Makers Gonna Make - Whole Orange Bundt Cake

Friends!

Whole Orange Cake Recipe

It's been a hot minute since we last checked in and we're finally getting around to wishing you all a happy, healthy New Year!

I know.  It's a little late, but the flu hit us hard these last few weeks.  We stumbled into 2018.  Literally.  But not ones to get knocked down for too long, we're back at it, baking and making away.

Whole Orange Bundt Cake

Rumor has it, a nice ring-shaped pastry brings good luck to ring in the new year.  The ring symbolizes the year coming full circle -- the old year coming to an end and a new year ushering in.  Eternity.


Baking for good luck?!  Say no more.  We wanted in.

Armed with a bowl full of oranges straight from my aunt's tree, we needed a recipe with maximum punch.  Sunset magazine's 'whole orange' cake calls for the entire orange, rind and all!  Whoa.

You blend the oranges in a food processor (or ninja blender) for a quick minute and mix the chunks into the batter.  A little sweet and sour, perhaps???    

The results -- a delicious and moist cake with flecks of orange in it.  It's not too sweet and the hint of orange rind adds just the right amount of bitterness to balance out the frosting.

Hello, eternity.   

With everyone running on fumes lately, board games have made a comeback in our house and Monopoly fever has been running high.  

We've had a long-standing game sitting on our kitchen table for almost a week waiting for us to finish up.  You know what's in store for today.  

As we continue to wrangle over properties and wince at the happenstance throwing of the dice--praying not to land on our daughter's ever-growing monopoly of hotels, the truth about Monopoly's history haunts me.  

A woman invented an early version of Monopoly, The Landlord Game, yet for years never received credit!  Wait, what?!




In 1903, a leftwing feminist named Elizabeth Phillips patented the game we now know as Monopoly, but it was Charles Darrow who subsequently got the credit, and not to forget--all the royalties, for the game.


Check out the Guardian's, Secret History of Monopoly  and the New York Times', Monopoly's Inventor: The Progressive Who didn't Pass Go for more.




These sordid details are a stark reminder that it is time to rethink the narrative of what we're teaching our little ones.

For more on the book, click here

For starters, how about this? Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. We loved this book and reading about all the women inventors.  It ends with, 'Your Turn' and posits what you would do with an invention of your own.

So get thinking, girls and let's make things.

Girl's Rainbow Patch Dress - for more, click here 

This Mama Maker has been busy making and we've added several additions to the shop, like the rainbow patchwork dress above and the red bolero below. 

Little Red Bolero - for more, click here

The color of the year is ultraviolet and we've got you covered!  Check out this Valentine's Day tunic below.  

Purple & Pink Hearts Tunic Top - click here

Shades of Purple Tunic Top 

 This vintage style dress is a playtime favorite.  Classic, simple and purplicious.  

Vintage Style Purple Dress

More shades of purple are on the horizon this week!  Stay tuned for more, including a new style dress (think ruffles) coming soon.  

On the heels of yesterday's Women's March as thousands marched across the country in solidarity and in love, the words of actress, Olivia Munn continue sit with me.

"I'm asking all of you to be the team member for every woman in your life. Refrain from judgment, be the rock of understanding, be the well of empathy.  We all have the power to make sure our daughters, nieces, granddaughters, great-granddaughters grow up with the mentality that if you come for one of us, you come for all of us."

Yes!  Let's rise up and stand together!

Happy Sunday.  Peace.