I recently bought a new cookbook for three reasons:
1. The picture of coconut macaroons is beautiful
2. There is a recipe for cupcakes that uses Bailey’s Irish Cream and Guinness beer… need I say more?
3. Almost every cake in the book have no frosting
I am a frosting girl to the core. I’ve always been the one who wants the corner piece of cake because it has more frosting, and I always scrape the frosting off the serving tool onto my plate. I will eat the frosting off cupcakes and then toss the cake or offer it to one of my more cake-loving friends. I think I do this because frankly, most cakes you get at a party are pretty lousy and the frosting is the only part worth eating. That is why, when I saw this cookbook that boasted beautiful cake without frosting, I knew the cake had to be pretty darn good to stand on its own. So, I pulled out every bowl and utensil in my kitchen (does this author know Martha?) to throw together this rich, chocolate, Parisian cake.
I have been feeling under the weather lately so when I got an invite to a potluck dinner tonight, I quickly tossed it aside in my mind. After giving it another thought though, I realized I’ve turned down way too many invites lately to sit around in my apartment and it’s also getting to that time where all my friends have graduated and are moving, so this may be the last time for me to see some of them. I changed my mind, made another cup of tea, and decided on making this cake (I know potluck usually means you should bring food, but seriously, I buy butter, eggs, and flour at the store, not food items).
This cake was suprisingly easy despite all of the components it involved (double-boiler for the chocolate, butter and espresso; one bowl for egg yolks and sugar; another bowl for egg whites and more sugar…). It also made my kitchen smell like rich, chocolatey heaven, which suprisingly made me all better (ok, maybe not all better, but at least on a chocolate high). Plus I made it in a bundt pan so it would be easier to cut into pretty slices for everyone.
I also made a super last minute decision to make a snickerdoodle cake. What is a snickerdoodle cake, you ask? Well, I kinda just made it up. A yummy light cake, topped with homemade whipped cream and cinnamon-sugar. Um, yeah, I’m pretty much brilliant.
I hope this is a fitting farewell for mis amigos!
(Why is it that every time I’ve had a big baking project lately, the weather is crazy terrible? That wind looks like I shouldn’t bother doing my hair for tonight!)
