Cakes 26 and 27 - Nigella's Chocolate Truffle Meringue Cake Twice

This shows the gorgeous dinner which preceded
the chocolate cake.  My talented bro-in law made
this meal, and it was every bit as tasty as it looks.

      If you want to make a delicious, beautiful, and elegant dessert, grab a copy of Nigella Lawson's Feast, page 294.  The first one delighted a bunch of my girlfriends a at a summer luncheon.  N. commented, "It truly does taste just like a truffle!"
      The second  assault on this project occurred when my sweet middle sister and I were together in my large southern home state on a particularly sultry summer day.  We truly longed to make chocolate cake, but it had to be one with a minimum of actual baking; the day was just too hot.  For Truffle Meringue Chocolate Cake only the meringue  has to bake, so that was our clear choice.  We did Nigella's cake, but we did the large southern state version of the meringue:  crunchier and much larger.  Like ladies hair in that particular state during my upbringing, this meringue was enormous, airy, and fluffy, reminiscent of thunderclouds or cotton candy. My sister and I thought this extra meringue was a premium idea.  When we enjoyed this version of truffle cake after the excellent  meal her husband prepared for us, her family agreed: more meringue = good!
   This is my sister's recipe for making all this meringue, and I'm not sure where she got it, but she sometimes serves this as a cookie, by itself.

Joan's Amazing Meringue

3 egg whites at room temperature

1 tsp good Mexican vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Beat the egg whites and all ingredients except sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks.  Gradually add sugar and vanilla, still beating.  Stop when the mixture forms stiff peaks, careful not to overbeat.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Day 25 - Emergency Chocolate Ice Cream

   Not at all cake, but certainly chocolate!  A Cuisinart ice cream maker bucket  in the freezer saves many a summer evening, and on this particular occasion we would have been completely dessertless without it.  Here's my recipe.

Emergency Chocolate Ice Cream

1 pint  half and half

8 ounces good semisweet chocolate melted and cooled

1/2 cup sugar

1 shot orange liqueur

Mix briefly and freeze according to the instructions with your ice cream maker.

#24: Wacky Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting, David's Cake

     David turned 20 today, June 10, so a quick cake needed to move in his direction.  This little cake took only 12 minutes to assemble; you mix right in the pan. I used one of those aluminum pans you get at the grocery, the kind with the plastic lid to survive the ride.  The Wacky Chocolate Cake is on page 63 in Michelle Urvater's amazing book, but as she notes this recipe appears under various aliases elsewhere. The frosting was pretty much a recipe rewrite, since there was such a press for time and since no cream in the house and only crunchy peanut butter.  Butter and skimmed milk substituted for cream, then extra peanut butter and confectioner's sugar to firm up the texture, and voila!  A lovely little chocolate cake is frosted and tasting like Reese's Peanutbutter Cups!

   Here is the recipe for my version of Crunchy Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting.  Bring 3/4 cup Adam's 100% Natural CRUNCHY Peanut Butter, 1/2 stick unsalted butter, and 1/2 cup of milk to room temperature. Sift 2 1/2 cups  confectioner's sugar with 1/2 cup Hersey's Special Dark (100% cacoa) Cocoa. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer of any kind, blend the peanut butter, butter, and milk with at least 2 tsp good Mexican vanilla.  Add the sugar and cocoa, and beat vigorously.  Play with the texture if it is less than perfect.  Add a little milk if it's too stiff or a little sugar and peanut butter  if it's too thin.

  While this is no buttercream frosting in the same way that Dan Quayle is no John F. Kennedy, it is so delicious that I would eat it on almost anything.