Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake for Mom’s Birthday
Jan 30, 2010 Cakes, Chocolate, Coffee, Crusts, Desserts
The scene begins with Kathy, mom of 3 and wife to husband Tim, sitting in the courtroom for the defense. Her accuser is her daughter Molly who is just about to respond and argue that her mom, Kathy, is the best mom in the world. The defense has put up a good modest argument that Kathy couldn’t possibly be the world’s greatest mom with so many other great moms around. Kathy’s lawyer, the dashing and suave Pierce Brosnan, smiled seductively has he mentioned mothers such as Donna Reed, Mary Bailey, and Lucy Ricardo, who publicly displayed time after time loving and heartfelt moments with their children that were certainly worthy of “best mother” awards. “Kathy,” Pierce said, “has never been on TV, so she must not be as good as them!”
The courtroom hushed as Molly stood for the prosecution. She gently pushed back her chair and adjusted her glasses as she stepped around her desk to face the jury. The only sound in the room was her high heels lightly tapping on the ground as she slowly approached the crowd of 10.
“It’s become clear to me in the last 26 years that my mom, Kathy, who is sitting right over there in the white sweater, is the best mom in the entire world. Some thick headed and devilishly handsome acto… I mean lawyers… may disagree, but they have not grown up witnessing the acts of kindness and compassion that my siblings and I have had the privilege of experiencing. Whether at the end of this argument you agree with me or not, I will forever be convinced that Kathy has a heart that is bigger than any mother you can meet, and that her devotion to her family is unparalleled.
Simply Great Chocolate Cake
Jan 18, 2010 Cakes, Chocolate, Coffee, Desserts
I’ve never really been a fan of chocolate cake. I think that my not liking chocolate cake is one of the worst things about me. If I could change it I would. Birthday party after birthday party that I attend I’m continually disappointed when the cake is being cut and as the first slice pulls away, I see that chocolate cake is underneath all of the beautiful frosting. I realize that I’m definitely in the minority, and I would never ask anyone to change their birthday cake just because I don’t like chocolate, but still… it’s a little sad when that happens.
Luckily I have a birthday of my own and I get to request whatever I want on that day, but for the rest of the year I succumb to the majority’s tastes, and lately I’ve been making several chocolate cakes. I realize the importance of having a good chocolate cake recipe if I’m going to be baking things for other people on a regular basis. Not being a chocolate cake lover, it was hard to choose a simply great chocolate cake recipe. I searched through books and websites and every chocolate cake recipe I found seemed to have something strange about it. I wanted a simple, great chocolate cake. Finally I found this one by Gale Gand and it seemed to be well received at a friend’s birthday party last weekend. It’s a classic chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and I think the only way it could have been improved was if I had square cake pans, because square cake pans make cakes more fun.
One good thing about being the baker is that you get to bring whatever you want, so I also threw in some french vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting… just in case someone else like me didn’t want chocolate cake. Admittedly a selfish move, but I don’t think anyone really noticed.
Chocolate Layer Cake
by Gale Gand
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 3 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 1/3 cups sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups hot coffee
Frosting:
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
- 1/2 cup cooled coffee
- 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Cut 3 circles of waxed paper or parchment paper to fit the bottoms of the pans, then press them in.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and eggs and mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt and mix. Add 1/2 of the flour, then 1/2 of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), about 35 minutes. Halfway through the baking, quickly rotate the pans in the oven to ensure even baking, but otherwise try not to open the oven. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks and let cool completely before frosting.
Frosting: In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Drizzle in the melted chocolate and mix. Add the coffee and vanilla and mix. Add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Mix until well blended and fluffy. To frost the cake, use a spatula to cover 2 of the cake layers with frosting. Stack them together. Flip the third cake layer over and rest it on the top to create a very flat top for the cake. Frost on the sides and top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Tags: birthday cake, chocolate birthday cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cake with coffee, Gale gand chocolate cake, simple chocolate cake, sour cream chocolate cake
Classic and Inspiring Tortilla Soup
Jan 10, 2010 Chicken, Mexican, Soups
This week I made some inspiring Tortilla soup. We’ll get to that in a minute.
I started this blog because I love to write. Writing is something I’ve always loved to do, and over the years I’ve filled up countless journals and started a few different blogs. I’ve learned different things through each different blog. When I started my first blog at Mindsay I was writing for me. I wasn’t very good at writing for an audience at all, and I really wasn’t that creative. It was my first attempt at blogging when all I had done was journal my whole life. After about a year, a friend of mine designed a site for me and I got my own domain, and everything changed. Suddenly I was getting comments and all of my friends and family were reading and participating in the things I was writing about. We played games, I did silly things, wrote about my life, posted some fun pictures, and relationships grew because of my blog. I was able to keep in touch with friends who had moved away by sharing my life on my blog and letting them participate in it. It was great. Then, as we got older, the silliness seemed to get less flattering, or maybe I just started be get more serious, and the blog sort of fizzled out. I was sad about it for a while, and sort of mourned the loss of my 3 year blog about my life.
I knew the next blog I started should have a twist. I didn’t want to just write about my life anymore, I wanted to write about something so I could learn more about it. When you dedicate your writing to something you want to learn about you become a better writer and also better at the topic you choose. If I had to become good at something, I definitely wanted it to be cooking. I love to cook, and although I’ve never had any formal training I feel like I can hold my own in the kitchen. I thought that blogging about cooking might help me learn a few things, try some creative recipes I wouldn’t normally try, and inspire me to connect with a new group of people who love food and love to try new recipes.
I quickly realized that everyone loves food, and that this blog is something that most of my family and friends visit every now and then. I’m so glad that they do, because it really does make me feel connected with them when I can’t see them every day. I love looking at Google Analytics and seeing that 5 people in Chicago, 4 people in Dallas, 2 people in California, 1 person in Oregon, 3 people in Colorado, and 20 people in Oklahoma all visited my site yesterday. I can guess who some of those people are, and it makes me feel closer to them and like they know a little more about me. It’s really a wonderful feeling. Read the rest of this entry »
The End of a Decade
Jan 1, 2010 Uncategorized
The end of the first decade of the millennium has come and gone. It sounds so exciting when you put it that way. The end of a decade. I remember clearly New Year’s Eve of 2000 and all of the excitement and commotion it caused. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 10 years. So much can happen in 10 years.
I decided to go ahead and try to remember some of the highlights and share them. I started to write them out with brief explanations, but the post was going to be way too long. I decided to go with a list, and hopefully the items will be pretty self explanatory. I would be interested to see what other people would say they did if they had to write out the last 10 years in a list. It really wasn’t as easy as you might think. It’s hard because you think of the things you did that were good and that you were proud of, and also the things that hurt and you are ashamed of. The regular day-to-day fun and excitement seem to be the things we forget, so the list is left with some awesome things and some things that are pretty dreadful. I guess it’s the day-to-day excitement that makes the list not so overwhelming.
Here are some things that I’ve done since 2000 (kind of in chronological order)
I don’t expect anyone else to make a list, but I wish this was something everyone did so I could read about other people’s decades. I can’t wait to see what 2010-2020 brings. Happy New Year Everybody!
