Shoofly Cake

Many, many years ago (15 maybe?) Tom and I took a trip from Ontario to Nova Scotia, dipping down through the northern US on our way. One night we stayed at a bed and breakfast in southern Vermont that was owned by a couple who had Pennsylvania Dutch relations in their family. The lady of the house served shoofly pie at breakfast, and Tom immediately fell in love (with the pie...he was already in love with me. 😊)

Neither one of us had even heard of it before so we had no idea that this shoofly pie was different than most. When we got home Tom asked his mom to make one for him and it was definitely not the same. The standard shoofly pie is like a sugar pie or pecan pie, dense and sweet, but made with molasses instead of corn or maple syrup. The one we were served at the B&B was more like a cake - high and fluffy with a crumble on top.

Ever since then I've been trying to replicate that elusive formula without much to go on. And this past weekend, I think I did it. I combined the standard elements of the pie - molasses, baking soda, and boiling water - with that of a yellow cake batter.

I didn't tell Tom what I was making as I wanted to see if I'd even come close. He took a bite, I asked him what it was, and he immediately knew it was shoofly pie. Winner, Winner!

Since it turned out so well, I'm feeling confident enough to share it with you, too.

What I really liked about this, besides how moist it was, was that the molasses flavour wasn't overpowering - and the cake wasn't too sweet. Next time I might add just a little bit more sugar and some butter to the topping so that it gets crispy in the oven.

Last night we had some more with vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Perfect!

Installing New Windows

There are more renovation goings-on at the Turtles and Tails compound this week. This time we're all about windows.

Most of our windows are original to the house (1988-ish) and are in bad need of replacement. The main picture window in the living room is a double-paned thermal, but over time the seal has deteriorated and there were always condensation or streaks visible. No matter how much you cleaned it, it still looked dirty. I don't have a closeup photo of the before, but our windows at my office have the same problem:

When we were at the Newmarket Home Show this spring we spoke with a local company - Lifestyle Oasis - that had some window styles we liked. We requested a quote and it was only slightly more expensive than having the window replaced by the big box store, and we were able to customize it a bit.

Because our picture window opening is so large, having a single pane with no sliders at the bottom would have been considered a commercial window and would have cost much, much more. One pane had been our original choice, but we wisely went the economical route and chose the same style as before. The only difference is that there are only three panes at the bottom instead of four, with no (unnecessary) split in the middle.

I was at work when the windows were installed so Tom documented the installation for me, like the good blogger husband that he is.

The work went really quickly - I think they were finished both windows by mid-afternoon. The picture window included full framing - you may remember my complaints about the window framing and trim work when we reframed the master bedroom window. All of the upstairs windows have the same style stool - angled, uneven, and badly painted.

The picture window stool is now flat, all one level, and factory finished.

They even installed new casing on the inside and caulked all of the seams. (Love these guys!)

We also had them install the basement window that is directly below the main one. Tom was going to do it himself, but after installing the rain grate and re-doing the brickwork on the front walkway, he determined that he probably didn't have the time or energy and to just leave it to the professionals. He did rebuild the frame though.

The basement window jamb/stool is unfinished on the inside as we are still framing the walls at that end, but it is now completely sealed - no more leaks when it rains! The window has three panes with two sliders - that lift and pivot inwards when you need to clean them (the upstairs sliders pivot as well).

Last summer Tom installed the other two front basement windows as they were smaller and an easy fix. These ones also hadn't been insulated/sealed properly (you could see through to the outside between the frame and the wall!) so again we had leaks when it rained.

Before installing the new windows he built plywood "boxes" around them that are equal in depth to the thickness of the wall plus the framing. That way, once the room is drywalled and painted, the window openings will be all ready to trim out.

Having these beautiful new windows has really made a difference in our attitude towards the house. When we bought it we were excited about tackling a fixer-upper, but after a while you start to get bogged down mentally with the amount of work that still needs to be done. Especially when it's something (like the foggy windows) that you feel like everyone notices. It's uplifting to take a big step forward in having a house you are proud to show off.