...2/17/10...
So here I am standing in my kitchen, cooking of course! I love to cook. I am admitting at the gate that I am not a great cook (though my husband, as sweet as he is, thinks I am the best), but my passion keeps me striving to be better and better with each whirl of the wisk and measure of the spoon. I have yet to choose a cookbook that I want to begin working through. It proves more difficult to get people to log on and vote which book they think I should work from; and since I am horrible at making decisions, I am still waiting to find that perfect book to begin my endeavor. So, if you are out there...please vote!
On another note, my latest escape revolved around a decadent 5-type chocolate cake with strawberries and Ganache. The recepie comes from taste of home magazine, which my wonderful mother-in-law brilliantly gave me this last Christmas. I made this "Chocolate Strawberry Celebration Cake" for my handsome husband on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.
The cake turned out beautifully, but beware: it takes several hourse to prep, cook and create this beauty. The taste is beyond anything and the hard work is worth it, but I would say, I am going to keep this one as a special occasion cake, because of the ingredients and the time it takes.
The key to serving this cake lays in the fact that the cake itself has melted chocolate in it. That means when you store/refrigerate the frosted and finished cake, the choclate inside gets hard, making it SEEM dry. Nothing is more frustrating than slaving over a dessert to have it come out dry. I couldn't figure out what went wrong, until last night, we were finishing the last slices and I decided to heat my in the microwave for about 15 seconds... well...the cake was perfectly moist after that!
So here I am standing in my kitchen, cooking of course! I love to cook. I am admitting at the gate that I am not a great cook (though my husband, as sweet as he is, thinks I am the best), but my passion keeps me striving to be better and better with each whirl of the wisk and measure of the spoon. I have yet to choose a cookbook that I want to begin working through. It proves more difficult to get people to log on and vote which book they think I should work from; and since I am horrible at making decisions, I am still waiting to find that perfect book to begin my endeavor. So, if you are out there...please vote!
On another note, my latest escape revolved around a decadent 5-type chocolate cake with strawberries and Ganache. The recepie comes from taste of home magazine, which my wonderful mother-in-law brilliantly gave me this last Christmas. I made this "Chocolate Strawberry Celebration Cake" for my handsome husband on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.
The cake turned out beautifully, but beware: it takes several hourse to prep, cook and create this beauty. The taste is beyond anything and the hard work is worth it, but I would say, I am going to keep this one as a special occasion cake, because of the ingredients and the time it takes.
The key to serving this cake lays in the fact that the cake itself has melted chocolate in it. That means when you store/refrigerate the frosted and finished cake, the choclate inside gets hard, making it SEEM dry. Nothing is more frustrating than slaving over a dessert to have it come out dry. I couldn't figure out what went wrong, until last night, we were finishing the last slices and I decided to heat my in the microwave for about 15 seconds... well...the cake was perfectly moist after that!
Overall, it was the perfect treat to share with my sweet AND it made for a great gift for a couple that invited us over for dinner. 
