Chocolate Cake, Emergency Room, Lemon Cake, & Rolo Brownie Ice Cream

My Uncle Dave and his girlfriend Lori both celebrated their birthdays this month. Unfortunately, they had to celebrate separately because Uncle Dave was in the south training for his new, very exciting job on the trains. After six long weeks, he finally returned home on Saturday. They decided to have a Happy to Be Home/Birthday Party, and asked mom if we would make the cake! She said why yes, of course, and then offered to make two cakes -- there are two birthdays, here. And then she said that perhaps we should make ice cream, too. After scouring the cookbooks for the perfect birthday cakes we landed on a Devil's Food Chocolate cake with Ganache frosting, a Lemon Mascarpone Layer cake, and Rolo-Brownie ice cream.

Friday night mom made the first batch of ice cream (our tiny ice cream maker only churns a small amount at a time), and we were feeling good. On Saturday we would make the second batch of ice cream, and then both of the cakes.

Saturday morning mom and I woke up raring to go -- well, she did, it took me a while to wake up, but I got there eventually. We're baking up a storm -- the chocolate cake is completely mixed, melts into the baking pans, and then is put in the oven to turn into gooey deliciousness.

I quartered Rolos for the brownies that had to be made for the ice cream:

Oh, the decadence! The smell of chocolate and caramel were in the air...and the taste was in my mouth. I am a compulsive beater licker, and scrap-of-whatever-I'm-making eater. The Rolos were delicious. So creamy. So smooth. Anyway, the Roloed brownies were also made. So we had two things almost done (the cake was still in the oven) when it happened. I was taking tiny bites off a hunk of sharp cheddar cheese so I could savor every bite, and mom was cleaning up the kitchen when we heard a crash. After approximately fifty "fucks" used in a variety of ways in under two seconds, mom and I realized that the crash was Shawn falling off the ladder he was straddling whilst scraping snow and ice off the roof. Yeah. While I would rather dig a hole and make my way to China, I thought it might be a good idea to call for an ambulance, and try to help mom not have her own coronary. I really don't know what my RD was thinking when she told me that I am good in emergency situations, because I really do not feel that this is the case. I panic. I call emergency personnel because I do not want to be the one out there dealing with pain and whatever gore may or may not be there. Thank god mom was alright with being the one to fly out the door. I can man the phone. All the while I'm hastily scribbling down every last drug Shawn has in the cupboard, and the damn timer for the chocolate cake is very angrily screeching at me to check and see if it's done. I figured the drugs were more important to have for the EMTs when they got here, so the cake had to just chill until I was done (Unfortunately, I think that made the cake a little overdone. What are we to do?). Crikey. After a whole bunch of drama, and five hours sitting in the hospital lobby -- waaaaaaaaay to much gore for me to be around *shivers* -- Shawn is told he has a broken rib (we found out today that it was not the case, he only pulled whatever muscle is on your side and runs from your ass to your shoulder).

Lovely.


We were able to take him home that night, and mom and I were so exhausted but wired that I finished making the ice cream and she finished the lemon cake.

Rolo brownie chunks!

The end product was incredible!

After that I was about beat. Mom was not, and decided to start and finish making the lemon cake -- I went to bed, and therefore have no pictures to document. I do have pictures of the gorgeous finished product though.

The filling is a lemon curd, also layered with mascarpone cheese.

The chocolate cake was a touch crumbly.....

Uncle Dave's magic coffee -- better than Timmy Ho's! "Do you want whipped cream?" Ummmmmmm......yeah!

Mom and I had quite the baking experience on Saturday, and a completely wonderful day on Sunday. Thank god for family and food!

Tiramisu

For my birthday this year I was given an excellent cookbook called The Boozy Baker from my wonderful friend Lauren. This cookbook turned out to be more than perfect since I have lately been intrigued by adding various forms of alcohol to my desserts. For Christmas my gramma made a grasshopper pie and it turned out sooooo good! I love that just a bit of alcohol gives you a friendly kick, but does not overpower or overwhelm the overall flavors of the cake.

So this cookbook came in handy when I decided I wanted to try out more boozy recipes. A family friend invited my family over for dinner last night, and she knows that I love to bake. As such, I was instructed to bring something magnificent for dessert. Finger pads touch finger pads in contemplation: what to bring, what to bring?! Something boozy, of course! I broke out the cookbook from Lauren and perused its decadent contents and landed on Hazelnut Tiramisu. I recently bought a bottle of Frangelico and had only used a touch of it, so the fates were on my side!

Thank god for monks.....or hermits

The cake ended up being so simple to make, too. Mascarpone, nutella, frangelico, heavy cream, coffee, and ladyfingers. And then toasted hazelnuts and chocolate shavings for garnish. The mascarpone, nutella, and whipped cream make the most wonderful fluffy and light filling for the cake.

Heaven in fluff form

Once the coffee is brewed you add the liqueur to it, and then dunk each ladyfinger in the concoction. I wish I could post what the coffee and frangelico smelled like -- hazelnut and coffee -- it was incredible. I was in heaven mixing the nutella and mascarpone! So once the ladyfingers are dunked in coffee/liqueur deliciousness you stick them in a bread pan -- only one layer. Then you add a layer of fluff, rinse and repeat until there are only ladyfingers as the top layer. Throw some saran wrap over it and stick it in the fridge....it looked like this:

Then when you are ready to take it out for eats, you invert it onto a serving plate and add the remainder of the fluff as the top layer. Sprinkle toasted hazelnuts and chocolate shavings on top, and you have a decadent dessert!

Now I have never actually tasted Tiramisu before -- I like to make things I have never had before. That said, I'm not sure if this is really what Tiramisu looks like or tastes like. The flavors are excellent, but I do have to say that I am not a fan of soggy cake. When I have cake and ice cream they are on separate dishes -- *shudders.* Because these ladyfingers were immersed in liquid heaven, there is the soggy aspect. Since most people don't seem to have a problem with soggy cake, and actually seem to enjoy it, I'm sure everyone else didn't mind -- they sure didn't seem to mind since everyone ended with a clean plate. 

Wedding Cake Tasting!

Not only did my lovely friend Sue ask me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, but she also asked me to make her wedding cake! She's had a few of my delicacies, and they must have left a good impression because she wants more. I was a bit dumbfounded when she asked me -- what an immense responsibility! After talking about it though I became really excited to make her cakes because she is somewhat unconventional -- there will be no white cake for her! And that works perfectly for me. While a vanilla cake can be absolutely delicious it is not nearly as much fun and spectacular as some of the concoctions I have made and wish to make in the future. She also does not want the traditional tiered cake, and has requested three cakes on three separate pedestals to create the illusion of a tiered cake. I think this is going to be spectacular, and a wedding event that everyone will remember!

Anyway, since she has decided on three cakes I decided that for her cake tasting I would make six small versions of cakes she is interested in having for her wedding. The day before the cake tasting mom and I made  red velvet, carrot, spicy chocolate, dulce de leche, ginger, and hazelnut mini cakes.

We both got up at the crack of dawn (9am for me), and got to work by 10am as I am useless sans my morning cup of coffee. Once I was sufficiently caffeinated I got down to business and made a carrot cake, which turned out perfectly! I was a touch worried that it was getting too done around the edges, and might not be baked evenly through. Turns out that it was perfect and I had absolutely nothing to worry about.  

Even though these cakes turned out so nicely I was still worried that they might not be cooked evenly through -- the sides might be crunchy, and the middle might be under-baked. So I decided on giving the next cake a water bath. Turns out that was a very, very bad idea. It looked pretty.....

but it just did. not. work. Must be that water baths are strictly for humans and cheesecake. After this lovely bath, my vanilla cake for the dulce de leche cake was a hot soggy mess. The bottoms refused to be released from their pans, and they came out all wonky and completely unpresentable. Since we had some extra of the dulce de leche filling (condensed milk baked for an hour that turns into the most scrumptious, gooey caramel) we smeared a layer on one of the unfortunate cakes, and made a very sorry looking cake.

So we made a new cake, and all the others ended up turning out perfectly! Ten hours later mom and I had ourselves a fridge full of the most adorable looking miniature cakes..and very sore feet.

Even though it was a long day, it was completely enjoyable and satisfying to bake all day. And I have to say that I was incredibly pleased with the outcome of the cakes. I will say though that after eating six slices of cake I have absolutely NO desire to eat cake for a very, very, very long time.