As a baker of mixed heritage, I enjoy baking traditional recipes and celebrating an array of holidays, even if they aren't part of my culture or heritage. So, today I wanted to honor the celebration of Kwanzaa. According to Wikipedia, "Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration held in the United States honoring universal African-American heritage and culture, observed from December 26 to January 1 each year." Faith, cooperative work, and creativity are three of the seven principles highlighted in this celebration. So, to bring some festive and meaningful celebration into my home all week, I decided to make the Upside-down Pumpkin-Plantain Cake from Krystina Castella's "A World of Cake" book. She suggests to bake this cake during this holiday. Since we had plantains and pumpkin puree, I decided to make this cake today. However, this cake wasn't a good start to a "Joyus Kwanzaa." First of all, I am an avid baker and this cake would not cook in the center. I left it in the oven for over an hour, and it still wasn't done in the center. This has never happened to me before, so I'm going to try the recipe another day and make my own adjustments to it. And, to top it off, the cake was overly spiced.
I love pumpkin and plantains, so I was disappointed because I had wasted good and expensive ingredients on this recipe. The first time I make a recipe, I like to follow the instructions to a "T," even if I don't agree with the amount or type of ingredients. Let's see if I can find another Kwanzaa celebration recipe that I can try tomorrow. In the mean time, let's all be creative and do meaningful things in our everyday lives! Joyus Kwanzaa everyone!
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