Thursday, June 26, 2008
Archives & Chocolate Cake
In related archive news, I completely overhauled my portfolio section thanks to a Flickr widget, and now each section of photos will constantly update with the latest additions per subject. Not only does it save a ton of space on the server, but I don't have to build a new page for every photo, or write the scripting to pull them in. As for the writing portions of my portfolio, sadly, you are left with the same ol', same ol'. I've been doing a lot of editing for other people's writing, but not doing much of my own. Clearly. Or this page would have more than a bunch of bird pictures on it.
The good news is, I've just taken over office operations at the Journal after losing my great assistant and friend, Robin, to manage The Spine Journal in Chicago. Since no one is there many days due to the editor in chief traveling quite a bit, I've just started running things from home on those days. And it rocks. Plus the office is unfortunately getting bumped to a different building, far away from the media people I have come to know and love, so that they can make my gorgeous office with a door to the garden and bathroom into a private snack room for doctors, right after they just spent a bajillion dollars building a new cafeteria.
Ask me how I feel about that. I really think modern work life, while certainly not as dirty and smelly as previous centuries, is inhumane in its own special way.
Anyhoo, in the attempt to avoid working in my newly cubicled area on the 5th floor with nonopening windows and stalls and "break rooms" seething with leftovers, I will be here as much as possible, freeing up some time and energy that I can use to write.
Lastly, a big HELLO! to Adam's friends, whom, I am told, are seeking the Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe. I'm sure he gave you the link, but I thought I'd include a shorter version that I use when I'm in too much of a hurry to make The Real Thing.
Guinness Chocolate Cake: Easy Version
1 box Ghirardelli double chocolate muffins
Guinness extra stout
whatever else the box calls for
This is the complete For Dummies version in that you just substitute the beer for water in the recipe and blend it right up. Usually I do this in a cupcake pan, but it can be baked as a cake as well. It doesn't have as much of that awesome Guinness smell that the other cake does, but it does punch up the richness of the chocolate in the muffin mix.
Good luck, and I will be updating very soon, now that our big news is out!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Another Good Thing...
If you happen to be hauling said cake into work in a cake carrier (bought at Target for 4 dollars) (take THAT, JoAnn Fabrics and your 15 dollar carrier) (YEAH, BABY) and also happen to have your purse and workbag on one arm and very heavy gift bag for your assistant's birthday on the other arm, and at one point reach out to knock on the door to be let into the office, fumbling the cake carrier and therefore watching it flip over and over and land on its head onto the sidewalk while you go, "NOOOOOOOOOO" in slow motion... rest assured, the cake will be the one thing to survive this event unscathed due to its protective and also delicious chocolate shell.
Or so I hear.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
3 Pictures
mmmm! One final note on the cake, when the chocolate cover hardens, you need a pretty sharp knife to cut a piece all the way through and not crack the shell. Whatever you do, don't slide the knife under the slice towards your bare finger. Chocolate is slightly difficult to clean out of a gaping wound. Not that I would know from personal experience.
Next picture... For some inexplicable reason, the tiny courtyard in front of my apartment has been plagued with mushrooms. Everytime there is any bit of moisture--rain, fog, whatever--exactly 2 days later, I have at least one new stinkhorn. If you've never had one, it smells a little like ammonia and a little like rotting flesh. But I can't just have any stinkhorn growing out there, like the usual Octopus Stinkhorn that looks like silly string gone bad, it has to be one I'd never heard of... Ravenel's Stinkhorn. Look at this lovely thing:
Obscene, no? You should read the legend on how it came to be--I can't find where I first read it; however, the Latin name for this plant is phallus ravenelii. Pretty much sums it up. Of course, if you don't get these buggers right away, the spongey stalk deflates, the gooey top turns black and tarry, and it falls over and pollinates everything in sight. Given that, I get to start my day off by yanking up each new visitor with the newspaper wrapper, hoping I don't sink my fingers down into a hidden, unhatched "egg" (see below).
So fresh and oozing with yuckiness! One day recently I pulled up over 40. Nobody else I've seen at the complex has these. I love nature.
Last picture--a more cute, non-yucky visitor!
Awh! We noticed this little guy hanging around by the hotel parking lot next to Mayo. Since he came right over to me to say hello, I was convinced he'd either run away or had been dropped off. With winter coming, myriad birds of prey on the property, and a busy street next to his covey, I thought I'd try and "rescue" him. However, after a couple hours of my assistant Robin and I running around with a beach towel and minnow net after him--through the courtyard, under the cars (NO, BUN, NOT UNDER THE BEATLE), etc.--followed by a day of near paralysis (clearly, I had not done enough plies in my childhood to last me a lifetime, as I previously thought), he let us know he was not having any of that rescuing business.
We did have several lovely conversations, though, during which I sat on the grass and he bathed 2 feet away (SO cute), and I suggested he rethink his plans not to move in with me and Lex and what lovely buds they would be, seeing as how they were both the color of a caramel macchiato. He, on the other hand, thought his thatch of sawgrass was just fine and was enjoying the 99 cent Wendy's salads the ladies were leaving him. Robin thought we should name him Ajoe (for the journal), but by the time we had returned from Thanksgiving break, he'd moved on. I hope. *sigh*
Labels: chocolate, garden, recipes
Monday, November 20, 2006
Adventures in Chocolate
About the cake... I once heard that chocolate and Guinness were good partners, and I recently set out to create the ultimate Guinness Chocolate Cake. I tracked down 4 recipes--American, Irish, and Australian--and took the best of each to make my cake in order to distract myself from the heinous episode of Lost that was on TV. Not that that narrows it down for you, since they're all heinous this season. Heinously boring.
Annnyway, here it is. The bite of the stout really brings out the cocoa and makes it seem much darker than it is, without the thick heaviness of Devil's Food. It's quite a light cake, and has been well received. The good news for you is, I've made this 5 times now and road tested it, so it is perfected. See below for the "exciting" story.
Chocolate Guinness Cake
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
10 ounces Guinness stout
3/4 cup natural cocoa
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Icing
6 ounces dark chocolate
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the sugars and butter until thick. Blend in the eggs and vanilla. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the cocoa and Guinness, letting them sit to let the foam subside and then whisking again. In another bowl, mix or sift together the flour and baking soda. Then, slowly add alternating amounts of the stout/cocoa and flour/soda into the large bowl, mixing thoroughly each time until all ingredients are incorporated. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 40 minutes.
Prior to icing, cool until just warm. Melt together the butter and chocolate in either a double boiler or a bowl sitting on a small pot of simmering water. Stir in the cream at the end and mix thoroughly. Spoon the icing over the cake until covered completely. Place the cake in the fridge, uncovered, until the icing hardens.
Cooking Notes
About the icing: I prefer dark chocolate and think the hard chocolate shell really adds to it. But, I am a chocoholic. I also saw several other icings used online including cream cheese.
About the cake pan: I used 3 different pans during my trials-- a 9" springform, a regular round cake pan, and a fancy Bundt pan. The fancy Bundt didn't work quite as well because the cake is fairly light and soft and didn't come out as easily as with the flat pans. I also used parchment paper in the bottom of the springform pan and that made removal simpler.
Things I Did not Learn the Hard Way...maybe
*TIP: Use a bowl big enough for the butter/sugar, as you'll be adding all ingredients into that one. Unless your idea of a good time is a shirt covered in Guinness and cocoa, in which case you should use a small bowl.
*TIP: Convert all measurements to one scale. Don't use metrics and American unless you want to give yourself a headache mid-cake.
*TIP: If you only have one measuring spoon, ensure that it is in fact a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon so that your baking soda content is not 5 times the required content, ruining cakes 2 and 3 and requiring an emergency trip to the grocery store for certain ingredient refills followed by hurriedly making cakes 4 and 5 with the kind and understanding assistance of the birthday haver that you may happen to be making the cake FOR because you are now frazzled and have been standing on your feet for 3 hours.
*Seriously, do not mess with the baking soda and flour ratio.
