I was up until the wee hours of the morning several times this past week. There was a wedding cake (yes! Another wedding cake!) in progress. I made 40 layers of cake, at least a dozen pounds of buttercream, and a whole tub of whipped chocolate ganache. Simple recipes, but time-consuming in execution, and 3am came and went.
As I fumbled spatulas and raised clouds of powdered sugar late one night during this marathon, my husband mused, "I wonder what sort of crazy kitchen mistakes get made because it's too late at night?"
I had just spattered raspberry icing all over the wall, but I still knew a good question for our readers when I heard it!
I tend to work on big projects late at night, when the night seems to offer limitless time. I turn on the radio and listen to late night folk-rock on NPR, and I brush up on world events with podcasts. I have listened to scads of This American Life episodes late at night. Ira Glass's voice has a Pavlovian effect on me; I feel like I should have a spatula or dishtowel in hand immediately.
I do find that the illusion of limitless time is just that -- an illusion. Good sense and quick reflexes are eroded as the night wears on, and I often make very stupid mistakes late at night.
And yet I tend to do more late-night cooking now, when the holidays loom, than any other time of year. What about you? All of us stay up late cooking from time to time. What do you cook late at night, and what sorts of crazy things have happened because you were too tired to read a recipe right?
Related: On Leaving the Dirty Dishes Until the Next Morning
(Image: From Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, published in 1970)
I almost always am up until midnight whenever I decide to bring treats in to work. This time I've decided to be pro-active. Last night I made 2 batches of cupcakes, and tonight I'm frosting them! I have a work party to go to tomorrow.
view UptownGirl's profile
When I suffered from insomnia, I'd often pass the time with baking, and I still find myself baking late at night during parties. I was up until 2 a.m. last night with holiday baking while my Hun took care of packing everything up. I don't know why, but I kinda love staying up late to bake. Last year, I stayed up all night before my holiday party, finishing a yule log. I can't blame my being tired, but toward the daylight hours, the log started to unroll itself, so I had to sorta prop it shut with a couple of forks while I buttercreamed it shut and shoved bunch of nuts in place to keep it from unrolling again. My problem was the exhaustion-induced hysterics I went into while laughing at myself. ;)
view OneWallKitchen's profile
I called my blog "Night Baking" for a reason! It's when the kids are asleep, and the house is quiet and cool. I don't usually stay up until all hours unless I'm baking something special, but if it's something quick, I'll get started lateish. Earlier this week, I started rolling out chilled cookie dough at 10:30 pm. It only took an hour start to finish!
Like you said, though, it's not really limitless time... I still have to get up in the morning no matter how late I was up!
view jamimess's profile
I am with uptowngirl--whenever I am baking things for the next day, I usually end up late baking. I can figure out the time to get a everything on the table at the same time for dinner, but when I don't have that clear time goal in mind--I always misjudge.
and the last batch of iced cupcakes when my eyes are blurry from needing to sleep are never as pretty as the first batch...
view lcg's profile
When I was in college, I used to bake late at night as part of my lets-put-off-doing-my-school-projects-as-long-as-possible problem...
My roommates knew that if I was making muffins at 2 am, it was really because I *should* be working on a paper or an art project...
view nani-susie's profile
That's so funny you posted about this, I get teased for baking late at night all the time! No real reason - I'm just a night hawk. Whenever my sis-in-law is over, she always says "It's ten o'clock - don't you think you should be baking something?" Plus it's yummy and fresh the next morning for breakfast!
view Sisero's profile