Cake Worthy of a Birthday

What's the best thing about birthdays? Two words...Birthday Cake. Hands down.

I am a strong believer that birthdays deserve cake. Not cupcakes. Not pies. Not tarts or cookies (unless they are in addition to the cake). For me, a birthday is just not a birthday without a slice of your favorite cake. And you can gather a lot about someone by their favorite kind of cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting? Vanilla cake with chocolate frosting? Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting? Each is so very different, as are the people whose preference they are.


I love it when someone’s birthday comes along because it gives me a legitimate reason to bake a cake. As much as I would love to bake cakes all the time, I don’t because it makes it all the more special when the occasion for cake arises.


One of my greatest friends' bday was on Saturday. Knowing I would be baking a cake helped me get through the week. As if I could see a cake on a pedestal at the end of the tunnel… it made all the work in the week bearable. This friend is definitely the chocolate cake – chocolate frosting kind of girl. Meaning, basically, you can’t help but love her.


I got the recipe for this cake from Tartine Bakery’s cookbook. I had the cookbook before I had actually visited the bakery, and let me say that the place deserves its own post. If you are ever visiting San Francisco, you will have missed a treasure if you don’t stop here somewhere along the way. But like I said, i'll fully express my love for it at a later time, right now all I can focus on is THE cake who happens to be sitting right here, tempting me with its chocolate cologne and good looks.

It is a chocolate devils food cake, with chocolate ganache frosting. Need I say more? I don’t think so… but I will anyways. The creation of this cake is still fresh in my mind. Like one of those rare occasions when you can remember yesterdays dream so well, you feel as if you closed your eyes you could jump back to the scene.


It was Saturday morning and, being the early bird that I typically am, I was up at 7:00. But even 7:00 was a bit early for me on a Saturday morning, I think it was the excitement and anticipation that woke me up. Like every Christmas morning of my childhood (psh! who am I kidding, this STILL happens every year), when you wake up at 6am because your internal clock KNOWS that Santa has come and gone and its show time. Except in this case, instead gifts under the tree, I was excited about the butter I knew i had left on the counter overnight to soften. The butter was ready, and I couldn’t wait any longer to unwrap it. The cake baking ensued before 8am.

 

I have to say, i've never seen such a beautiful batter. It might have been the most beautiful thing to come from that shiny red kitchenaid. I wanted to swipe my entire hand finger through it sooo badly, but it was much too early to be eating cake batter. As much as I wish differently, cake batter is not a sufficient breakfast.  To ensure the finger swipe wouldn’t occur, I started to fill the mixing bowl with water. It was heart wrenching to watch the chocolate dissolving into the soapy water, and as the water level approached the top I lost control. Like my brain went into neutral and survival instinct kicked, my index finger swooped up the last bit of batter from a watery death. My housemate said the sounds I made as I tasted this batter were borderline inappropriate. When you make this, I recommend not resisting a taste and inviting every man woman child and dog to try this batter.

While I aim to only post recipes that I have made at least somewhat my own, I didn't make any adaptations to the recipe from this cookbook. I didn’t want to mess with success the first time around. I wasn't going to write about it, but it is just too good not to share. I did however, use raspberry jam instead of caramel between the layers. Since I used the recipe to a 'T' I don’t know if I can post it on here because of copyright reasons or what not. But I will give you a little secret. You can Google ‘tartine bakery devils food cake’ and find it there. It feels weird not leaving you guys with a recipe on this post :( I’m going to look into the rules for sharing recipes from cookbooks. If anyone knows, please do let me know

The letters on the cake are my go to for birthday cake decorating. I melt white chocolate chips slowly in the microwave, and then pipe it on to parchment paper. Let it set until it is completely cool and the letters pop right off the paper. Stick them on the cake and viola! I like this better than piping directly onto the cake because I have been known to misspell ‘birthday’ a few times. Don’t judge.
This cake deserves a birthday just like any person does and I know just the way to celebrate it.

If at First You Don't Succeed... Make Brownies

Before I say anything else I need to get something off my chest. I [insert favorite expletive here] hate my oven! A few days ago, I uncovered what looked to be like a fantastic scone recipe. Well, it looked like a good scone recipe, but I wanted to make it fantastic. So to make a long story short, the world will never know if they were fantastic because of my [use the same or second favorite expletive here] oven hates me. It burns up the flesh of everything I stick in there,  leaving the inside doughy enough to throw at the second story window of any building and have it stick. Trust me on that.

So in a nutshell, the scones didn’t pass the taste test. But if at first a practicing foodie doesn’t succeed… she makes brownies.

There is something so nostalgic about brownies. Maybe it's an evolutionary thing since I would argue most humans come out of the womb loving brownies. While that may be a stretch, I really don’t understand why brownies get me so weak in the knees!
 
Although I am a practicing foodie, cooking hasn’t always been my biggest obsession. My obsessive personaility trait all started off with stickers I believe. I was a 10 year old sticker junkie. I had an encyclopedias worth of sticker books. Why? I don’t know. What did I do with them all? nothing. Then there was my Spongebob phase. Besides day dreaming of being a little old lady with a ‘bikini bottoms’ mural painted on my bedroom wall, I had a shrine dedicated to him in my closet. Then came an obsession with Clay (no. not the sculpting kind. More like the American Idol kind). MOVING ON! Then I went away to college and a funny thing happened. I was in a shoebox of a room with a microwave, mini fridge, a can opener, and all I wanted to do was BAKE. So I worked with what I had. I made pudding pie (store bought graham cracker crust and Jell-O pudding packs) and created my own innovations. I took marshmallows, rolled them in melted chocolate, and then rolled them in graham cracker crumbs. I always left them along with chocolate covered strawberries in the dorm lounge, greeting whoever walked in. Then I tried scones (from a mix). I found a working oven, conveniently placed right next to the washer and dryer. Besides a slight hint of laundry detergent, they were GOOD scones. Now that those dorm days are long gone I can smile because life is way better in the world of apartments with kitchens.
 
Okay back to the brownies!!! These brownies remind me of my first college years because they are so simple and would have been perfect to make in my little shoebox . This requires ONE microwavable bowl.  ONE 8 x 8 inch baking pan. And ONE oven, preferably not a [first expletive here] oven.

I took these out of the oven two hours ago, and the aroma is still clinging to the walls. One day ill invent brownie room spray ( hmm… I see a new obsession in my future).

While these bake I suggest closing all windows and doors in order to marinate your self in the delicious air. Close your eyes and I bet you will be able to smell each individual ingredient: the butter, the cocoa, the sugar, the NUTELLA as they bake together into a beautiful 8 x 8 brownie.



The Practicing Foodie Brownie


•    10 Tbs. Butter (always unsalted)
•    1 Cup + 3 Tbs. Sugar
•    ¾ Cup + 2 Tbs. Cocoa Powder
•    ¼ tsp. Salt
•    1 ½  tsp. vanilla
•    2 eggs (I used Large)- room temp!!
•    ½ Cup Flour
•    Nuts (OPTIONAL)
•    A nice big spoonful of Nutella                               

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan

In a large glass bowl (I used a 4-cup glass measuring cup) stir together the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Then cut the butter into chunks and add it to the sugar mixture.

Place this  in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Remove and stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again. Do this until the butter is melted and incorporated.

Now stir in the vanilla and Nutella while it is still warm so the Nutella melts nicely. Wait for it to cool down for a couple of minutes so the heat doesn't cook the eggs when you add them. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat vigorously until well mixed. Add the second egg and stir vigorously again, until the batter is thick and shiny and everything is incorporated well.

Now add the flour and mix, stirring really well for about 30 seconds.  This can be a bit of a work out.

Now add the nuts, if you want too. I usually add walnuts, but since I was out of walnuts I used some pistachios I had. This was an experiment so I only sprinkled the pistachios on 1/3 of the pan once the brownie mix was poured in. I must say, I thought the chocolate pistachio flavor was great! Next time I may add the pistachios into the batter!! If you are skeptical, pour half the batter into one side of the pan, add pistachios to the remaining batter and pour it to the other half of the pan. One of my mottos is to do one thing that scares you everyday. This could be your one thing!

Pop this into the oven… I hesitate to give you a time since your oven is probably going to cook much different than mine (I envy you). I bake mine exactly 20 minutes and they are perfect. You should bake them until a toothpick comes out nearly clean, except for a little rawness at the bottom.

Sit down, relax and enjoy the foodie aromatherapy.

I suggest waiting until they are completely cool before cutting them. But if you cant wait that long… I understand.

Happy baking.

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