29 June 2011

The BIG DILEMMA

Once a year, in the House of Onion, we have to address the BIG DILEMMA. And that time was upon us earlier this week.

The BIG DILEMMA stems from the fact that we can't, in clear conscience, expect the Cake-Maker Virtuoso to make her own birthday cake. So we need another Onion to step into the breach.

This year there was no shortage of volunteers. Happily, we have a clear policy on matters such as these. And so it came to pass that the first person to respond to the call-to-cake was allocated the task of preparing a delicious item to honour the Cake-Maker Virtuoso - and to satisfy all the other Onions who now have rather discerning palates when it comes to cake. No pressure, EM, no pressure at all.*

In her time of need, the Cake-Maker's Understudy turned to Tess Mallos's The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook and produced a most excellent Karithopita,** otherwise known as a Greek Walnut Cake. And this proved to be very pleasing indeed for our star cake-maker and her cake-eating colleagues.

Hip. Hip. Hooray!




* We wouldn't be surprised if you actually heard the sounds of sweet relief from other Onions who volunteered ever slightly more slowly than Ms M.
** For anyone keen to replicate this tasty treat, an approximation of Tess Mallos's recipe can be found here. However, the Cake-Maker's Understudy has an eagle eye for detail and reports that this recipe differs slightly - it notes that hot syrup should be poured on cold cake, whereas Tess's recipe calls for cold syrup to be poured on hot cake. And we are also informed that the delightful dark brown colouring was achieved by using raw sugar, rather than white. Feel free to experiment as you wish.


4 comments:

CMV said...

How delicious it was, all walnutty syrupy goodness. I could have Karithopita every year. Thank you, Ms M!

Sadami said...

Dear Onions,
Uahahahaha!! I love your sense of humour wrapped up in so elegant sentences. Do you need any volulnteer or cake taster? I'm happy to offer the space in my stomach.
Kind regards, Sadami

winter said...

What?! A new font?! SANS SERIF?!? Onions, plz explain.

The Alien Onions said...

CMV - we are most pleased that it was to your liking.

Sadami - thank you for your kind words, and your generous offer of stomach space - we will let you know if we are ever lacking in this area, though we must advise that the Onion capacity for consumption is great and shows little signs of abating.

winter - we most sincerely apologise. It was an aberration, an unexplained aberration over which we had no control. And we certainly did not approve it. Happily, as you will see in our most recent post, our serifs have been restored to us. Phew.