glimmerglass....

I did a "drive by" of Cooperstown on Friday (8/27). I took Ruth out to dinner at Pizza Hut, paid too much for a room at the Lake and Pines Motel and ate breakfast at the Cooperstown Diner. The weather in central New York was great. It was cold at night (50's) and warm during the day (70's). It made for foggy mornings. I had breakfast around 6:00am and then stopped by the lake front park before heading out of town. It was so foggy on the lake, I couldn't see the end of the boat docks.

progress report....

I'm halfway through the cake. Eight more slices to go. giggle.

I forgot to mention that I used a mix of regular cocoa and a dark chocolate version of bakers cocoa in this recipe. I haven't quite figured out what dark chocolate cocoa is but I'm researching it.

Chocolate cake, ganache and glaze produces some interesting dreams at night. Last night in my dream, I had an aquarium with little kittens that could breathe underwater. Their fur stayed dry and they just walked along the bottom looking cute. They never showed an interest in swimming. How do you interpret that?

This cake screams to be eaten while I drink a cup of black coffee. So far I have resisted the urge. That might over stimulate my little pea brain.

withdrawal....

It's been over a month since my dental fun started. I've been sensitive to cold and sweet foods. This has led to a huge chocolate craving that I decided to do something about this weekend. I started with a 9" Devil's Food Cake that I baked on Saturday and stuck in the refrigerator. I pulled it out on Sunday, sliced off the top and sliced the remainder in half for a two layer cake.

I then whipped up some ganache using heavy cream and dark chocolate

Here it is after assembly (filling) and smoothing (masking). I never claimed to be a cake decorator so don't be critical of my edges. The cake is on a cooling rack for chocolate glazing.

Glaze is more dark chocolate, heavy cream and butter. It's poured on hot and allowed to coat the sides.

The scariest part is transferring the cake to the cake container without dropping it. This was the first time that I glazed a cake at home and it wasn't too bad. The bad news is that it is a 9" cake and there aren't enough people in this house to eat it all. My future versions will be 6" cakes. That is almost individual sized!