suddenly, totally, inexplicably perpetually unready.
yuck.
that's a tough way to be.
it seems like every single day,
i'm running late-
which happens to be especially weird
since prior to now,
i've taken great pride in always being at least 10 minutes early.
now, in addition to never sleeping,
i'm also lagging. sagging, and dragging my feet,
while still doing my damnedest to give the folks i'm interacting with
the best darn experience i can summon from the spirit and memory
of worthy warrior poetry.
it's tough, and it's tiring, and it's a ton of pressure (self-imposed)
to produce positive results against a tsunami tidal wall of opposing force.
ugh.
i don't know when this started happening, exactly-
actually,
i have got a pretty good guess-
but,
this is What Is, and it's all really happening.
my life, from now on, may be a bit behind schedule.
at least,
until i rebuild my immunity to the iocane inanity
of every day's efforts to end me once and for all.
yikes.
it's a fight to the finish,
right up until i finally fall asleep for a few seconds each night-
and weirdly,
i want to be in first place for the big finale every time.
it's all really happening, kids.
that's the WHOLE point.
all the cider (house) cake rules (is rules) on earth
can't save the day from ending;
and every one of those little deaths is a step or two further away
from tightness and brightness and bearable lightness than the last;
never quiet, never soft.....