Baking Cakes in Anchorage

I've a backlog of stuff to post, but first, this:

The book for book group last night was Baking Cakes in Kigali, and I made the above goodies to celebrate it.  The big cakes are "Death by Lemon" and "Chocolate Roadhouse Cake", both  recipes from At Home with the Range Cafe, available from the web site of said cafe.  By the way, if you are ever in New Mexico, have at least one meal there--they have other great stuff besides dessert.

Death by Lemon is a very lemony custard in a shortbread crust.  More of a pie than a cake, really, but if you taste it you won't quibble for long.  And the Roadhouse cake is mayonnaise-based, so moist and tender doesn't begin to describe it.  I had thought the quantity of cake was a bit excessive for the small group, but after everybody went home there weren't all that many leftovers to clean up--sometimes excess is just right!

Cupcakes are basic vanilla and vanilla buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They are in the colorful spirit of Angel Tungaraza, the heroine of the book.  And also in the spirit of having something vegan cake-y for the Grandboy, for whom butter, eggs, and cream are allergy anathema.  His cake aesthetic also happens to align very well with Angel's.