Baking with Booze: Fireball Cinnamon Whisky Apple Cake

This photo is a cheat. Not my table, nor my cake. I’m just trying to class up my trashy booze cake post.

There is a delightful corner of the internet populated by smiley midwestern moms insisting that you add Fireball Cinnamon Whisky to your autumn baking right now.

A 1980s classic from Canada (go team!) Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is delicious in a ‘I just ate a zillion cinnamon hearts’ kind of way and its very existence offends whisky purists, which I consider a plus. Those tiresome, brown liquor-loving bores didn’t do Wild Cherry Jell-O shots in university and it shows.

But back to our cake. A healthy glug of alcohol mixed into the batter gives baked goods a more tender crumb (thank you, science) and Fireball brings heat and cinnamony depth, which you then amplify by drizzling a Fireball and icing sugar glaze on top of your masterpiece. (See recipe below for exact proportions.)

Of course, if you are so inclined, and you want to spend more money, you can even DIY your own cinnamon whisky, but it’s the alchemy of turning a longtime frat house staple into an elegant dessert that’s the fun part.

And in a spooky case of synchronicity, look at this comment that I saw on The Cut’s instagram feed this week. It’s from a discussion about excessive drinking:

This tells me that the universe is practically commanding you to bake with Fireball this fall.

Here I’ve added its cinnamon boozy warmth to a basic apple loaf cake, but according to the internet moms, you could use it to tart up a box of spice cake mix. The important thing is that you are having fun.

Fireball Apple Loaf Cake

• 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 tsp. salt

• 3/4 tsp. baking soda

• 2 tsp. cinnamon

• 3/4 tsp. cloves, 1/2 tsp. allspice 

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar plus one T molasses (I add the molasses for more depth of flavour)

• 3/4 cup neutral oil, like canola

• 2 Tbsp. Fireball

• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract

• 2 medium tart apples, grated and then steeped in 2T granulated sugar, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and even more Fireball (one or two tablespoons)

For a glaze, mix together 1 cup icing sugar and three tablespoons of Fireball and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment. Leave it ungreased.

2. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and spices.

3. Grate two medium, tart peeled apples on the largest hole of the box grater and macerate in sugar, cinnamon and Fireball while preparing the other ingredients.

4. In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugars until mixture gets lighter in color. You can do this by hand or with a hand mixer. 

5. Whisk in oil, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and vanilla.

6. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Use a spatula, as the batter becomes quite thick once you add the dry ingredients.

7. Stir in the Fireball soaked apple mixture.

8. Pour batter into the parchment-lined loaf pan and bake for 65-70 minutes depending on how hot your oven is, rotating once halfway through. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean with no crumbs clinging to it. Start checking at the 55 or 60 minute mark depending on how hot your oven runs and how obsessive you are.

9. Remove from the oven and remove the cake from the pan by lifting by the overhanging parchment (how did I live before using parchment slings?) and place on a rack to cool. You can add some of the glaze to the cake when it is still warm to let it absorb and then drizzle the remainder over the cooled cake.

Good (Coconut) Things Come In Large Packages

Marketing has convinced us that the smaller the container, the pricier the contents. Think eye creams in wee jars accompanied by doll-sized spatulas or caviar in diminutive, shallow tins. (I’m so glad I never developed a taste for caviar.)

But if a bottle is huge like Renpure’s Coconut Milk & Vitamin E body wash, you might dismiss it as being somehow less than. And you’d be wrong, because Renpure’s coconut body wash is the ideal shower companion as Canadian winter approaches (insert portentous organ music here.)

Sulphate-free with coconut oil and hydrolyzed milk proteins, it is a gentle cleanser that won’t strip away your precious skin oils. This is especially crucial in the winter when central heating and low humidity conspire to turn your skin into crinkly tissue paper.

And more important to us picky fragrance people, in addition to its ‘clean beauty’ ingredients and post consumer recycled plastic bottle, Renpure absolutely nails the fragrance.

The creamy, light coconut scent is a dead ringer for Skin Trip, the luxe hippie cult favourite body lotion sold in posh health food stores like LA’s Erewhon Market.

But unlike Skin Trip, you can get Renpure in Canada. Its generously-sized bottle, all 710 ml (24 ounces in old money) is only $8.79 at Shoppers Drug Mart and $7.97 at Walmart. Be still my penny-pinching little heart.

Caudalie Fig Body Oil: Practically Perfect in Every Way

Caudalie’s new Smooth & Glow Oil Elixir, (Sephora Canada, $66) is for anyone who spent the summer in the water until their fingers got all pruney and their hair turned to straw. Or it’s for that optimistic soul who stayed too long in the sun, trying to bank enough residual heat to keep them warm throughout the winter. Pity that doesn’t actually work.

But dreading winter aside, this is the oil blend to take your dried-out, late summer skin from faintly reptilian to a hydrated, ‘let’s turn the clock back, shall we?’ dream state. Loaded with antioxidant-rich prickly pear, argan and shea oils, Caudalie Smooth & Glow Elixir also adds softness and shine to crispy, frizzed out hair. All with a wonderful, ‘fig bush after a summer storm’ fragrance. And while the scent is epically figgy, there’s also a faint undercurrent of warm cedar to temper the sweetness. (If you like Diptyque’s Philosykos, Caudalie Smooth & Glow is for you.)

But I’m betting you won’t truly appreciate this oil until you crack open a bottle in deepest darkest November. Then you’ll get a serotonin jolt of happy from the scent and your skin will be very grateful for the much-needed moisture. But why would I even mention November? That seems unnecessarily negative.

Sunscreen For People Who Hate Sunscreen: Shiseido Clear Sunscreen Stick

Choosing a sunscreen can bring out your inner Goldilocks — this lotion is too thick, this one is weirdly greasy,  this one makes your face ghostly white. It’s a boring exercise, especially when all you want is applause for your diligent sunscreen use.

So cynical me, I was immediately skeptical of Shiseido's clear sunscreen stick which promises to avoid all those issues and seemed too good to be true. But it is actually that good.

Shiseido’s Clear Sunscreen Broad Spectrum Wet Force stick ($40, Sephora) is a gel solid in a swivel-up stick that you swipe on with broad strokes, so your fingers never touch the product. When sunscreen application is simple and mess-free, you are hopefully more inclined to reapply, because for sunscreen to work, you need to keep topping up every two hours if you are outdoors and wet (preferably from being in a pool or lake, if it’s a day like today.)

Shiseido’s Clear Sunscreen stick protects against both UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays with broad spectrum SPF 50, and Shiseido’s proprietary Wet Force and HeatForce technologies that cleverly leverage heat and water to amplify the sunscreen's effectiveness. (It’s as if Shiseido is compelling you to get in the water.)

And because it’s a gel solid, It won’t drip into your eyes when you ride a bike, play tennis, tend to your garden or just live your life in our unreasonably humid climate. And if you are a makeup wearer (and props to you for wearing makeup in this heat) you can even swipe it over top and it won’t disturb your makeup at all. It is the easiest sunscreen to use by far. So no excuse. Go get it before it sells out again.

Crone Relief: L’Oréal Revitalift Line Plumper Is a Tatcha Water Cream Dupe

Pre-coffee morning face saver.

I love sharing well-priced skincare dupes. They’re the beauty equivalent of your grandmother adding a crisp twenty dollar bill to your birthday card.

New L’Oréal Revitalift Line-Plumping Water Cream, ($42, Shoppers Drug Mart) is a super skin hydrator that’s a twin to Tatcha’s best-selling Water Cream, but the Revitalift costs less than half. That’s good to know as inflation is still climbing and Loblaws now apparently charges seven dollars for celery according to this TikTok. (There are so many other food examples I could cite, but I enjoy that girl’s pure, crystalline rage.)

Water creams are high in ceramides, glycerin and hyaluronic acid to hydrate skin quickly, which is key when you are feeling shrivelled and pruney-faced. Revitalift Line-Plumper contains low molecular weight hyaluronic acid to plump skin quickly while ceramides (the ‘mortar’ between the ‘bricks’ that are your skin cells) work to strengthen your skin barrier which can get temperamental and needy as you age. A strengthened skin barrier acts younger and retains moisture better, making skin less sensitive and more resistant to redness, irritation and general discomfort.

On mornings when I wake up feel especially crinkly, I stagger to the bathroom, splash water on my face and get some Revitalift water cream on before hying myself off to the kitchen for coffee. By the time the caffeine hits, the cream has done its work and a much more presentable me greets the day.

And because the Revitalift is so well-priced, you can use it lavishly and still have money left over for things like celery.

Make This Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. If you don’t feel like competing with the hordes for a pint of green beer at a crowded bar (I look back at teenaged and early twenties me with genuine wonderment) then this easy soda bread recipe will make you feel like you properly marked the day.

It comes together quickly, requires no kneading and by baking it in a cast iron pan you ensure a satisfyingly crunchy crust.

Soda Bread

Makes one round, serves 2-4.

For a savory version, omit the sugar and add three chopped green onions and a cup of coarsely grated cheddar to the dry ingredients and butter mixture before adding the buttermilk.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups buttermilk (no substitutions)

1 egg (optional, for added richness. So yeah, do it.)

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned into a measuring cup to ensure an accurate amount. Dragging the cup through the flour and then levelling it off packs too much flour into each cup.)

3 T granulated sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t kosher salt (Diamond Crystal if possible. It really is the best.)

5 T cold, cubed unsalted butter.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet.

Whisk together the cold buttermilk and the egg.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Add the cold cubes of butter to the flour mixture and incorporate it with a pastry cutter until it all resembles cornmeal (as if you were making a pie crust.)

Pour in the buttermilk/egg mix and stir until combined. When you have a unified (albeit crumbly) mass, turn it onto a floured board and barely knead for only half a minute until the flour is incorporated.

Shape into a round and place in your cast iron pan. Cut a cross into it almost all the way through, as this will help it bake evenly, place on the middle rack and bake for about 40 minutes. (Start checking at the 30 minute mark. You might want to drape it with foil if it browns too quickly.)

Remove when done and cool it on a wire rack and then happily consume it all in one sitting.

REN Plumping Essence: Your Skin Barrier’s New Best Friend

Every Laura Ingalls Wilder fan knows that Farmer Boy is the superior book in every way (The ice cream scene! The endless pies!) but The Long Winter is more appropriate right now. We made it through February, yet here we have March to contend with.

Winter storms are back, and as much as I want to bury myself in books and tea (what a friend calls ‘the Jane Austen cure’) we all have to leave the house eventually. So before heading out, it is prudent (such a good Jane Austen word) to use a an essence to protect your skin from the wind and ice demons lurking just outside your door.

Essence can seem like a superfluous skincare step until you try it. A super hydrator with a ‘water, but thicker’ texture, REN Smooth, Prep & Plump Essence, ($70, Sephora) applied right after you wash your face, gives your skin much-needed moisture while cannily sneaking in skin barrier-protecting ingredients like hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid that will help your skin’s top layers retain moisture. It also helps your skin better absorb the active ingredients in serums you use afterwards.

And it makes your skin feel like actual skin, not crêpe paper. That alone should be all the motivation you need to try it.

**

And how old is my copy of The Long Winter? Not only did it cost a mere $2.10, but WH Smith hasn’t existed in Canada since 1989.

Weleda Skin Food Face Conquers #winterface

The air is so dry right now that my skin feels like I’ve been tumbling for days in a dryer set on high.

Into the teeth of this low-ambient-moisture, gloomy time of year, Weleda has mercifully launched a trio of new Skin Food face products that are both lanolin-free (ergo, vegan) and lighter-weight than the original Skin Food Ultra Rich Cream. Loaded with soothing ingredients like plant-based squalane, skin-calming tiger grass and fatty-acid rich sacha inch oil, they will help your poor, weather-beaten skin recover from seasonal moisture suck. Angry and red or ashy and drawn, #winterface is real.

There’s also a new cleanser that drew raves at the launch event: a Neosporin thick, oil-to-milk cleanser that transforms into a light milk when you add water. With sunflower seed oil that is high in unsaturated fatty acids, it leaves skin clean and hydrated, not taut and drawn. The face you see in the mirror will be your old, non-wintery face: a happy augury of spring.

Skin Food, which launched 97 years ago and now sells one tube every 11 seconds, inspires crazy devotion. I have sung its praises here. Celebrity makeup artist Pati Dubroff, who has kept a tube in her kit for 30 years, uses it on her makeup clients as pre-makeup skincare and ad hoc highlighter. She also applies it liberally on her own face when she flies. “For some it may be too heavy,” she says, laughing, “but for me, no way.” If you do fall into that other camp, the day cream is just what you’ll want to protect your skin on flights.

And I have a message for Weleda HQ: a dear friend fervently wishes that Skin Food lotion was available in a giant pump bottle for both maximum ease and the comfort of having an extravagant amount of Skin Food at one’s disposal. For real fans, a solitary tube or jar is never enough.

All is Quiet on New Year's Day

The Czechs like to say “Jak na nový rok, tak po celý rok” which loosely translates to “as on New Year’s day, so will it be throughout the year.”

This means you must avoid all work on January first. Just spend the day enjoying the company of the ones you love, going for walks or reading and napping on the couch.

Happy new year!

The Nice List: Gifts For Girl Friends

This homage to the great Slim Aarons was staged at the beautiful Belvedere Mykonos hotel.

As much as I enjoy the festive sparkle of the season, it’s the coziness, as exemplified by these cosseting, mostly beauty-related gifts for friends, that I love the most.

The Biossance Love, Joy and Bestsellers gift set, now on sale at Sephora for only $56, is a tremendous value and a lifesaver for anyone whose skin is just assaulted this time of year by the dry air, wind and cold. (The entire Biossance line is built around squalane, a fruit-derived version of a natural substance produced by the sebaceous glands that accounts for 10% of your skin's oil.) There’s lactic acid in the Resurfacing Serum to gently smooth skin while it moisturizes and you get a full-sized pot of Squalane + Omega Repair cream to soothe winter-battered skin. There’s even a soft pink sleep mask so no uninvited light messes with your sleep!

These Martine bracelets from Suetables are the grown up version of a string friendship bracelet, but they’ll last longer as they are made with genuine semi-precious stones. At $36 each, (fashion pack must-have Carolina Bucci Forte Bead bracelets run close to eight hundred dollars a pop) these are well-priced enough that your friend can go back and buy more if she prefers the multiple bracelet look.

Crémant, a type of sparkling wine made around the champagne region of France, is, according to the booze snobs, subtler than champagne and softer than prosecco which has been the go-to now for a decade plus. Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Réserve Bailly Lapierre, $22.95, lcbo, with its beautiful orange label, is a favourite to drink straight or change up your Negroni Spagliato.

Who are those people running around with smooth, shiny, non-frizzy hair in the winter? They may be using both the gifts in this Kérastase Hydration Essentials kit, $87.75, Sephora.com. The overnight serum does its non-pillow-staining hair-nourishing magic while you sleep and the hands down, best smelling hair smoother there is, keeps your hair controlled for day. (Seriously, I wish the scent was a perfume/body lotion/hair mist.) Not only does it keep hair smooth, but it does it with that wonderful and let’s face it, very high end scent.

The Hugs & Kisses Classic Shea Butter duo, $24, loccitane.com is so much more than a tree ornament, It’s your best shot at keeping your hands from becoming all lobster-red and horribly dry and your lips from getting cracked and peeling off in painful little flakes this winter. L’Occitane’s beloved shea butter hand creme is protective and soothing yet magically lightweight. And when paired with L’Occitane Ultra Rich lip balm, which contains all the shea butter and beeswax you could need, you are now protected against everything winter can throw at you.

In my dreams, I go to a spa for a week with girlfriends and we spend our days having relaxing treatments, hiking and lolling by the pool, reading all the books that had accumulated on our nightstands back home.

To mimic a sensorial spa bath at some imaginary spa, Bathorium’s Amber Glow Mineral Clay Bath Soak, $48 for three ‘servings’, bathorium.com, is a soak-until-your-brain-melts wonder. It’s both relaxing and energizing with sea salt, red clay, papaya seed oil and a gentle floral scent to turn a bath into a detox spa treatment. Rinse off and then stagger to bed for an uninterrupted eight hours.

The model in the original photo was Aarons’ wife, Rita, and apparently she was quite cold and unhappy whilst posing for this shot.