She breezed through my front door. I have good news! She said. And bad news.

The good news was that she had finally gotten her dream job. In spite of the bad news hovering like an elephant in the room, it was the good news that we wanted to celebrate and discuss. Afterall, how many people can really say they are working in their dream job?

I look around the carriage of my train some mornings and wonder why people look so sad or hurt and angry. It is as though someone has shouted in their ear and dragged them out of bed, scrubbed their face with soap, handed them a briefcase and pushed them out the door. I know I have days when I dread getting out of bed because the whole cycle begins, the moment your feet touch the floor. But it’s all we can do sometimes to try to stay afloat in a world drifting faster than we can manage. Stuffed into heavy suits and shiny shoes, we breathe in with forgotten lungs and tread water.

Because she and I were celebrating on one of those days when none of the above exists, I had to make a cake. Even though I don’t often bake with white chocolate, I know she loves it, and after making this, I could not stop myself from eating the trimmings. Leonor calls it a blondie, but I actually think it’s more of a cross between a cake and a blondie. It is light, but impossibly moist and truly celebrates the flavour of white chocolate like no other cake I’ve tasted.

Despite this, it looks deceptively like a functional cake, which the world is already filled to the rafters with. Functional cakes are the lubricant for social discourse between the hours of 10 and 11am or 3 and 4pm.

This is not a functional cake. It doesn’t facilitate discussion. It is a cake baked with words, and I hope she can hear it when she eats it. It says, I value your friendship. I’m sorry you’re having relationship issues at a time in your life when you are feeling ready to settle down and have children. I admire you. I am proud of your achievements. I hope to always be there for you.

Despite all signs to the contrary, I’d like to think I eat in a fairly balanced manner. Cake days get offset by salad days. Always featured at the dinner table are a good dose of vegetables, to counteract my sixth essential food group : ice-cream. However, I was left wondering today if there was anything that could possibly balance bacon in a brownie.

That’s when I decided that there are some things in life you just have to accept as being essential experiences. In other words, give in to the fun. I’m speaking of fish and chips wrapped in newspaper, eaten on the beach. Blowing bubbles into a chocolate milkshake, even though your mom has told you to stop playing with your food for-the-tenth-time. Eating a butter-fried croque madame without cutlery. Putting your ear to a bowl of rice bubbles containing freshly poured milk.

To that list, I’m adding bacon brownies. Eat bacon brownies in the comfort of your own home. With your feet tucked under a blanket. Eat it and marvel at how well the combination works. Savour the rich, moist, dark chocolate and the crispy, salty bacon. Forget those words that fill the mind with doubt and catch in the throat like a solitary dry rice cake. Words like chol-es-ter-ol, and once-on-your-lips-forever-on-your-hips.

Think instead : At least my feet won’t look fat in this. My handbag is still going to fit. Now I can finally get the most value out of my gym membership. Here’s something I won’t feel guilty about not sharing with my vegetarian friends.

If you’re not a fan of bacon, you should still make this anyway, sans bacon. It is a superlative brownie, and according to the authors of Baked, this brownie has not only been featured in O magazine, but has also been awarded “best brownie” by America’s Test Kitchen and the Today show.

The Baked Brownie :
(yields 24 brownies; recipe from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito)

1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
311g dark chocolate (60 – 72% cacao), coarsely chopped [I used Lindt 70%]
226g unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 176’C. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.

Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 mnutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares and serve.

Tightly covered with plastic wrap, the brownies keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

To baconise the Baked Brownie :
Bake 75g thinly sliced proscuitto or bacon in the oven until crispy. Crumble the bacon slices over the top of the brownie batter (or fold it through the mix) before baking. The bacon brownie is best eaten on the day it’s made, if you like your bacon crispy. Otherwise, the bacon will soften a little over the next couple of days, but still be perfectly tasty.

(Of course, the less decadent option would be to bake cookies instead, but honestly, I think the brownies are definitely the way to go.)

Has it really been more than a week since my last post? Now that I’m back to working for my butter, I haven’t had as much time to bake, blog, or even visit other blogs. For the latter, I wholeheartedly apologise.

Work, for those who have been wondering, has been very interesting. So far, I have worked with methylcellulose, marvelled at the abilities of Versa-Whip, tasted a brand of chocolate I’m not familiar with, discovered a nemesis : the Vitaprep, and walked into a glass door. All brand new experiences for me. I have also learned other new things, especially from Dan, which I might incorporate into a dessert or two, to feature here some day.

Inbetween, I have been trying to make the most of my days off. Sunday has become cinnamon-roll-day in our house. A handful of these (trust me, you’ll eat more than one; they disappear so quickly, straight from the oven), a cup of coffee and football on the telly : this has become the thing I most look forward to, at the end of a long week.

It all started when we watched a movie one Saturday evening. Kamome Diner is about a Japanese woman trying to run a diner in Helsinki, Finland. Like most food-related movies, it turns out to be a story celebrating life, friendship, and the connective powers of food. Being the suggestible person that I am (I still ‘stroke the pork’ in my bowl of ramen, after watching Tampopo), I was soon craving tonkatsu, soy glazed salmon, onigiri, and cinnamon rolls with coffee. As he is a very hungry person himself, B managed to make the first three dishes happen, by taking us to Jugemu & Shimbashi for dinner. That afternoon, I baked cinnamon rolls and he brewed coffee. The only thing we disagreed on was the way in which one should eat the rolls. B just sinks his teeth into the whole bun, while I like peeling the layers off, which he thinks only serves to dilute the bun-eating experience.

The recipe for these Finnish delights comes from Beatrice Okajangas’ baking book. She calls them cinnamon ‘ears’, but I somehow managed to misread the instructions (how this is possible, considering there are diagrams in the book, is beyond me) and my ‘ears’ did not turn out as ‘audibly’ as expected, so I’m calling them :

Cinnamon Rolls :
(makes 24; from Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Okajangas)

2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 40 – 46’C
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 slightly beaten eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
4 1/2 to 5 cups plain flour

for the filling :
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

for the glaze :
1 slightly beaten egg
2 tablespoons milk
pearl sugar or crushed sugar cubes

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, the eggs, salt, cardamom, and 4 1/2 cups flour until dough is smooth. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

Sprinkle board with some of the remaining flour. Divide dough into 2 parts. Turn out onto the lightly floured board, and roll each part out to make a rectangle about 12 inches by 24 inches long. Spread each half with half the butter and sprinkle with half the sugar and cinnamon. Roll up, starting from a 24-inch side. Cut each roll diagonally into 12 pieces. Each piece will be about 1/2 inch on one side and 3 inches thick on the other. With two thumbs, press down the middle of the side of each roll. In so doing the two cut edges will be forced upward. The rolls will resemble two “ears”.

Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment or lightly grease them. Place cinnamon ears on prepared baking sheets. Let rise until puffy. Mix the egg and milk to make a glaze. Brush rolls with the glaze and sprinkle with the pearl sugar.

Preheat oven to 204’C. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until just golden.