Earl Grey Chocolate Cake
Food blogs are funny. If you look at this picture, you might assume that I had a neighbor/ friend over for tea. In reality I was standing on a chair, trying not to make a lot of noise while my 3 year old napped away in his room upstairs. I was also trying really hard not to fall off said chair; I don't have a good history with standing on chairs...
I was sorting my way through a pile of papers during Cooper's nap when I found a little recipe card for this Earl Grey Chocolate Cake. It's been waiting to be made since I clipped the recipe out in college. I was craving something chocolatey, I had all of the ingredients and wanted a cup of tea. It was a sign. I feel it's important to always pay attention to signs like these. This cake came together in less than 15 minutes and it took about the same amount of time to clean it all up. I love that in a cake.
After the cake was done and sprinkled with powdered sugar, I had a pretend tea party in my kitchen where I drank one cup of tea and ate two slices of cake. You can't let cake go to waste like that. When it's exposed to air like that it's got a short shelf life...or something.
Tea parties for one are where it's at. Especially when a beautiful Earl Grey perfumed chocolate cake is your star dessert.
A fancy hat & gloves are totally optional.
Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Everyday between 2-3pm, my body craves chocolate cake. The cake I crave is not a cake that's saturated in chocolate frosting. I'm talking about a dense/moist/slightly chewy chocolate cake with a few drizzles of chocolate frosting. When I'm not able to fulfill this craving (which is like all the time), my mind goes into daydreaming mode and I start to fantasize about a chocolate cake delivery service at my work and how wonderful it would be if there were ice cream sundae vendors at every street corner. Imagine that. That would be the life!
I also had this thought the other day: Has anyone ever put EAT MORE CHOCOLATE on their New Year's Resolution list? Doubtful.
With a chocolaty dense bundt cake like this, I can't see why that wouldn't be a good idea.
Maybe I should give in to my chocolate cravings more often. Maybe then I could consider myself a chocolate lover.
Pear Custard Pie
PREP TIME: 15 min.
COOK TIME: 40-45 min.
What did I during the 40-45 minutes of cook time? A LOT.
After putting the custard pie into the oven and setting the timer, I cleaned up the kitchen, gathered laundry piles, sorted laundry piles and then put a load of laundry in the washer. I ran upstairs, checked my email, glanced at my phone, wrote 2 emails, read my horoscope, checked my online bank statement, sent a silly text message, checked my email again and ran downstairs. I proceeded to squeeze my cats, then I picked up a rogue sock off the floor, placed that sock in the hamper, grabbed a glass of water, glanced at the timer, checked out my eyebrows in the mirror, got the mail and then ran back into the kitchen. I laid a nice tea towel down in preparation for the pie, grabbed a few forks, and realized there was an entire surface of counter that I missed in my cleaning up process and then I waited.
The pie came out of the oven and I stared at it impatiently. I went into my kitchen cabinet and grabbed some confectioner's sugar, brought it over to the sink to load up my little strainer and proceeded to spill some sugar all over myself and the counter (I always do this!). I dusted the top with confectioner's sugar then I dove into the pie and totally messed up the first slice. Oh well. I stood on a chair to take a few shots then I almost fell but luckily I braced myself. I stepped down from the chair and quickly ate the messed up slice. Realizing that my husband would want some, I scooped out a slice and walked over to him happily sharing what I just made.
Not only was this pie a perfectly comforting treat on a chilly afternoon, it was so light and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness. The pears were incredibly tender! I heard his fork hit the plate a few times and then I heard a slight thud of the plate on the table. I looked over to see that he had stopped. He looked at me apologetically because he didn't want to finish. Then I remembered that he doesn't like custard based desserts. Sad trombone. How could I possibly be mad when the prep time was so short? Look at all I accomplished during that cook time. I guess that means more for me, right? At least he ate two bites.
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Banana Donuts w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
Are you sitting down? Good. So, I baked these banana doughnuts to share with you. That's right, baked. I spared a few calories by baking the doughnuts but don't worry I made up for it on the back end. Peanut butter frosting sounds pretty amazing right? What could possibly make it better?
Cue the flashing lights, throw confetti in the air, hug the person next to you because Browned Butter has made its way into this peanut butter frosting. Check out those browned butter bits! That's totally not vanilla bean, it's butter!
A banana bread like doughnut gets glazed with a sweet/savory peanut butter & browned butter frosting. Watch out, you're getting drool on your keyboard!
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Winning Hearts & Minds Chocolate Cake
The other night, Casey and I had a discussion about chocolate cake. He seems to think that the best part of chocolate cake is the frosting. I disagree. I think the CAKE in chocolate cake is the best part. I'm actually one of those people who scrapes the frosting off chocolate cake and leaves it to the side of my plate. Does that make you think less of me? I hope not... It's just too much chocolate for me to take! I always make sure to give Casey my extra frosting. This is love.
This cake is the perfect compromise for both of us. A cake that needs NO frosting because it's moist, delicate, fluffy and oh so fudge-y. Frosting on top of this cake would be absolutely insane. I do believe that a light dusting of powdered sugar spruces it up and makes it cute! Slightly sweetened whipped cream makes is decadent but somehow even lighter! Who would have thought that was possible? See the heart on top? I made this sweet little cake for our Valentine's Day last year and in the course of a few days that cake disappeared hunk by hunk from the kitchen counter. It's no wonder Molly decided to serve this cake as her wedding cake. Hope you win some Hearts & Minds this Valentine's Day! XOXO
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