my new apron! (and a buttermilk chocolate pound cake with a coffee glaze)

so after a few days, and a whole day of sewing, i finished my apron! i went over to jamie's after church and she helped me with a whole lot (we only had to rip out the seams twice!). after getting most of it done, we pinned it and i brought it home to finish up. while nathan was doing the dishes for us, i finished it up. and here's the result!

pretty cute, huh? i felt so successful- i'm going to add pockets later, but for now, i think it was pretty good!

here's a pic of it laid out.

of course, making an apron made me want to wear an apron. which meant, i needed something to bake! i had been invited to dinner tomorrow night, so i thought a dessert would be a nice addition. i didnt want to have to go to the grocery store, so i only could work with what i had in the fridge. one thing i was trying to get rid of was some leftover buttermilk from some scones i made this morning for breakfast. so i started researching on google for some ideas.  i came across this recipe and thought it would be great. now, the one thing i did different was in terms of the butter. i only had one stick (1/2 cup) and i needed 1 cup, so i used 1/2 cup oil as well. also, i added chocolate chips in (as well as the melted chocolate).   

my workstation :)

this was also a great opportunity to try out my new spatula, a gift from mom for my birthday. isnt it just the cutest thing ever? its sparkly & pink!

mixing it up

a new apron (especially one that i made!) makes everything better

yummy yummy yummy!

here's the recipe i used with my modifications:

Ingredients:

6 ounces (⅞ cup) semi sweet chocolate chips (plus the rest of the bag of chips)

½ cup boiling water

1 cup butter (I used 1stick butter, ½ cup oil)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large Bundt pan.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, oil, and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Then beat in vanilla and melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture alternately with buttermilk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the rest of the chips when done.

Pour batter into tube pan and bake for up to 90 minutes, checking after 60 minutes with a knife or toothpick inserted in the center. Remove from the oven when tester comes out clean.

then, i added a coffee glaze:

i kind of made this up. i dissolved instant coffee into milk, and then mixed that into powdered sugar. i didnt measure.

i'll put up a picture of that tomorrow. 

thank jamie for all your help!