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Or, if you’d rather just listen, check out Jaklumen’s audio post here:  http://jaklumen.vox.com/library/post/canarygirl-said-i-should-say-chocolate-cake-like-homer-simpson.html

Well we’ve had our last birthday at the canary house until next year…my little baby Sammy turned 3 years old yesterday.  *sigh*  It seems like he was just born the other day…I miss the newborn days, and I think if I didn’t have so many children stuffed into my shoe, I’d be aching for another one right about now…there’s just something about newborns…so cuddly and soft and sweet…and their little heads smell like heaven.  Ok, I guess I’ve digressed from the original topic a bit, haven’t I?  Cake.  Even better, Chocolate Cake.  With Capital C’s.  This is my no fail chocolate cake recipe, it comes out perfectly every time…I’ve made sheet cakes, layer cakes and bundt cakes with this recipe, and it has never disappointed me (or anyone that’s tried it for that matter! lol).  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  Sorry for the lame picture this time…trying to coordinate a 3 year old and his party made it difficult for me to concentrate on the shot. LOL

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water
1 cup buttermilk (I usually have to make sour milk instead-1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, allowed to sit 15 minutes)
1 cup sunflower oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350ºF/175ºC.
Line desired pan with parchment or wipe with sunflower oil and dust with cocoa powder.
In a large bowl, beat water, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla with a mixer on low speed.
Add dry ingredients and beat for about 3-5 minutes on low speed, until thoroughly combined.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake accordingly, a 13×9″ pan will take about 40-50 minutes, but you’ll need to adjust baking time according to the pan(s) you are using.
I like to frost this with my mom’s fudge frosting, but go wild and bust out of the mold if you like. lol

All of my kids have fall birthdays so be prepared for a whole slew of dessert recipes…so far we’ve had brownies, now oreo cake, and we still have 2 more to go over the next few weeks.  Hope you’ve got a sweet tooth! :)  José requested an Oreo cake for his birthday, but the last time we tried the box mix…..well…let’s just say, “EW.”  So this time I made up my own version, made with oreo cookie crumbs and filled with frozen vanilla mousse.  I’m not a fan of Oreos, but everyone that tried it had a second serving.  That must mean it was good, right? lol  Sorry for the bad picture quality…something is wonky with my photoshop, and the white is skewed to yellow…I tried to correct it, and it turned out blue. *shrugs a dumb shrug*  At any rate, you can still get the idea.

Ingredients:

3 cups Oreo cookie crumbs (more or less…I buzzed up 32 cookies)
1/3-1/2 cup melted butter
3 egg whites
2 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

Preparation:

Combine cookie crumbs and butter in a mixing bowl, and mix until it sticks together.
Using a 7″ springform pan, spread half of the cookie mixture onto pan, pressing firmly into place to form an even layer.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form (you can add a bit of sugar (2 tablespoons) to this if you like).
Reserve.
Beat cream, sugar, salt and lemon juice until soft peaks form.
Gently fold egg whites into cream mixture and spread over cookie crust.
Top with remaining cookie crumb mixture, using the back of a spoon to even the layer and press it in a bit.
Freeze several hours or overnight.
Let sit about 15 minutes out of the freezer to unmold.
Carefully, using a cake plate (or plate larger than the cake), flip the cake over (so that the pretty, flat side is up).
Note***Allow to thaw about 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

Carrot cake is one of those things, that when done right, is like a little piece of Heaven right here on Earth, and when done wrong, is…well…not. lol  This particular version is delightfully moist, yet still lightly textured, not dense at all.  The frosting really compliments the spicy flavors of the cake.  This is by far my favorite carrot cake, gluten free or not.  C’mon!  Have a piece!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2/3 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
pinch salt
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2 carrots, grated (about 2 cups)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

For the frosting:

8 ounces (200 grams) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
zest from one lemon

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).
Cut a piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of a spring form pan (9 inch, 22 cm).
In a large bowl, combine flours, spices and salt and set aside.
Separate eggs into 2 medium sized bowls.
Beat egg yolks with half of the sugar until thick and creamy, and set aside.
Beat egg whites with remaining sugar until soft peaks form.
Add egg yolk mixture to flour, and gently combine.
Add carrots, oil and vanilla, stirring to combine.
Gently fold in egg white mixture, taking care not to overmix.
Pour mixture into prepared pan, and bake approximately 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan and cool completely.
While cake is cooling, prepare frosting.
In a medium bowl, beat all ingredients on medium speed until thoroughly mixed.
After cake has cooled completely, place on a serving plate, and spread frosting evenly over all sides.
Press chopped nuts onto sides of cake and garnish top with whole nuts and lemon curls.

Time for something decadent!  It was my sister-in-law Marta’s Birthday this week, and I got to make her birthday cake.  Having recently purchased a book dedicated exclusively to chocolate, the perfect opportunity to break it out presented itself…my sil *loves* chocolate. :)  The recipe took quite a bit of time and preparation, but holy heavenly chocolate experience….the cake is very light textured, the filling is fluffy and sweet, and the double chocolate dipped strawberries just gave it the perfect finishing touch.  You’ll need a scale for this recipe…the measurements in the book were all weight measurements, so I’ve converted them to ounces.  Sorry about that!  I’m adding the conversion links to my links until I have time to weigh and measure out the quantities in cups/spoons, etc…when I get that done, I’ll provide a link for easy converting, but for now…this is what we’ve got to work with.

Unfortunately, I cannot cut a level layer to save my life, so that top layer?  Kind of lame looking….way too thin towards the center….see that bottom layer all thick and luscious?  Yeah….half of that was supposed to be part of that top layer. LOL

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1/2 cup (120 grams) butter
1 1/2 ounces (40 grams) powdered sugar
6 eggs
6 ounces (170 grams) sugar
5 ounces (120 grams) dark chocolate
4 1/2 ounces (130 grams) flour
pinch of salt

For the filling:

8 ounces (200 grams) butter
6 ounces (150 grams) white chocolate
1 tablespoon espresso, cold
a little over 8 ounces (220 grams) powdered sugar
8 ounces (200 grams) heavy cream

For decoration:

fresh strawberries, washed and completely dried
melted white chocolate
melted milk chocolate

Preparation:

Make the cake the day before.

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
Line a larger springform pan with parchment (bottom and sides), or grease and flour the pan.
Melt chocolate over a double boiler and allow to cool.
Using an electric mixer, blend butter, powdered sugar and salt until creamy.
While continuing to mix, add egg yolks one at a time, fully blending after each addition.
Incorporate melted chocolate until fully combined.
Beat egg whites and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
Fold egg white mixture into chocolate mixture carefully, just until fully combined.
Sift flour into the batter, and fold in carefully just until fully combined.
Spread batter into prepared pan, leveling with a spatula.
Bake in preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes.
Wait 24 hours to remove from pan.

Prepare the strawberries:

Gently stir melted chocolates, to create a swirly mix, not fully combined.
Dip strawberries in chocolate and place on a wax paper lined plate.
Reserve any unused chocolate for decoration.
Place in refrigerator until ready for use.

Prepare filling:

Beat the softened butter with the powdered sugar until creamy.
Melt chocolate and incorporate into the butter mixture.
Add espresso and beat until combined.
Whip cream until soft peaks form.
Carefully add cream to chocolate mixture, folding in with a spatula, just until combined.

Assemble cake:

Cut cake into 4 equal layers (or 3 uneven ones, like I did LOL).
Frost layers with filling, then frost outside with remaining frosting.
Top with chocolate dipped strawberries, and drizzle with reserved chocolate (I put it in a plastic bag and snipped the corner off….make-shift pastry bag!)…..I also added chocolate dipped cookie “pearls” at the base of the cake. 

With Valentine’s day coming up, I thought I’d share my very favoritest chocolate dessert EVER.  These turn out absolutely amazing every time, and are SO easy you wouldn’t even believe it.  One of the great things about this dessert, is that it can be made ahead and refrigerated, and then just baked while you’re having dinner…so the cake is lovely and hot and gooey and dripping with chocolatey heaven…just waiting for a scoop of your favorite ice cream….and fruit of choice to balance out the richness.  Seriously.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
4 ounces (100 grams) dark chocolate (I like Lindtt 59%)
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks 
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour

Preparation:

Grease 4 ramekins with butter and lightly dust with cocoa (I prefer this to flour, to avoid white powdery residue).
Preheat oven to 450ºF (230ºC). 
Melt the butter and add chocolate (chopped into small pieces).
Remove from heat and set aside.
Beat together the 2 eggs plus 2 yolks and the sugar, until it’s light and thick (an electric mixer works best).
Stir the butter and chocolate until creamy and smooth.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and beat to combine. 
Quickly beat in the flour until just mixed in.
Pour into prepared ramekins (at this point, you can refrigerate the coulant (covered), just bring them back to room temp before baking).
Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake approximately 6-7 minutes (the center may not be completely set yet).
Invert ramekins onto plates and allow to sit 10 seconds before removing.
Serve with sauce of choice, ice cream, fresh fruit…be creative and have fun.