The Absolute Best Chocolate Cake

It is my brother in law and mother in law's birthday on Friday. What better reason to drive home to Kansas and hand deliver a delicious cake?!

Honestly, I've never had much luck with white/yellow cake recipes. For some reason, they always turn out like corn bread. At least they just taste like it to me. It would either be a chocolate cake or a red velvet cake. Since I didn't want to whip out my red food dye I decided to make a chocolate cake.

My usual chocolate cake recipe is...good. It works. It hasn't really failed me in regards to flavor. It's spilled over a few times and sometimes it's not as light as I'd like it to be. All the same, the flavor is mild chocolate and not overpowering. Usually when you buy a cake from the grocery it will be so chocolatey that your tastebuds will be choco-burned the next morning and you couldn't bring yourself to eat a teaspoon of sugar even if your life depended upon it. I pride myself on my mild chocolate cake! YUM!

Since I left my recipe books at the restaurant I decided to find another chocolate cake recipe. I have bookmarked over 60 recipes for sweets and desserts here on my computer. I figured I could find a good chocolate cake recipe in there somewhere!

Like a flash of lightning from the heavens above---"Moist Devil's Food Cake" lit up in my gaze. I was dumbfounded as I looked at the picture of a sample cake using this recipe. Three layers of rich and moist chocolate cake between shiny chocolate ganache! Oh boy howdy--the angels sang.

The joyous melody of the heavenly beings came to a screeching halt. "Where are my mixers?" I asked myself out loud. Instantly, I remembered. I left those at work as well. What's a woman to do but go old...old...fashioned and mix everything by hand?

I jotted down the recipe and assembled my ingredients along with a heavy duty bamboo spoon, a whisk, and a spatula.

Moist Devil's Food Cake

(Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, 2006)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened (plus a bit more for the pans)

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cocoa (plus a bit more for the pans)

1 cup whole milk

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

*note* I mixed all of this by hand. The cake came out like a dream. I'd recommend giving your mixers a break for once!

Whisk your butter until it is creamy and smooth.

Add the sugar and stir/whisk until fully incorporated.

Dump the sugar into the mix and enjoy the aroma.

Break the 4 eggs into the sugar/butter mixture and stir until it is all incorporated.

Butter, Whisked

Butter and sugar, mixed

With the boiling water in a large bowl, slowly add the cocoa and milk alternately and stir (not whisk--the chocolate will get caught in the whisking hooks) constantly. It will become very thick and hard to stir if you wait to add the milk until you've mixed the chocolate and water. When it looks like it is starting to thicken up nicely you can whisk. Set aside.

I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cocoa. AMAZING taste.

The aftermath of the cocoa/milk fiasco--lesson learned. Add the cocoa and milk to the boiling water together to avoid clumpage.

Sift the flour, soda, and salt into a bowl.

See all the clumps? Sifting the flour mix will eliminate those clumps and make a smooth batter.

Pour the flour and cocoa mixtures into the butter mix, alternating between the flour mixture and the cocoa milk mixture. Stir with your long spoon in figure eight or circular motions towards your body and away from.

The first addition of flour and cocoa/milk

More flour, please!

The last addition of cocoa/milk--look how dark the cocoa is!

The final batter. The spoon almost stood straight up in it! Thick stuff!

Grease your pans with butter and sprinkle cocoa inside the pans. Shake pans to coat with cocoa well. The batter will not be runny, but thick. Use a spatula to spoon batter into pans and smooth even.

(I used four 7 inch aluminum pans and had no batter left over. You could use three 8 inch pans or even two 9 inch pans I'm sure. I'm not a fan of using those long rectangular pans--but if you want to, go for it!)

Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. My 7 inch pans took about 25-35 minutes.

Enjoy!

GREAT chocolate cake. I'd make it again!

Fondue for you!

It's been a crazy week. My absence must be excused!

As I stated in my last post, I entered a song competition! Vote daily for my song! http://www.myairforcelife.com/contests/songs_frame.cfm?view=78&category=1 If I win, I plan on buying a baby grand piano with the prize: $2000 gift card to musiciansfriend.com.

I was not having a good day on Sunday. I woke up and started to make tea on the stove for Sam's daily dose of sweet tea. It started out normal-- a clean 3 gallon glass jar, a full saucepan of boiling water with steeping teabags, and sugar ready for deployment.

I let the teabags steep for about 10 minutes. I then grabbed the saucepan and slowly poured the tea into the glass jar. After pouring all the tea inside, I walked away with the saucepan and started to rinse out the pan. About 10 seconds later, I heard a few grinding sounds and cracking noises---I turned just in time to see the whole 3 gallon jar, half full of tea, shifting off it's base and cracking--tea flowing over the counter and all over the floor.

Thankfully, the jar stayed on the base but just shifted--the glass didn't break or fall onto the floor.

Happy Jenna.

I was so upset. Little did I know that later that night I would be receiving a glass shard in my foot.

ON TO BIGGER and more positive things!

A few months ago, my wonderful husband took me out on a date to The Melting Pot-- a fancy fondue restaurant. Ever since then, I knew I was in love with fondue. The whole idea of dipping so many fruits, veggies, and meats into a cheesy sauce or an oil boil makes my heart flutter.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Fondue, it's a whole meal experience. One has a cheese fondue with dippers such as bread pieces, apples, veggies, or chips. The cheese is melted in a fondue pot over a tealight or a stronger flame (or can be electric). The guests use long forklike sticks to dip said delights into the cheese. Another fondue is an oil fondue where a person has raw meat that they dip into the oil until the meat boils done (each piece of meat takes about 2 minutes). My favorite type of fondue is the dessert fondue--- melted chocolate! Basically, melt chocolate and whipping cream, add some peanut butter, flavors, or crushed up nuts/graham crackers. Dippers include strawberries, cheesecake, bananas, marshmallows, cake, or pineapples! You can really just go crazy choosing your dippers!

I bought a fondue set at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $7.00 (yay bargains!). Only problem with it was that it didn't have a ceramic insert or a nonstick inner bowl---it was all metal. Metal and chocolate/cheese fondue do not mix. I was craving fondue but needed that insert. I bit the bullet and bought an electric fondue bowl.

The recipe of choice was a simple Swiss fondue. After assembling the ingredients for the fondue and for the dippers, I started to prep.

Fondue takes a lot of prep work. A person must cut up everything they plan to use as dippers into bite size pieces. This means using about 6 mini baguettes for four people, boiling the broccoli and chopping into smaller pieces, cutting and cleaning the veggies too. For the dessert fondue, it doesn't feel like work! You can snag a couple of bites of strawberries or cheesecake...and call it even.

Original Swiss Fondue

(from The Fondue Bible, Ilana Simon)

8oz Emmentaler cheese, grated

8oz Gruyere cheese, graterd

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1 garlic clove, halved

1 1/4 C dry white wine (I used Mad Housewife Chardonnay)

(Refrigerate grated cheeses until you are ready to use them)

In a bowl, combine the grated cheeses and flour. Mix very well. Set aside.

Rub the inside of a saucepan/fondue bowl with the garlic clove. Discard garlic.

Add wine to bowl and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low.

Add cheese mixture to bowl by handfuls, stirring constantly after each addition in a figure eight motion until all cheese is incorporated and melted. Put pot on a warmer just enough to keep the cheese warm and melted, but not bubbly or boiling.

Enjoy!

I found that a whisk was nice to use when adding cheese, but it seemed to get the cheese tangled up inside the whisk hooks, so I used a bamboo long spoon instead and it worked great. Because I'm a fan of spices, I used garlic and some ground yellow mustard in the cheese as well. I stirred both in while the cheese was melting.

This Swiss fondue has a tangy flavor to it. It is strong but not overpowering. I found that my favorite dippers for this cheese fondue are apples (Yes!), bread, and broccoli. You could also use boiled potatoes, blanched red peppers, mushrooms, or even zucchini rounds.

Chocolate Fondue

3/4C Whipping cream

12 oz chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp kirsch, kahlua, or other liqueur (optional)

Heat cream until warm (do not boil or burn). Add chocolate and stir constantly until melted and smooth.

Dippers:

Apple Wedges, pineapple chinks, cherries, strawberries, bananas, pound cake cubes, marshmallows, rice crispy treat cubes, almonds, orange slices.

You could use dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Milk Chocolate is very sweet! I used milk chocolate morsels. It took a while for them to melt but I felt safer using those than a baking bar. If you double this recipe, you will have enough chocolate for 2 fondue gatherings or if you really enjoy chocolate, one!

Adaptations:

Rocky Road: Add 1-2tbsp graham crumbs and 1 1/2 c mini marshmallows.

Peanut Butter Chocolate: Add 1/2 c peanut butter and chopped peanuts to the chocolate.

White Chocolate: sub white chocolate for brown chocolate and add 1 1/2tsp coconut rum.

YUM!

Swimming like a fish

I tested out the base's swimming pool today. Technically, it's the housing residents' pool. It was so nice to go swimming. Usually I'm so worried about how I look in a suit to actually enjoy swimming. Tonight though, it was just families and kiddos in the pool. I lap swam with Sam for a good hour. I enjoyed it. Sam's eyes are bright red and mine are sore too. Too much chlorine I tell ya!

I've gotta make a snickers ice cream cheesecake tomorrow.

Dave told me he got a call from a Medical Marijuana dispensary in town asking for some brownies. A few weeks ago, Shawna and Kyle dropped off some of my peanutbutter layer brownies to a dispensary--and they loved them. They called back asking for more saying "I've got the munchies!" (no joke!)

Also, some swat guys came in today asking for those same brownies. I've got brownies to make tomorrow as well!

Off to take a shower and get this chlorine out of my system!

Kung Bao Gee Ding and a song contest

Kung Bao Gee Ding

Diced Chicken with Pepper

6 tbsp peanut oil

Heat.

2 chicken breasts or 8-10 tenderloins (diced small)

1 egg white

2 tsp cornstarch or flour

1 tsp salt

garlic powder

ground mustard

Mix together. Pour into heated peanut oil. Fry for 1 to 3 minutes (until done). Remove from frying pan and drain excess oil back into pan.

1 green or red pepper (diced small)

4 oz water chestnuts (diced small)

4 oz bamboo shoots (diced small)

4 stalks green onions (diced small)

12 baby corns (chopped)

garlic

red pepper flakes

pepper

ground yellow mustard

msg (if you have it)

Mix together. Fry for about a minute or less in the hot pan of excess oil from the chicken.

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsp white wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

(If you don't have white wine, double soy sauce)

Mix together and pour over veggies. Stir fry for 30 more seconds and add chicken.

At this point, you could be done. Throw it over rice and call it good.

I, on the other hand, was not done. I boiled some egg noodles and made a batch of sweet and sour sauce.

Sub Gum Tiem Shwin Tsup

Sweet and Sour Sub Gum Sauce

1 cup soup stock

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 vinegar

1 cup chopped mixed pickles, drained (I used bread and butter)

2 tbsp soy sauce

4 tsp cornstarch

Mix together. Boil, stirring constantly, and remove from heat when thickened.

Pour over egg noodles and pepper chicken. DONE!

Boy. This was fun. A lot of assembly and quick cook time. VERY delicious. I kept bugging Sam, asking him "Do you like this? Is it good?" He really enjoyed it! I, on the other hand, would have omitted half of the soy sauce. Soy sauce is a bit too salty for me.

In short--- this was a great first time recipe for any first time Chinese cooks. Easy. Quick. Be sure to assemble everything before hand. That way, you can get right to cooking.

On another note--- I entered a song contest! Please vote for me! Go to myairforcelife.com and look for the song "Come Home to Me" by Jenna W. One vote per day! Vote everyday! Contest ends May 23rd. I would truly appreciate your vote! Grand prize is a songwriting session with Thom Shepherd and a $2000 gift card to musician's friend (an online music store). I plan on using the gift card to purchase a baby grand digital piano if I win (and with your help, I will!)

Thank you so much. Enjoy your Chinese cooking! Have a great day!

Moving to China

I am moving to China or at least the Chinese section of cookbooks.

I am ever in awe of the complexity and deliciocity (Yes. It is a word, I promise, maybe.) of oriental food. I love going to get the lemon or orange chicken from the Dillon's Chinese Kitchen. I enjoy a big bowl of fried or steamed rice. I fall head over heels over and over again when I try the General Tso's chicken...the spices take me to another continent---as it should.

My friend and I went to some garage sales around town and to a used book store. I purchased a fondue set (with the fondue book) and a Chinese cookbook. I am more than excited to start cooking from both books!

If you had been around Salina Kansas in the 90's, you might have gotten to try a delicious restaurant called "Mar's." Mother, forgive me, I can't remember if it was Korean or Chinese? Either way--- Delicious food. I distinctly remember going there for dinners. You'd walk in the door and the counter to pay at was on the left along with a lazy susan full of big round suckers, full of creamy and fruity flavors. It was rare that we got one.

My sister and I would order hot tea. She would order oolong and I, jasmine. We'd sometimes sit at a different table than my parents---Mar's wasn't very busy. I'd add a bunch of sugar to my tea and we'd color on the paper place mats with the Chinese animals and horoscopes on them. I don't remember ordering anything but sweet and sour chicken.

The sweet and sour chicken would come in a tall silver pedestal bowl--a bowl on a stand, so to speak. There would be a lid on it and we'd melt the butter bars for our dinner rolls under the hot plates. This wasn't margarine in a tub but this was a slice of butter wrapped in paper, the good stuff.

The sweet and sour chicken had an amazing sauce. It was very tangy and had pickles in it. I used to pick out the pickles but now I wish I hadn't! My mother has been searching for and trying to replicate that sweet and sour sauce but with no luck. I hope that with my new cookbook I will be able to come close to that sauce!

Mom, that one's for you! If you can't read it I will replicate it. Just let me know!

I am more than eager to test out some new recipes---pork lo mein, pineapple chicken, shark fin soup---- OKAY maybe not shark fin soup... but I could make it now, thanks to my Chinese cookbook!

As soon as I dive into the world of Chinese cooking, I will let you know and be happy to tell you of my experiences!

Pup Pix

Ash and Pax waiting for treats. Ash kept getting up and trying to walk away, so Sam would push his butt down and funny enough, this time he laid down and scootched near Pax. We couldn't have planned it better.

Pax and Ash waiting for treats

Although I do have a bit to talk about on the "desserts and sweets" corner of my world, the main point will be of just how cute my pups are. I love my dogs. They are so wonderful. It rained today. Pax hates being outside all soggy when we are inside nice and toasty.

Ash---oh Ash! He likes to put his paws up. He usually howls or sticks out his tongue, as he did here. I was so happy I caught this shot of him.

Ash, just waiting to be petted!

Onto the desserts and sweets!

Work was good today. I almost didn't go into town. We had a freak hailstorm last night and it snowed/rained all night and all morning this morning. I decided to brave the elements to go into town to make cheesecake pops. Dave needed some for a meeting he was planning on having with a couple of big wigs.

I made three cheesecakes today. Plain. Shortbread crust. Vanilla Bean.

While those cheesecakes were baking, I dipped my cheesecake pops in chocolate. After they hardened, I tried one. I decided that my crust needs to be revised. I LOVE shortbread crust but decided that it is too bland. It melts in with the cheesecake and I feel as if it's all just "blah" in my mouth. I need something a bit different. That will be my goal for next week. Graham cracker crust? Pretzel crust? Vanilla Wafer Crust? Any thoughts?

Dave and I have decided that I will cease making more desserts until we get more business---just the desserts no one seems to buy. The pies and chocolate mousse cake will be postponed until further notice. I will make carrot cake and cheesecake until business picks up. It's kinda sad. I just hope business picks up so that I can make more crazy and cool cakes.

On a personal note, Sam and I are doing better with this whole "You're in the Air Force, now you aren't, and now you are again" thing. We seem to be pulling ourselves back to a balance and are doing okay with it. We just need to get used to the idea of staying here again! We really had ourselves convinced.

I hope your day is grand.

Air Force is like Kansas Weather

I swear...

When we moved from Kansas, I thought we were leaving behind the crazy and unpredictable weather. One moment it's raining, another moment it's 95 degrees and blistering. Turns out that the Air Force isn't much different. One minute you are serving as usual, the next you are told you must get out in two months due to over-manning of positions, and the next minute after that, they wave their hands in the air and say "Whoops...just kidding. You're still in." Needless to say, Sam and I have been through an emotional rollercoaster the past week.

We thought we were going to be forced out of the Air Force. We made plans, convinced ourselves this would be a positive and great change for us, and we were excited to move back to Kansas. I was excited to start a cake business and Sam was stoked to retrain to a different job and have a bit of free time.

Now it looks as though we are still in the Air Force. Back to life as usual. I'm a bit put out, to be honest. All those dreams of owning a house with some land, baking cakes in Kansas and spending more time with my families has been shot down. I still have a job at the restaurant and Sam is still serving the country.

I can't help but feel a bit sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that things won't change, that we won't have to move, and that Sam and I still have steady jobs. Still...it's like that little glimmer of sunshine that teases you behind the clouds of a rain storm. It tickles your face and you have to chase it around the yard until it leaves the boundaries of your grass and street, soon to fly off into the sunset. Oh well. So is life, right?