Let them eat cake!

"Let them eat cake!"

Last month I was given the opportunity to bake a chocolate cake for my mother-in-law & sister-in-law's birthdays.  I have to say that I was very excited about this.  Outside of experimenting with substitutes and trying to "reinvent the wheel" I have not baked a "regular" dessert in a really long time and this was long over-due for me.  This chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting was delicious!  Aside from being a tad too dry (I believe I over cooked it just a touch), it was delectable. I found the recipe on my iPad app: How to cook Everything: by Mark Bittman.  *The website link does not have this recipe in it (and for fear of copyright issues I'm not going to post it here).

I have found this to be the best app I have on my iPad for recipes.  If there are any other really good ones that people are recommending, I would love to know about them.

However, The one thing I am incredibly proud of, is my "mad" frosting skills!  It turned out so pretty, and the frosting was probably my favorite part of the whole cake.  I'm not a huge frosting fan by nature, but this was really good.   I had a few ounces left over so I put it into the fridge and I shamelessly ate spoonfuls of it over the next few days, no I didn't share with my family I hid it away.  Yup, it was that good.

It's my son's birthday is this week and he's having a sleepover party to celebrate.  He's requested this cake.  I suppose I will "have" to bake this again for him <insert sarcastic groan here>. Seriously though, I am looking forward to making this again.

My recent chocolate cake experience has brought a new light onto my long-time love of baking.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed doing it.  I guess I became caught up in trying to substitute different types of fats and sugars and flours and I have had so many disappointments that I just didn't want to bake anymore.  It makes me sad to realize that.  I remember finding my step-mother's "Better Homes & Garden" cookbook and thumbing through it and landing on Peanut Butter Cookies.  Those were the only types of cookies I made when I was younger (mostly because those were the only ingredients I had on hand in the house to make). Regardless of the reason for making them (all the time), I loved them nonetheless.  I have a lot of fond memories baking.  It was nice to be reminded of how much I enjoyed it.  I'm definitely looking forward to making it again this weekend, just for the joy of baking.