"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.
