Madeleine Magic!

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Remembrance of Things Past

Independence

 

 

I have a few people in my orbit kicking cancer's ass, at various levels of independence from their cancer.  I am seeing one of them today so I asked what her favorite dessert was.  Carrot cake.  I made my tried and true recipe - Best Carrot Cake Ever -- but the purist version, sans chocolat!

 

I doubled the frosting recipe, which I highly recommend.  This allows you to make the frosting between the three layers a proper thickness AND allows you to do one thin layer of frosting, throw it in the fridge to set and then do a nice second layer that looks prettier and without the marring of moist cake crumbs.  This is the moistest cake of all time because it is drenched in a buttermilk glaze before frosting.  That makes it sound super-sweet but it's not.  It's just pure deliciousness.

 

I found these cookies at Trader Joe's the other day.  They have pop rocks on top of the chocolate so it's like eating fireworks: a must add! 

 

 

 

I added food coloring to the leftover frosting:

 



Then I painted the cookies and top of the cake with a watercolor brush.  So, no, this isn't mustard and ketchup -- it's color-zapped cream cheese frosting:

 

 

Happy Independence Day to all - whatever independence you may be celebrating today.  May it be colorful, love-filled, and may you feel kick ass independent in all the right and wonderful ways.  

Chocolate Cake + Milk, Please!

 

I went to the ever amazing T. Chick McClure's art show last night at the soon to be no more Bergamot Station.  It was so great to see his photos in large format.  When I stood in front of this one I felt like I was being showered with milk.  Look at the movement of that milk and the piercing blue eyes of her subject, comedian Bronston Jones!



 

 

And for another very good time you can make chocolate cake!  Chick asked me to make him a chocolate cake -- as chocolatey and moist as I could make it.  While I have made a million different moist and chocolatey cakes, I felt like trying something new to meet The Chick Chocolate Cake Challenge.

 

I bee-lined to my fave Smitten Kitchen and found this Double Chocolate Layer Cake recipe.  I just knew it would meet the challenge.  But I wanted it to be three layers, so I used three 8 inch pans and it worked great, but just bake for 50-ish minutes if you do that.  And, Chick specifically said he didn't want fruit in it -- just as chocolatey as possible -- so I didn't do the raspberry filling.  In honor of having just been blessed by all his milky portraits, I made a whipped cream mash-up for between layers.  (About a cup of heavy cream + a splash each of vanilla and coconut extract, a small handful each of shredded coconut and toasted pecan pieces), I just wanted to give a wee chocolate respite for the taste buds since I made the recipe (both the cake and ganache) with dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet.  It is kick ass chocolatey!  Wowza!

 

 

 

And, now your final treat, if after looking at the above photo of such a rich chocolate cake you need some more milk!  And maybe a little goooooooooooooold!  Isn't Chick a genius!?  Follow him on Instagram or Facebook for a very good time.