I started today with a major case of the Mondays. Baby and I are both fighting off a cold so the weekend wasn’t much of a restful time and there just seems to be an extraordinarily overwhelming number of things  to do this week and to be honest, I was just in a bad mood from being sick.

Then, I thought about my sweet husband who must be suffering an even worse case of the Mondays. Even though it’s a holiday, he volunteered to work because we have some big dental bills from this month, AND he woke up with the baby a few times last night to help me get some sleep since I’m sick AND I kept him up even more with tossing and turning and sniffling and blowing my nose at all hours because I’m sick. He is one of the hardest working, caring, thoughtful people I know. So today’s baking project is a recipe that I saw and immediately thought of him. The reason? A friend pinned it on pinterest and described it as “the sort of cake a hobbit would have at home for breakfast”  (in actuality, the cake is called Black Milk Tea and Honey cake and you can find the recipe over on this blog).

Well, my husband and I are nothing if not a nerdy couple. We have watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy at least once a year together ever since we met. We often joke that he has hobbit-like tendencies (love of eating, being barefoot, and the simple things in life… and the awesome unexpected strength to be able to help save the world… even if most people don’t notice).

I have also had a small obsession with honey recently. Because this is a loaf cake, more of the sweetness comes from honey instead of sugar and I love that! Plus, I am a huge tea fiend so while I was making this with my husband in mind… I was pretty jazzed about it too.

This was a bit more time consuming than my previous projects (unless you count waiting for the bread to rise in week 1) but it was well worth it. We don’t have a spice mill, so to grind the tea I just washed out our coffee grinder really well before and after and used that instead. It also took a while to wait for the milk tea to cool down so I would recommend not preheating the oven until you are actually ready to mix the batter together.

The batter looked and smelled so good even before I put it in the oven, but once it started baking, I was pretty impatient for it to finish so I kept busy feeding my little guy lunch and doing the dishes from round one so I could dirty them all again when I made the honey whipped cream topping.

The loaf cake came out looking amazing, but I made myself wait until the whipped cream was ready to try it. It was my first time making whipped cream from scratch, although I’ve had homemade whipped cream before- I was shocked by how EASY it is and wondered why I would EVER buy cool whip or whipped cream in a can again… (even though I still probably will)

I probably should have let my husband try it first- after all I beked it for him and with him in mind, but since we won’t be seeing each other tonight with him working until right around the time my rehearsal begins, I figured he’d forgive me. I also figured I’d forgive myself for having dessert before lunch.

Then I remembered- it’s hobbit cake! This isn’t dessert before lunch, it’s second breakfast!

This was definitely a success and I want to make it again for a tea party or just a random lovely occasion. I also want to make whipped cream of various flavors ALL THE TIME. Even if it’s just to top my homemade mochas or hot chocolate…

Case of the Mondays? CURED.