Fallen Souffle

I arrived back from a weekend away to find my garden had exploded! My tomato plants are falling over my other plants and have dozens and dozens of little green tomatoes. I just know they are all going to turn red while I am on vacation…grrrr. Well at least I can enjoy the eggplants before I go. I harvested 2 eggplants yesterday and roasted them with some zucchini and yellow squash last night to go with dinner. YUM! I am loving the smaller japanese eggplants as they don’t get quite as mushy when you cook them. I have about 3 more that will probably be ready to be picked tonight, so it’s time to start experimenting with some eggplant recipes. I also have a small jalapeno which surprised me because the little tag says it takes 72 days to grow to maturity and I bought it like 3 weeks ago…oh, well I will take it! I also have a green pepper which I have already decided will result in stuffed peppers when I get a pair of them. Why has it taken me this long to grow a garden, I am loving it!

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* 83 Organize a party for my parents’ 30 wedding anniversary-Completed July 4, 2008

I am happy to report that the anniversary/July 4th party was a HUGE success. I think everyone had a great time and there was plenty of food, drinks and beautiful weather- no complaints at all. I was really thrilled to be able to have a party for my awesome parents and show them how much they mean to me.

My sister is trying to beat me out as the best baker in the family with her red velvet cupcakes with blue cream cheese frosting and hand picked red, white, and blue sprinkles (yes she picked out those colors from the multi sprinkles- so tedious!) but I think my chocolate cake was pretty popular too. Since her frosting recipe made 8 cups or so I used the leftovers to decorate the anniversary cake. It’s not my best work but it does scream homemade goodness and no one seemed to mind that it didn’t have perfect buttercream roses on it. By the the time I was done assembling the cake, I just didn’t have the energy to doll it up.

So now I am working on reinventing the coleslaw and potato salad leftovers for this week, trying to keep things simple as vacation is less then 2 weeks away which means it is time to get creative with freezer and pantry items! What fun!

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Friday, my family and I are not only celebrating 4th of July but also my Parent’s 30th wedding anniversary. Their anniversary was June 11 (which I will mention is also my paternal grandparents anniversary) and with all of our crazy lives we weren’t able to celebrate on that date, so we decided to have a party on a day when most people like to party. We are having a traditional cookout with hot dogs, hamburgers but throwing in some gourmet stuff like grilled portabellos and brie, asian cole slaw, lemon basil pasta salad and red, white, and bleu cheese potato salad.

So I of course had to make a stellar cake for them. I really had a tough time deciding on what to make, I was leaning towards something light and fresh like lemon chiffon cake with strawberry icing but thought that was just…meh. I asked my sister and she ofcourse said chocolate cake. Shocker! I was going through my Bloglines at all the saved cake recipes I have had from the past 2 years, yeah there are a ton of them! Then I found the crunchy milk chocolate and peanut butter layer cake that Joe made like 3 years ago. So I am a little late catching this bus but I am glad I finally got to make this cake.

The cake has a couple parts, none of which are terribly hard to do. It does take a bit of time because the process requires mixing, baking, chilling etc and repeat. I made the cake part 2 nights ago and completed it all last night in between eating a dinner of steak and crab legs and watching So You Think You Can dance (ugh my guilty pleasure). Cake and dishes were done by about 10:30pm.

The cake looks impressive, the pictures above shows the layers and I will post the final product later as I still want to decorate it a bit when I get to Va Beach. The cake is super moist, making it a challenge to cut and flip and replace, but I think with the crunchy almond meringue and peanut butter rice krispy center it will be fabulous! A couple changes from the original, I used almond meal from Trader Joe’s to save the step of grinding the almonds. I also used dark chocolate for the ganache as I had a massive hunk of chocolate from TJ’s and in an attempt to clean out my pantry and save a trip to the store, I used that. I also used crunchy peanut butter because the only creamy I have is the expensive all natural stuff, and well….I wanted to get rid of the crunchy stuff.

So there you got, not too many changes to speak of. I will be sure to post a final picture and reviews after the party along with our other sides but wanted to show off my cake to hold you over until then.

Happy 4th!

Chocolate Cake with Crunchy Peanut Butter Filling

For the cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water

For the filling

1/3 cup sliced almonds (I used almond meal)
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used crunchy)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup Rice Krispies

For the ganache

1 1/4 pounds milk chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate)
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream, warmed

To make the cake

Preheat the oven to 350

In a large bowl, whisk together, flour, cocoa, sugar baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until combined. Add the boiling water and stir until combined - the batter will be fairly thin. Pour the mixture into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan coated with nonstick spray.

Bake until a toothpick placed near the center of the cake comes out mostly clean with a couple moist crumbs attached, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Turn the cake out of pan and place the cake, top side up, on a wire rack.

To make the filling

Reduce the oven temperature to 325

On a large piece of parchment, trace a rough 9″ x 13″ rectangle onto the paper and place it on a large baking sheet.

Add the almonds and confectioners’ sugar into the bowl of a food processor - pulse until they’re finely ground.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the whites are stiff and glossy, about 2 minutes. Gently fold in the ground almond mixture. Scoop the meringue onto the parchment paper and use an offset spatula to fill out the outline you traced on the paper. Scatter the chopped peanuts on top. Bake until lightly browned and firm, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, heat the peanut butter with the butter and milk chocolate, stirring constantly, until smooth and melted. Remove from the heat and fold in the Rice Krispies. Spread the mixture all over the meringue rectangle. Place in the freezer and let harden.

To make the ganache

In a medium bowl set in a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Whisk in the cream until smooth. Remove from the heat and place the bowl into the refrigerate for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, whisking occasionally, until thick enough to spread.

To assemble the cake

Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the cake horizontally in half.

Place the bottom cake layer, cut side up, on a large board. Spread about one-third of the ganache over the cake. Invert the filling onto the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Spread half of the remaining ganache over the filling, then top with the second cake layer. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. Using a serrated knife, trim the edges. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake and refrigerate to set.

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