Beet Cake and Boobies

As you may or may not be aware, October is breast cancer awareness month. Let’s take the opportunity to talk about breast health.

Start a conversation with your friends about it.

Let’s make boobies the topic of everyone’s conversation this month.

The Breast Cancer Society of Canada has a great website to check out in order to donate, participate, educate, and celebrate!

I know that Sue and I were raised in a household where we didn’t talk about “female issues”. We learned our facts from school when it came to sex, periods, bras, and breast health. Until I hit my late 20’s I never really talked about any of those things, even with friends, because it was “embarrassing”.

Well, now that I am a *cough cough*little older I understand the importance of not avoiding the issues. I work in a medical clinic and often see the consequences of people not getting checked out because they are embarrassed to show their doctor. Something that can be treated in the early stages could be life threatening if not investigated.

Let me just say this – your doctor sees plenty of breasts.

PLENTY.

And vaginas.

LOTS. Every day/week/month.

DO NOT be afraid of getting yours looked at.

Unless you have a third breast growing between the normal two.... you will not have anything they haven’t seen before. And, if they haven’t seen it before, it probably needs to be looked at.

If you are unsure if it is normal or not, ASK!! That is what they are there for.

Here are our bras from 2010! Sue is wearing the "Grope Your Wife, You Might Save her Life" 2nd place winner. I am wearing the "Don't Duck Your Mammogram" 3rd place bra. (It's little stuffed ducks peeking out from the reeds - in case you can't tell from the photo!)

 In relationship with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month this year is the second annual “Bras for the Cause” contest run by one of Lillooet’s local merchants. This is a really fun way to raise money for a great cause! Even those of us who can't sew can get creative with bra making using tape, staples, glue guns, and whatever else we can find.

Last year I placed third with my “Don’t Duck Your Mammogram” themed bra, and shared second place with my sister (Orra) and I’s collaboration bra “Grope your Wife You Might Save Her Life” . Sue entered a bra made of Duct tape with the theme “Duct Tape Can’t Fix Everything”. Kenzie did a “Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder” with pebbles glued all over it. Our friend, Chris, did a “Save the Hooters” bra with bright pink feathers. And lastly, we also did a black sports bra with stop signs on it saying “Together We Can Stop Breast Cancer”. (See photo above)

Many of the ideas from last year were so creative and very inspiring.

This year I didn’t have as much time to prepare as I would have liked so I went with a simpler, but still really cool, “Think Pink” bra. (See photo below) (P.S. – There is still time to vote, until the end of October, just go to the Lillooet Flower & Gifts Shop and vote!)

My black electrical tape, "Think Pink" bra. My entry for 2011!

Sue did a funky “Zee-bra” that she painted to look like a zebra. (Go vote for Sue too!) Our friend, Chris, did a “Mammograms are a Lifesaver” bra this year that is covered in lifesavers.(Vote!) The ladies at the Medical Clinic I work at came up with “The Thing-a-ma-boob” bra that has different sized beads sown on it representing the different size lumps that can be found during various stages of breast investigations. You can vote for that one too!

 

Lastly, I wanted to add this recipe for Beet Cake.

What does Beet Cake have to do with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, You ask?

Well, the Beantown Baker blog is running a contest called The Power of Pink to promote breast cancer awareness. You just have to make something pink to enter. (See HERE for all the details)

 

 

This Beet Cake is pretty pink. The batter, before cooking, was AMAZINGLY pink but it lost most of its color during cooking. The beets still look pretty and the beet tinted icing is very, girly pink. (Not to mention the cake tastes yummy!)

This is the first time Sue and I are entering another bloggers cooking contest so we are pretty excited to participate.

My fancy schmancy tootsie roll decorations! We had this cake for (Canadian) Thanksgiving :)

 Beet Cake with Pink Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs, separated

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 heaping cup of shredded beets

1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups flour

pinch sea salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

 

Frosting

2 tsp shredded beets

1 Tbsp hot water

3 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 8oz bricks cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp ruby red grapefruit zest

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat oil and sugars in a large bowl, then beat in egg yolks and buttermilk.

Fold in shredded beets and pecans.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and spices. Stir into oil mixture.

Using a clean bowl and beaters, beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Fold them into the batter in 3 stages.

 

See how pink it is when you are folding in the egg whites!

 

Spray 3, 8 inch cake pans with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly amongst the pans.

Bake in 350 oven for about 20 - 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. (Watch your time - you don't want to overbake this.)

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for 5 - 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cake. Invert cake pan onto wire rack to remove cake from pan. Let finish cooling.

 

For frosting: Place the 2 tsp of beets and 1 Tbsp hot water into a covered dish and let steep in fridge while making icing. This liquid is what you will use to color your icing.

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Gradually add in icing sugar, then vanilla, and grapefruit zest until smooth. Use as much of the colored beet water as you need to get a light pink color. You may need to add a bit more icing sugar to get the right consistency.

 

Mmm...frosting!

 

When the cake is completely cooled you can frost your layers.

 

There you have it. Get your breasts checked. Eat pink cake. Enjoy Life.