A Labor of Love

A labor of love--that's what this cake is all about for me.  It's one of those recipes that isn't necessarily difficult, just time consuming--but I must say worth every minute!  If you (or the one you love) is a chocolate fan, this is the cake for you.  While it does have three separate layers of chocolate, the stabilized cream in the middle keeps it from being over the top with chocolate.  It is decadant to say the least. 

The first time my husband and I had this cake, it was a gift from a dear lady in our church in Murfreesboro, TN.  She had a friend make this cake for my husband's birthday.  Picture this two-layer devil's food cake with a buttercream icing and a covering of chocolate ganache, topped with chocolate roses and served on a white chocolate platter!  Now THAT is over the top!  It was beautiful.  The friend of our friend was kind enough to share the recipe and it has been the birthday cake of choice for my husband ever since.

I have found that it works best to make this cake in stages:  First make the cake and either let it cool completely or even freeze the layers.  Next, make the stabilized cream and let it set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow it to set up.  Finally, make the chocolate buttercream icing and the ganache.

Be sure to cut a piece of cardboard the size of the cake to put the cake on it before you begin layering.  Without the cardboard, it will be almost impossible to move to a platter.  (Trust me--I speak from experience!!)

This week when I made this for my husband's birthday, I made the layers in square cake pans so I could make a half of a cake since it was just the 2 of us celebrating.  I knew a whole cake would be way too much to eat (or too much temptation TO eat!) so I cut one layer in half and stacked the half cake.  The other layer is in the refrigerator for the next time I need a dessert along with the other half of the icing.  I only made a half recipe of the stabilized cream.

Here is the finished product.  It's looks like a HUGE oreo.  Make sure you get a bit of the cream, the icing and the ganache with each bite of cake.  It is like a fork full of love!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Summer Days

Summer seems like a blur!  Every year when summer arrives, my husband and I always  comment about how quickly it will fly by--and it always does.  This summer was a great one filled with several trips and many good times.  Here's a short list of how we spent our summer (and my excuse for not posting!):

• We started the summer off by spending a week at Myrtle Beach with our oldest son and his wife.   Love the beach!!
• We were blessed to be able to attend the international youth convention for the Church of God in Orlando, Florida, with our youth.  On the way home we got spend the afternoon at Daytona  Beach.
• We hosted my brother and sister-in-law for a few days and took them to see Cinderella at Jenny Wiley Theatre (which was great), we spent one afternoon out on beautiful Paintsville Lake, and did some siteseeing.
• We attended a reunion in our hometown of my youth group's sharing group.  It was a little bit of heaven!
• I was able to visit my parents a couple times during the summer months as well.  An added bonus.
• We spent our anniversary in Columbus, Ohio, to see Wicked which was absolutely fabulous.  I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.  We had dinner with some dear friends.  Wonderful food and fellowship.
• We went to Tennessee for a very quick (but great) visit to see our sons and their wives.
• I attended a Beth Moore conference with the ladies from our church and one of my sisters in Lexington. Spiritually refreshing!

As I reflect on these special days, I am recalling some special meals and treats as well . . .  penne carbonara, homemade peach ice cream, salty caramel ice cream, and fresh catch Pontchartrain at Landry's in Myrtle Beach. Often when I enjoy a special dish at a restaurant, I come home and do some searching on line in hopes of recreating it.  Sometimes I am successful at creating a similar taste, other times, not so successful. Another dish I had this summer that I loved was grilled tilapia with a mango salsa which I had at Cheddars.  Here is the recipe I found and loved.  The only change I made was omitting the jalapeno pepper.  I put it in at first but ended up taking it out.
 
I hope your summer was enjoyable, whether you spent some days away on vacation or found some fun and relaxing things to do at home.  The important thing is making the most of each day that the Lord blesses us with.  Why not make some homemade ice cream, grill some burgers, or spend the evening outside enjoying the sounds of summer before September rolls in?  It will be here before you know it!

By the way, here is the recipe for the strawberry cake I promised in a previous post.  It is Delicious!!