Ed's Designer Chocolate Birthday Cake

My husband's birthday is right around Thanksgiving.  I couldn't get him to stick a candle in a piece of pumpkin pie and call it a birthday pie.  Can't blame him.  So, many years ago I asked what he'd like his birthday treat to be and he said a chocolate cake.  I've been making the cake for years, but as soon as the kids got old enough I got them involved.  Up till now it's been mostly helping.  This year though my daughter took the project on.  She asked if she could make a designer gourmet cake.  After just a couple suggestions by me for instance it had to be made with things her father liked and steering her back to the fact that this had to be a chocolate cake she did well.

She got out pen and paper and drew out a sketch like she was building a skyscraper and it was her blueprint.  The cake would be chocolate with peanut butter chips baked in.  Then there would be 3 layers of peanut butter fudge.  The whole thing would be coated with a chocolate ganache frosting and pressed into that would be toffee bits.  My husband isn't a big dessert eater.  His main complaint when he has dessert is "it's too sweet."  I didn't know what he was going to think of this cake, but knowing his daughter made it I knew he would be a good sport.

Chocolate Ganache frosting with toffee bits pressed on.

He decided he wanted his cake a day early as to not have to eat a whole chocolate cake practically by himself.  This way he could share it with all who came for Thanksgiving.  This turned out to not be such a good idea for him or me.  Everyone wanted a piece of his beautiful cake.  No one wanted a piece of the pumpkin pie I had baked.
Everyone dove in so heartily into this cake that I barely got a picture before it was all gone!

As you can see there was only 1/4 of the cake left before I realized I wanted to get a picture.

Here you can see the peanut butter fudge layers and the peanut butter chips.

Here's the peanut butter fudge recipe.  My daughter did not chill the peanut butter fudge.  My daughter laid out a piece of plastic wrap and using a rolling pin rolled out some of the fudge.  Using the cake pan as a pattern we then carefully cut away the excess fudge making it the size of the cake round.  Being careful not to cut the plastic wrap.  Picking up the plastic wrap she flipped the fudge layer down on to cake layer.  Then peeled off the plastic wrap and repeated 2 more times.

For the frosting I've been using Mrs. Milman's recipe the last few years.  I hesitate to share it even though delicious, but I've had problems with it every year.  There is even a video where Mrs. Milman talks about how easy it is to make.  My problem is getting it firm enough to frost a cake.  After stirring it for hours in the fridge I ended up leaving the frosting in the fridge overnight.  I figured if it got too hard to spread we'd deal with it in the morning.  Turns out it was perfect spreading consistency.  So, before I call it quits on this recipe I'm going to try making it the day before instead of anxiously waiting for it to firm up the day of.

Lots of Baking No Pictures

I've made 3 Bundt cakes in the last three days and didn't take pictures of any of them.  I've discovered that bundt cakes are better when stirred together by hand rather than by the mixer.  Why?  I've found if I use a mixer it beats the cake batter so it's really full of air and rises really high.  Sounds like a good thing right.  No, not for a bundt.  Once released from the pan it falls quite a bit.  It still tastes great don't get me wrong it just doesn't look as nice.  The sides get quite wrinkly making them the Shar Pei of the cake world. I've found a bundt needs to be a little denser. Mixing by hand still gets a good rise just not as high. The cake keeps it's beautiful bundt shape which is the whole reason for using a bundt pan.

The only thing I'm going to try and remember to do the next time a make a bundt is to sift the cake mix.  I've spent my life avoiding the extra step of sifting, but cake mixes are pretty lumpy out of the box.  Lots of stirring using a wooden spoon and a whisk and there are still lumps.  I've found the small lumps do seem to bake up and are not noticeable.  I just think sifting the cake mix will save on stirring and whisk washing.

What cakes have a made this week... Bacardi's Rum cake an 80's favorite and still loved in the 2000's.  I also made Pampered Chefs Gingerbread cake a favorite of the 90's.  Then I made a beloved Chocolate Kahlua cake that was a favorite of my Grandma's and her coworkers.  When they had a potluck sign up they would just put her down for the Chocolate Kahlua cake.

Oddly, I never use Bacardi.  I just never have it on hand.  I use Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum.

Bacardi Rum Cake

1 cup chopped pecans

1 package Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 (3 3/4-oz.) package Jell-O vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup Wesson or Criso oil
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum (80 proof )
Glaze:
1 stick butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum ( 80 proof )

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and flour 10-inch tube or 12-cup Bundt pan.

Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan.

Mix all cake ingredients together.

Pour batter over nuts.

Bake 1 hour.

Cool; invert onto serving plate. Prick top with fork.

Spoon and brush glaze evenly over top and sides.

Glaze:
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.  Stir in rum.

Gingerbread Cake

Source: The Pampered Chef

1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1/3 cup molasses
3 eggs
1 tablespoon Pantry Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend (or 1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ea. nutmeg, allspice, cloves and ginger)
1 (18.25 ounce) box German chocolate cake mix

Brush Stoneware Fluted Pan with vegetable oil using Pastry Brush. In Classic Batter Bowl, whisk pumpkin, molasses, eggs and Spice Blend until smooth, using Stainless Steel Whisk. Add cake mix; mix with Mix 'N Scraper until thoroughly blended, about 1 minute.

Pour batter into pan, spreading evenly. Microwave on HIGH 14 minutes or until Cake Tester inserted near center comes out clean. (Cake will be slightly moist on top near center.) Let stand in microwave 10 minutes. If necessary, loosen cake from sides of pan invert onto serving plate.  Let cool 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

Yield: 12 servings

CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE

1 Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. chocolate or vanilla instant pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup Kahlua
1 (6 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and Kahlua. Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into well-greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour or until tests done.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool or not.

Kit Kat... I think I love you!

My son declared his love for Kit Kats many years ago.  So, I thought it would be a perfect theme for a young man's birthday treat.  Last year was the very popular Kit Kat cake.  Earlier this year I hadn't even begun to think of what was next until my son and I saw this blog entry.  My son marveled at it, but I thought in my head, "THAT'S IT! That is what I'm making my son for his next birthday."  This was back in March.  I bookmarked the entry and sent the link to my email.  September rolled around and when I went back to double check how it was made the links didn't work.  Minor panic set in, but it was still very clear in my mind what I needed and how I needed to do it.  With some more web searching I did find the entry and photos moved to another person's blog.

So, to begin with I knew exactly where I'd buy my supplies.  I went to Cost Plus World Market.  I knew they'd have the wafer cookies I needed.  They also have many chocolate choices.  I decided upon Ghirardelli chips.  They came in milk chocolate in a 2 pound bag.  I bought 4 - 2 pound bags of chocolate and 4 bags of the Quadratini Chocolate Wafer Cookies.

I also owned the perfect pan.  It had belonged to my mother-in-law.  I've kept it for over 25 years thinking I'd bake bread in it maybe an angel food cake.  Never thinking what it would finally end up using it for.

Once my son was off to school I had 6 hours to work my magic.  I had thrown the pan in the dish washer the night before.  I had also worked on the lettering the night before.  I printed out the Kit Kat logo twice in the size I wanted it.  One I used as a pattern to cut out craft foam I had in the craft room.  I wasn't really sure if this sort of thing should be used with food, but since I wasn't going to be stewing it and its an item kids craft with odds were in my favor there wouldn't be any potential poisoning.  You'll have to decide that for yourself.

I began melting the chocolate on very low heat.  The water in a double boiler is not supposed to boil.

As the chocolate chips melted I stacked the cookies in the pan to get an idea of whether or not I had bought enough.

I then decided to stick my foam letters down with a little chocolate.  I wasn't really sure how to stick them down.  I was afraid they might float.  I also didn't want chocolate to ooze beneath them if I used some sort of bulky tape adhesive.  Notice how the letters are in the pan.  One can not read them.  This is so you CAN read them on the finished product.  To keep me from messing this one up I pictured it as a mirror image of the original print.  Having the extra printed out copy of the logo was a big help in keeping me on track with this very important detail.

I poured about a 1 inch layer of melted chocolate in the bottom of pan.  I was just winging it.  I wanted it to be sturdy, but leave room for the cookie center.

After chocolate had set (in the refrigerator) I began placing the cookies.

Here's where I made my only mini mistake.  I didn't know it until the end when the Kit Kat was sliced.  The chocolate encased the cookies on the outside holding them in place, but the cookies on the inside were glued to nothing and fell out of the slice.  Don't get me wrong NO ONE said, "I don't want a slice of the Kit Kat, because the middle cookies are falling out."  It was more of an aesthetic thing for me the perfectionist.  If there is a next time glue cookies together with a dot of chocolate.  I'd melt chocolate in a baggie in the microwave.  Cut small corner of baggie.  Use the hole to squeeze dot of chocolate on cookies as placed in pan.  This would go the fastest.  I say dot of chocolate, because this is so rich and chocolately a lot more chocolate in the middle isn't necessary.  Plus you don't want a lot of chocolate getting in the way of the cookies.

Next step was to melt more and more chocolate until the cookies are covered.  It took 7 pounds of chocolate to cover mine.

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to get the Kit Kat out of the pan.  My next fear would be the letters floated up and mixed in with the chocolate.  I waited until my son went to school the next day and figured I'd have about 5 hours to figure out how to get it out of the pan if it didn't pop right out.  I also figured I'd have time to carve a Kit Kat on the top if my lettering didn't work out.  Thank my luck stars it popped right out.  I was so excited to see it out of the pan.  The lettering right where I wanted it.

I used an x-acto knife to lightly carve the edges of the craft foam to make sure they didn't lift away any of the chocolate as I peeled them out.  Except for a few bubbles they came out perfectly and easily.  I was so pleased it came out so well.

I wondered if my son would have remembered our looking at the Kit Kat online and would be expecting this.  He had forgotten all about it.  He was speechless!

Saturday when my son had his friends over I asked him to come get me when he unveiled the Kit Kat.  Of course I had gone to run a quick errand when they decided they needed a treat.  I came home to Kit Kat mayhem.

So, I just went and asked them, "So, what did you guys think about the Kit Kat?"  Like my son their eyes all got as wide as saucers as they excitedly told me how cool it was.  The one young lady at the party exclaim, "You're my hero!  Kit Kats are my favorite."

The Famous Kit Kat Cake

Believe it or not there is a cake under all that candy. Erik's favorite candy is Kit Kats. I asked what he wanted for his birthday treat and he said surprise me. He's been teasing me all summer to make him a Kit Kat salad. So, I did a search and found this Kit Kat Cake. It was so adorable I knew I had to make one for Erik.

I baked a Devil's Food cake in 2 eight inch cake pans. Then I made the chocolate frosting in the below recipe. Once cake was cooled I sliced the hump off one layer and placed it on my plate. I put a layer of frosting on it. Then I placed the 2nd layer hump up on top of first layer. I thought the hump would help with the shaping of the M&M top. I then frosted the whole cake. Next I began unwrapping and breaking the Kit Kats into 2 piece sections. Someone on the internet suggested putting the Kit Kats in the freezer for cleaner breaks and less finger prints on the candy. I think this would be a good thing to do. Well, for me next time. I bought 2_6 packs of regular sized Kit Kats. Had to open 11 of the packs due to some breakage in the package. I didn't break any they came that way. Normally not a problem as they'd be very tasty. They just weren't pretty.

After placing all Kit Kats on the cake I dipped into my scrapbook stash for a piece of ribbon. I tied a ribbon on which snugged up the Kit Kats, but they didn't seem like they'd have fallen off. Maybe the M&M might force them off. So, I wouldn't skip the ribbon. After ribbon was on I took my 19 oz bag of M&Ms and starting pouring them on. They were sliding to the Kit Kat edge, so I started to press them on all over. Then poured more M&Ms on to hide the frosting. It took about 2/3s of the bag.

I started baking the cake at 7am. Took a shower while it baked. Pulled it out to cool while I went to store for cake decorating supplies and dinner fixings. Made frosting, decorated cake and was done by 10am.

Fast and gorgeous cake. When Erik saw the cake his face just lit up with a giant smile. He started laughing and then said, "You sure did surprise me. That cake is GREAT!"

Erik was VERY pleased with the cake I surprised him with.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes). Frosts about 16 cupcakes

Lynne's Note: I melted chocolate in microwave. This frosting was very soft great for a cupcake. I wanted to frost a cake and added more powdered sugar to make frosting a bit stiffer. DELICIOUS

Chocolate Cherry Birthday Cake Turns 16.... errrr 10?

We're going on our 10th anniversary of the Chocolate Cherry birthday cake.  Ten years ago my little girl was turning 6.  A few weeks prior to their birthdays I ask both my kids what kind of cake they want for their birthdays.  This "what kind" usually refers to the shape.  It also helps with the theme of the party.  I love decorating cakes and have had a great time making some pretty creative cakes over the years.  One year for my daughter's 6th birthday she gave me a flavor.  She said, "I want a chocolate cake with cherries and I want to decorate it myself."

I was a bit in shock and thought to myself, "WHAT?! I don't get to decorate the cake."  Up til then I had decorated about 14 kid birthday cakes between the 2 kids.  A few of the cakes I had made were a Pokeman ball, gigantic hamburger, a panda bear , large strawberries, and a gumball machine.  Now she was grabbing the reins of my cake decorating juggernaut and I wasn't very happy about it.  After all, these gorgeous and delicious cakes were ALL ABOUT ME...ME...ME!  OK I needed to step back and remember the birthday cakes were made for the person who's birthday it was.  A cooler head prevailed and if they wanted to put MORE than their 2 cents in on it's flavor and design I need to get off my high horse.  I needed to remember the day is about them.  *hanging my head in minor shame*

So, I shook it off and went on a hunt for a Chocolate Cherry cake recipe.  I found the below recipe and boy it was sure wonderful.  We've used it every year.  The moist chocolaty cherry cake is topped with a rich fudgy frosting.  There is never any leftover birthday cake when this cake is made.

Chocolate Fudge Cherry Cake
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (your favorite)
1 can cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional) (It's not really optional you must use it.)

Frosting:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
6 oz package of semisweet chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, cherry pie filling, eggs, and flavoring by hand. Pour batter into greased and floured 13x9x2-inch pan and bake at 350° about 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. (Bundt shaped pan works great just takes a little longer to bake.)

For frosting, place sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Pour over warm cake.

Lynne's Note:  If using a bundt shaped cake I place it on a wire rack over a plate to catch excess frosting.  Pour frosting over cake.  Excess frosting cake be saved and used later for whatever you want.  This way you don't end up with a huge puddle of frosting on your cake plate.  Then I use 2 spatulas to move cake to a clean platter.  This is a very delicate cake.  Ask for help moving it if need be.  If it breaks don't worry you have excess frosting to cover the break.  I've never had any exclaim, "I'M NOT EATING THAT CAKE IT'S BROKEN!"

That first year my daughter decorated her cake with Skittles and Lego figures.  I tried to talk her out of Skittles back then and tried to again this year.  Suggesting M&M's might be more suiting.  She confidently stated then and now, "No, I like Skittles and I think the taste great."  After that first year the family knows they are Skittles and most flick them to the side.  The first year was hilarious watching people bite into a fruity candy thinking it was an M&M.  Then watching some politely spit them into a napkin.

Decorated Cake In A Hurry

Dear Hubby was bragging about my delicious cakes at work and his supervisor asked him if I would make a cake to celebrate PeriAnestheisa Nurse Week.  He comes home all excited and tells me the news.  I say, "Make a cake for peri whosit whatsit week?!"  He excitedly tells me that's what he and his fellow coworkers are called.  I know he works in Same Day Surgery and I know he's an RN, but I didn't know he was a PeriAnestheisa Nurse.  So, I quiz him on what kinds of things they do trying to get a feel for how I should decorate this cake.  I really needed to talk to a woman, because after talking to him I really had no creative ideas for this cake.

I was so uninspired by this cake that I completely forgot I was supposed to make until the day before.  I still had no ideas on how to decorate it.  I thought though that I better get it baked and frosted at the very least and worry about decorating it then.  I did my ususal half yellow and half chocolate.  It covers all bases and still to this day everyone is amazed there are 2 flavors.  It's really not amazing at all.  I take 2 cake mixes (I prefer Duncan Hines).  I mix them both up doing vanilla first, so I don't have to wash the bowl and beater between mixing.  I put the vanilla in a separate bowl.  Then mix the chocolate cake mix.  I then pour both cake mixes at the same time in my prepared cake pan.  I try to make sure they go to the half way line and empty as much as will pour out on it's own.  I then scrape each bowl to their respective sides and bake.

While cake cools I mix up the frosting.  I use the Wilton Buttercream recipe except I double the shortening and don't use butter.  I also in addition to the vanilla extract I also add one teaspoon of Wilton's Butter flavored extract.  This frosting smells so wonderful anyone in the house will start circling your kitchen again, because you've already shooed them out after the cake came out of the oven.

I took a Wilton's Cake Decorating class at my local craft store about 15 years ago and I think the one technique that I learned and still impresses me the most was this large decorating tube.  This one tube probably shaved 1 to 2 hours off my decorating time.  I know longer do a crumb coat.  That step always frustrated me.  Plus I'd have to frost the whole cake and then frost it again.  Now I do it once.

Wilton had use over lap the strips of frosting with the large tube, but personal preference for a tad less frosting makes me space them out a bit.  Above I've filled the cake.  I slice the big sheet cake in half length wise using another handy dandy Wilton tool called the cake levelor.  I used it to level the cake and slice it in half for the filling.  How do I get the top off to fill the cake without breaking it in half.  I use the pan I baked it in.  I slide it on to the bottom of the cake pan.  Then to put it back on I line edges up and slide the cake pan out from under the cake.  It's more or less a controlled fall.  One can still ease it into to place if it falls slightly off kilter.  One thing I must stress is if your cake cracks or breaks frosting is your friend.  Frost covers a multitude of sins.  I've never had anyone say with alarm, "I'm not eating this cake it has a crack in it!"

As you can see the tube frosts a whole side of the cake in a couple seconds.

Then I frost the whole cake.  One doesn't have to be perfect as you will be running a spatula or a plain ole butter knife over the top of the frosting to make sure it's adhered to the cake and smoothed out as best you can.

Again you don't have to smooth it out perfectly either.  After it's smoothed as best as I can get it with a spatula I let it sit and dry for a few minutes.  Then I take a clean paper towel to it.  I lay the paper towel on the cake.  I hold the towel by the edge with my left hand and gently rub the cake threw the paper towel.  Then I lift the towel up.  If it sticks to the cake let it dry a bit longer.  You will reach a stage where the paper towel will not stick.  I proceed to rub the whole cake with the paper towel.  It's amazing how you can smooth and even mold the frosting.  Making it smooth and even giving it the pattern of the paper towel. 

This is another thing people are amazed with... "How did you get the cake so smooth and with that interesting pattern."  My mom used a clean "for cake only" sponge.  That made a nice texture too.

Now the cake was frosted and I had to get creative.  This is usually my favorite part, but since I had no real idea how to decorate it for this occasion I just winged it.  I knew the cake would be extra tasty and they'd forgive my lack of creativity.  One thing my husband kept stressing was how much time the spent on the telephone talking to patient families, doctors and setting up appointments.  So, I knew I'd put a telephone on it.  While mixing the color for the phone I realized it started out a bandaide color.  So, I asked DH do you guys ever use bandaides.  Yes, was the answer.  So, I drew on a couple bandaides before I tweaked the frosting color to brown.  My daughter and I decided blue should be the color of the words.  I wanted to get them on next to make sure I had room for all that writing.  That's when I noticed the medicine syringe had blue writing on it that match my blue frosting perfectly. That is another thing my husband said they did a lot of. Administering medicine by mouth. So, I put a cute little syringe on it.  At this point I felt the decorating balanced out and I was done.  I didn't feel very creative, but I knew know one would throw it away.

DH told me he took the cake in and hid it.  BUT as I mentioned above even wrapped up my frosting smells incredibly good.  The hunt was on.  People were calling DH asking where the cake was, because they could smell it and wanted a piece.  DH was saving it for the boss thinking she should be the one to bring it out and slice it.  DH said had he not hid the cake by the time the boss got in it would have been sliced up.  His boss loved it.  Everyone who initially asked for a small piece came back for seconds.

And BTW this cake took me about 4 hours from baking to delivery.  I wasn't working every minute as things needed to cool and or dry.  Some might pop out to the store for a cake, but I like spending the time and having a delicious cake.

Leftover Cheesecake....oh bummer

There is an ice cream parlor in Sacramento that sells frozen chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick. It is so good that while you're eating it a wall comes up and blocks out all the troubles of the world. So, eat it slowly.

The ice cream parlor is not close to us, so a few years ago I thought I'd try making my own with "leftover cheesecake." Is that an oxymoron? I only say that, because we don't normally have leftover cheesecake. It is VERY difficult to hide a few pieces to dip in chocolate.

With some "leftover cheesecake" my first experiment was with straight melted semi sweet chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong it was good... VERY GOOD... but one did feel like they were going to go into a diabetic coma while eating it. Like a moth to a flame we couldn't stop eating it. A wall comes up and also blocks out all your common sense to protect yourself from a stomachache.

When my brain turned back on my first thought was the cheesecake slice was too big and the chocolate too thick. So, second try my son cut the slices thinner and applied the melted chocolate chips trying to scrap some of the chocolate off. Again good... VERY GOOD, but still was a bit overwhelming, but one couldn't stop eating it.

This time I decided to try a Magic Shell recipe we use for ice cream. We started making our own Magic Shell, because it's expensive and you don't get very much in a bottle. Who wants a Magic Drizzle... we want a SHELL. Since I get chocolate chips at Costco I found a recipe that is easy to make and much more in one's budget.

Homemade Magic Shell

8 servings
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup corn oil

2 servings
1 1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon corn oil

Microwave until all is melted. Stir together and pour over ice cream.

Here are all the homemade magic shell ingredients in a double boiler. I use canola oil as I never have corn oil around. I'm also using a double boiler rather than the microwave as I wanted the chocolate to stay liquid as I coated each cheesecake slice.

Long before I start the chocolate process I should point out that I put a stick in each slice and put them in the freezer overnight. When frozen they don't fall a part or fall off the stick as you coat them in chocolate. I happen to have these 8" Wilton cookie treat sticks on hand. Wooden sticks would probably be cheaper and would work equally well if you have them on hand.

Using a double boiler you want water in the lower pan to simmer slightly and not touch the bottom of double boiler. If you don't have Pampered Chef's fancy dancy double boiler one could use a heat resistant bowl that sits on top of a pan. I did that for many years.

Stir until everything is melted and has a creamy consistency.

I began spooning the chocolate over the frozen cheesecake. If you dip it won't fit all the way in and the chocolate will start melting the cheesecake and it starts to fall a part. Spooning went quickly.

Once coated I found that I needed to do a minor tap on the side of the double boiler to get some extra dips off. Also lightly scrap the bottom of the cheesecake on the edge of the double boiler; otherwise, a large pool of unattractive chocolate will form on bottom. Is that another oxymoron "unattractive chocolate?"

I set each chocolate coated cheesecake on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

See no pool of "unattractive chocolate" at bottom of dipped piece.

Into the freezer they go. I do this in a 2 day process *looking over both shoulders* just so there are a few days of NOT eating cheesecake in this house. I try and get more fruits and vegetables into the family before next cheesecake frenzy. This could easily be done in a day. Freeze in morning, dip in afternoon, eat at night.

Erik taste testing new coating... he did pick the first one with the big pool of "unattractive chocolate." Don't have to worry about those pieces going to waste with chocolate lovers around.

"Erik is it too thin?"

"No mom it's good." Later he did say it could be a bit more chocolaty. We'll try using half the butter and oil when we continue our experiment in making the world a better place with homemade chocolate covered frozen cheesecake.

Maya Angelou's Caramel Cake

I recently read Maya Angelou's "hallelujah! the welcome table." It's a recipe book and yes I did "read" it. I really loved how she had stories that went with each recipe. Rich stories talking about the memories of these foods and how they fit into her life and the recipes followed. The recipes almost seemed secondary in this book to the stories. I think one could read this book and be satisfied without cooking a thing. Although after reading the stories I dare you not to want to make something from the book. Martha Stewart had Ms. Angelou on her show making the Caramel cake from this recipe book. They talked about how great it was and I remembered the story from the book. I wanted to make it.


It's really 3 recipes... caramel syrup, caramel cake and then the caramel frosting.


Starting with the first recipe I found out my inattentiveness and inexperience with making caramel syrup bit me in the butt... twice. An easy technique, but I found a tip that will make you successful every time. When the syrup gets a little bit of color watch it like a hawk. It takes a long time to get to the "little bit of color" stage, BUT it goes from little bit of color to golden amber in a flash. The whole thing probably on takes about 15-20 minutes. Then you have a lovely cup of caramel syrup not a pan of burnt sugar. Maya and Martha claimed the cake wouldn't be the same without it. It didn't seem like the caramel I'm familiar with and smelled similar to that of molasses. Replacing it with molasses though would be too strong.


Next the cake... an easy recipe to follow and fit into the 2 eight inch pans perfectly. It took longer than the 25 minutes called for in baking... more like 35 to 40 for me and my oven. I used the convection feature too, which is supposed to shorten the time. Just set timer for 25 minutes and keep checking every 5 minutes for doneness.


The frosting had another technique I haven't done... "melting butter until it's nut brown." It's done over medium high heat. It foamed, it bubbled, stirring it down helped with the foaming, but not much. I poured it out once thinking I was done, but the butter was more of an amber color. Definitely not nut brown. I put it back in the pan and it quickly got to the nut brown color like the caramel syrup. It didn't smell very good and I wondered if I had browned it a bit too much. I tasted it and it wasn't burnt like my caramel syrup mishaps, so I kept it. I was hoping the sugar, cream, and vanilla would make it taste great. They did indeed make it taste great!


We each had a slice for dessert. I cut a quarter of it into 3 slices. This gave us each a generous slice. The cake was so rich and sweet I think I'll cut a quarter of the cake into 4 slices next time. This recipe is a bit more trouble than some with it's special techniques, but it's definitely a keeper.