Friday, October 16, 2009

Power Fail Fail

No, it's not a stutter.  We had a power fail fail.  The power went out at my office for 2 hours.  Right before I was going to heat up my lunch.  So we sat around, waiting until 3:00 to see if it would come back on before being released from our office prision.  It came back on at 2:47.  Poo.  So I'm here until 5:00!  Happy Friday everyone.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fall?

Living in Florida we don't see much of a season change.  As September turns to October the grass stays green, the palm trees still wave their branches, and the air is hot (upper 90's all week with high humidity).  We had a cold front two weeks ago.  I think we had a low of 72.  Brrrrr.  But, I think fall is on it's way.  Why?  Because we have a low of 59 on Sunday (with a high of 80.  woo hoo).  No!


I can't depend on weather to get me in the fall mood so I depend on other factors.  
Tastespotting - October brings the shift from light fruit desserts, tarts, and salads to everything pumpkin!  Soups, stews, pies...it must be cool somewhere!
My wardrobe - I can't wear boots and heavy cable-knit sweaters yet, but I have started to shift from my light colored work clothes to my fall colors.  Orange, green, brown...yum.  I just have to choose fall type clothing that is light weight.

This being said, I love the holiday season.  I don't know Christmas with snow, I only know Christmas in a t-shirt.  But the sights, smells, and sounds put me in the spirit.  Come on November, I'm ready for you!

Friday, October 9, 2009

I don't like raisins


How 'bout you?  I will eat them plain sometimes but I loathe them in anything.  Oatmeal Raisin cookies?  Why not oatmeal chocolate chip (the 8th wonder of the world in my opinion).  

This morning I got a bagel sandwich from my favorite coffee shop.  Whole grain bagel, sausage, and a fried egg.  I'm eating said sandwich only to discover shrivled little bits of gag in the bagel.  Why?  Why?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake

So here's the deal.  I don't post a lot because I'm waiting to make something worth posting or getting the right picture of it to post.  I'm done with all that.  The great food bloggers of today did not start out perfect.  This is a total learning process.  Practice.  Failure.  Success.  It really doesn't matter.

I look at the blogs that I love and they have three things in common.  Great food/recipes, great pictures, and personality!  Speaking of personality this recipe comes from Jen at Use Real Butter.  Yes, she posts STUNNING pictures and amazing food but she is also super witty and is a great read.  

The moral of my disjointed story?  Blog readers come to a blog to see a great recipes and pictures and stay for the person.  So here I am world!  I'm a 22 year old working a 9-5 in Florida.  I love to dance and bake.  If I go a week without baking something I get a little crazy...just ask my family!

So without hesitation I present to you the Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake...

This cake came together very nicely.  Of course, as usual, I started it after dinner and was putting on the final touches after midnight.  
I think my favorite part of this cake (besides the icing pattern on top!) was the textural difference between the buttercream and the ganache.  The middle layer was iced with the ganache.  It just had a thick, decadent taste and feel to it.  I used 60% dark chocolate for the ganache.  It was a good choice.  It kept it rich without being overwhelmingly sweet.  
The dots on the top were just fun to eat as the smooth and creamy buttercream combined with the think, rich ganache.
A piped ring of buttercream was a must to keep the ganache from escaping.

Crumb coat!

I used my cake leveler to make a grid for piping the top.  
My grid wasn't perfect but it was close enough.  

I was so happy with this cake.  It is one of the prettiest things I've ever made (in my opinion) and it tasted of pure happy.  If you ever try it you won't be disappointed!