Cooking
A few weeks ago, a friend & I decided to make this cake. We were going to go fondant-coated hand to fondant-coated hand, see who made the better cake.
This was probably a bad idea, on my part. She's a caker, and I often refer to her as 'The Fondant Queen'. I, on the other hand, would be using it for exactly the fourth time.
But when the horrific fires hit Australia, my sweetheart of a friend bowed out of competition, as she had generously auctioned off cupcakes to benefit relief funds. With hundreds of little cuppies ahead of her, there'd be no time for a fondant frenzy.
I opted to go ahead with the cake, as a gift for Matt.
The idea came from here; rather than roll all those truffles, I made molded chocolates instead. Each filled with either Nutella or ganache; the ganache then either plain old chocolate, or raspberry or mint flavored.
All the chocolates, save 3 or 4, were made by me. I discovered, around two o'clock this morning, that despite several trays, I was still short! Luckily, I had some Lindt truffles on hand that could be pressed into service.
A heart-shaped chocolate cake, frosted with a basic buttercream, then covered with red fondant.
It's not perfect. My friend would have done a much nicer job. But I'm happy with it, and more importantly, so is Matt.
And for once, when diving into a chocolate box, you really could eat the whole thing!
We're cranking up the flavor for this month's Blog Party; it's time to Spice it Up!
Hope to see you there.
- Happy Birthday Cassidy!!!
My niece Cassidy is one year old today. She is the daughter of my youngest brother David and his wife Stephanie. Cassidy is a beautiful little girl and this past year has truly been a joy. The big birthday celebration was this past Saturday and the...
- Post-oscar Decadence
Of all the nominations, I've only seen...two?...of the films. Ratatouille and Michael Clayton. Which is probably a higher number than past years. We decided to have a sort of 'decadence' dinner. Nothing too fancy, just foods we really enjoy....
- We Have Cake!
It's all over. While again, not perfect, I think the small changes I made to the cake were improvements. So what am I doing today? Baking a cake. Of course. Blog Party#22 is here, and this month, we're taking on the Wild, Wild West! Turn...
- To Each, Her Own...way Of Celebrating Mother's Day
Matt asked what I wanted for Mother's day. I think my reply was something along the lines of "ten hours of sleep". He couldn't buy or make that for me, but he and Alex did prepare a nice breakfast of smoked mozzarella-topped scrambled eggs, toast,...
- Total Decadence
It was my mother-in-law's birthday this past weekend. She's very good about eating healthy, but she's never said 'no' to something from my oven. Matt drummed it into my head fairly early on that his mom loves chocolate. So, what better...
Cooking
You Could Eat the Whole Box
A few weeks ago, a friend & I decided to make this cake. We were going to go fondant-coated hand to fondant-coated hand, see who made the better cake.
This was probably a bad idea, on my part. She's a caker, and I often refer to her as 'The Fondant Queen'. I, on the other hand, would be using it for exactly the fourth time.
But when the horrific fires hit Australia, my sweetheart of a friend bowed out of competition, as she had generously auctioned off cupcakes to benefit relief funds. With hundreds of little cuppies ahead of her, there'd be no time for a fondant frenzy.
I opted to go ahead with the cake, as a gift for Matt.
The idea came from here; rather than roll all those truffles, I made molded chocolates instead. Each filled with either Nutella or ganache; the ganache then either plain old chocolate, or raspberry or mint flavored.
All the chocolates, save 3 or 4, were made by me. I discovered, around two o'clock this morning, that despite several trays, I was still short! Luckily, I had some Lindt truffles on hand that could be pressed into service.
A heart-shaped chocolate cake, frosted with a basic buttercream, then covered with red fondant.
It's not perfect. My friend would have done a much nicer job. But I'm happy with it, and more importantly, so is Matt.
And for once, when diving into a chocolate box, you really could eat the whole thing!
We're cranking up the flavor for this month's Blog Party; it's time to Spice it Up!
Hope to see you there.
- Happy Birthday Cassidy!!!
My niece Cassidy is one year old today. She is the daughter of my youngest brother David and his wife Stephanie. Cassidy is a beautiful little girl and this past year has truly been a joy. The big birthday celebration was this past Saturday and the...
- Post-oscar Decadence
Of all the nominations, I've only seen...two?...of the films. Ratatouille and Michael Clayton. Which is probably a higher number than past years. We decided to have a sort of 'decadence' dinner. Nothing too fancy, just foods we really enjoy....
- We Have Cake!
It's all over. While again, not perfect, I think the small changes I made to the cake were improvements. So what am I doing today? Baking a cake. Of course. Blog Party#22 is here, and this month, we're taking on the Wild, Wild West! Turn...
- To Each, Her Own...way Of Celebrating Mother's Day
Matt asked what I wanted for Mother's day. I think my reply was something along the lines of "ten hours of sleep". He couldn't buy or make that for me, but he and Alex did prepare a nice breakfast of smoked mozzarella-topped scrambled eggs, toast,...
- Total Decadence
It was my mother-in-law's birthday this past weekend. She's very good about eating healthy, but she's never said 'no' to something from my oven. Matt drummed it into my head fairly early on that his mom loves chocolate. So, what better...