I’ve raved about our new flat quite a bit already, but I haven’t told you much about our new neighborhood.
When we moved to Budapest last January, we lived in a pretty primo location right by the river and the Parliament building. In June, I quit my old job and got a new one, which meant that we had to move to a new place and a new area of the city.
I had no love for our tiny, barely functional flat, but I was disappointed to leave the ‘hood. I mean, my commute included walking by this every day!
(Not to mention it was close to the river, great restaurants, and well-centered in the city.)
While I immediately loved our new flat, I wasn’t sure about our new neighborhood at first. However, now that I know the transit links, have explored the area more, and have gotten spoiled with my 10-minute walk to work, I’m quite happy here!
The best part about the area is that we are very close to Budapest’s City Park, or Varosliget. This park is kind of equivalent to New York’s Central Park–it has a zoo, famous baths, an ice-skating ring in winter, and…a castle!
The first time I found it was a surprise–I had no idea it was there–but now I visit it often, because it’s fall and I need frequent park walks, and it also happens to hold almost weekly festivals. This weekend was the Kürtőskalács, or chimney cake, festival (known as trdelník in CZ!).
After a walk with some friends to get us some cakes, I came home and made another cake for this week’s Bake Off Bake Along, hosted by Amanda and Ala!
That’s right–this week I finally attempted the showstopper, which is always the biggest and most elaborate of the three bake choices.
While I was technically supposed to make a three-layer cake, I could only manage two…and with just two of us, I think three would have been a bit insane.
It also seemed like a good time to incorporate some fall flavors. You know where I’m going with this…pumpkin.
I attempted to make this Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake, from Amanda herself, but used a cinnamon buttercream, loosely based off of this recipe, to pipe roses.
While I’m not sure cinnamon-colored roses are exactly the best choice, and my piping leaves a bit to be desired, this cake is AMAZING. While I’m one of those people who think cake without frosting is kind of a waste of time, even I don’t even think this cake needs any frosting–it’s that good! Not that the cinnamon buttercream was a hardship to eat.
I’m so happy I finally had a good bake–pastry week and batter week weren’t exactly successful so I’ve been feeling more anxious about baking than I ever thought possible. I even caught myself starting into the oven for way too long just like they do on the show…
I’m in good company.
Next week–desserts! And week 7 already!