dawn
this soap from thymes is the best smelling stuff ever. it also really lasts. 
my friend tracy told me that our local grocery store is now making their own tzatziki dip. i really hate her for telling me that. this is great on grilled chicken or dipping vegetables into. it's very addictive. 
i picked up this very inexpensive lamp shade at ikea last weekend. mr. s. hung it for me but since i didn't buy the correct light fixture for it, it ended up having to be hung upside down which turned out to be a happy accident.
What I'm Cooking This Week: Texas Sheet Cake--Thinking outside the cake-mix box
Tracy
As a general rule, I don't bake cakes from scratch. I've only tried it a couple of times, and they came out either too dry or heavy as lead. I tried making a sponge cake last winter, and let's just say it was more Brillo pad than sponge. The only saving grace was the thick fudge icing that I slathered on it to conceal my utter shame.
But the kids and I were visiting my dad last week, and I'm often inspired to try new things in my childhood kitchen. Maybe it's because it's the place where I first learned to scramble an egg, grease a cake pan and stir up a pitcher of iced tea (heavy on the Dixie Crystals) , but there's something about the place that makes me want to venture into new frontiers.
I fell in love with Duncan Hines at around age nine or ten and just never looked back. Why bother, when it came out delicious whether you overmixed, undermixed or even occasionally left out an ingredient? Once, in a sleep-deprived baking frenzy when my son was a baby, I made a lovely lemon pound cake without oil or butter. I thought it was odd that the instructions didn't call for it, but I just figured that ol' DH was just looking out for our health. But, then, after I drizzled on the glaze and took another look at the back of the box- - -the butter had jumped back into the ingredient list. The cake was still happily gobbled up by everyone and no one suspected a thing. DH had my back!
It's always kind of bugged me, though, that I'd never been able to conquer something that seemed so basic. A cake from scratch is still derived from humble, familiar ingredients- -flour, sugar, butter, eggs---but left in my hands the end result was usually still something that resembled a very sweet biscuit covered in really good icing. Icing I can do.
But! Last week I saw this on http://recipezaar.com/ and I have been redeemed! Try it as soon as possible and please, don't mind the nutrition information. Remember, this is CAKE, not tofu souffle for Pete's sake---you're treating and comforting yourself, so dump in those sticks of butter with abandon! Do take note that it says it serves 12, which is hogwash. The recipe makes a virtual ocean of dark, delicious Devil's food cake and can easily serve 24-30 when cut into ample 2x3-inch squares.
It's so easy, and it's one of those recipes that halfway into it, you just know it's gonna be good. The batter starts out on the stove, bringing cocoa and butter to a boil, and the aroma alone is a pretty big clue. Another plus is that once the cake is in the oven it only takes about 20 minutes to bake. I adjusted the time a bit for my dad's prehistoric oven (it's a 1978 poem in Harvest Wheat) and it was ready in about 17 minutes.
The whole thing tastes like a fudgy tribute to Hershey's cocoa; like if a mug of hot chocolate could be a cake, this would be it. You'd think that a batter with two sticks of butter would be dense, but it miraculously comes out with a light texture and moist crumb, thanks to the sour cream in the recipe. Sorry---I had to giggle when I typed "light" and "two sticks of butter" in the same sentence. Oh, and um. . .there's another stick in the frosting, you'll notice. And oh, the frosting--it's one of those warm, melty ,pour-over deals. Exquisite.
The end result was an exercise in compromise;I added chopped pecans to only half of the frosting because my kids won't touch them and there are a few other family members who ARE nuts but don't eat them. Freaks.
Anyway. Carve an hour or so out of your schedule and make this, but be sure you have lots of friends coming over, or you'll end up like me, constantly walking by it and slicing a teensy sliver down the center just to "even things up." By bedtime that night, it was the straightest two-inch-wide sheetcake in the world. THAT picture, I won't show you.
It's so easy, and it's one of those recipes that halfway into it, you just know it's gonna be good. The batter starts out on the stove, bringing cocoa and butter to a boil, and the aroma alone is a pretty big clue. Another plus is that once the cake is in the oven it only takes about 20 minutes to bake. I adjusted the time a bit for my dad's prehistoric oven (it's a 1978 poem in Harvest Wheat) and it was ready in about 17 minutes.
The whole thing tastes like a fudgy tribute to Hershey's cocoa; like if a mug of hot chocolate could be a cake, this would be it. You'd think that a batter with two sticks of butter would be dense, but it miraculously comes out with a light texture and moist crumb, thanks to the sour cream in the recipe. Sorry---I had to giggle when I typed "light" and "two sticks of butter" in the same sentence. Oh, and um. . .there's another stick in the frosting, you'll notice. And oh, the frosting--it's one of those warm, melty ,pour-over deals. Exquisite.
The end result was an exercise in compromise;I added chopped pecans to only half of the frosting because my kids won't touch them and there are a few other family members who ARE nuts but don't eat them. Freaks.
Anyway. Carve an hour or so out of your schedule and make this, but be sure you have lots of friends coming over, or you'll end up like me, constantly walking by it and slicing a teensy sliver down the center just to "even things up." By bedtime that night, it was the straightest two-inch-wide sheetcake in the world. THAT picture, I won't show you.
1 comment:
Something I saw on another blogspot inspired me to go out and buy a bunch of peaches. Could I entice you two foodies to explore some recipe ideas?
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