A couple of weeks ago, we had dinner at a sweet friends house. She served all our favorite Southern Dishes, Southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. The great ending to the evening was this amazing chocolate cake, which she had found in her Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) cook book. So, needing my fix of weekly chocolate, I bought the can of chocolate syrup yesterday and made it first thing this morning. It is such a rich velvety cake with coffee granules in the ganache frosting. It actually will make you forget that the weather is not cooperating with cool temps, just because we are ready to have the fall decorations up. Treat yourself to this wonderful rich cake that is truly very simple to make.
Thanks Marilyn (and Ina) for sharing that heavenly cake with us.
Cake
1/4 lb unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 extra large eggs (this is the first cake recipe I have seen that called for extra large eggs instead of large)
1 (16 oz) can of Hershey’s chocolate syrup
1 tables pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz good semisweet chocolate chips (not imitation)
1 teas instant coffee granules
Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a 8″ cake pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Don’t over beat, or the cake will be tough.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40-45 min, or until just set in the middle. Don’t overtake. Let cool thoroughly in the pan.
For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. (I don’t have a double boiler, so just cooked over low heat until chips were completely melted and mixture was smooth. I stirred it almost the whole time)
Place the cake upside down on a wire rack and pour the glaze evenly over the top, making sure to cover the entire cake and sides. Then place cake carefully on a serving plate. it frightens me to have to transfer a cake layer from a wire rack to a plate so I * (once again, I didn’t do that. I just placed it on a cake plate and poured the ganache over the top, allowing it to flow over the sides of the cake.*
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that I remembered that Tuesday is posting in bullet points…on Tuesday instead of 3 days later. So maybe all those vitamins are working! Or maybe it is the notes I have plastered all over the house to remind me to Tuesday Bullet Post. Whatever, at least I remembered to look at the reminders and didn’t just past by them, thinking that they were tags that were placed on furniture for which child gets what when they cart us off to the nursing home. But since it is Tuesday, I will stick to my promise and post in bullet points instead of paragraph form, which does make me look oh so hip. Speaking of hips:
August…ice cream month! So to celebrate that special time, I made an ice cream cake for bunco tonight. It is so simple, yet so flavorful and yummy! Layers of Klondike bars, intermingled with caramel, hot fudge, and Cool Whip.
As i sit on the back porch overlooking the most beautiful waterfall with rocks and majestic sequoia trees, it was just the perfect picture of Gods provision to us when we desire to be in the middle of the stream, with a goal in mind! As i opened up my devotion book it read, “the law of His God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide” Psa 37:31. Looking over the railing of our porch, there below were 2 fly fishermen walking the river trying to get above the waterfall! It dawned on me that in their desire to get above the fall, they had a choice to either walk over the slippery rocks in the water which is cold and moving very fast, or they could have climbed out and walked the ground above the water, both paths taking them to the same place…their desired destination! I began to think of my actions and the different paths that i take!! Yes i sometimes tend to take the path that causes my feet to slide on “slippery rocks” when Gods Word promises me that “obedient-hearted men shall be sustained in every step he takes” (taken from Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith) “the Word of God has never misled a single soul: its plain directions to walk humbly, justly, lovingly, and in the fear of the Lord”.
Chocolate Castles as wel 