Moist Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Frosting

What could be better then ending the year on a sweet note? Besides today is my brother's girlfriends birthday and she's a picky eater like me, but one of her favorites is chocolate. She's my kind of girl. :) I thought I would make a home made treat that's completely from scratch, and it was pretty easy so I hope you give it a try.

Moist Devil's Food Cake with Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment. Dust with cocoa powder; tap out excess. Set aside.

Sift cocoa powder into a medium bowl; whisk in boiling water. Set aside to cool.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl; set aside.

Put butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until creamy.

Gradually mix in sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add eggs, a bit at a time, mixing well between each addition; mix until well blended. Mix in vanilla.

Whisk milk into reserved cocoa mixture. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture.

Divide batter evenly among prepared pans; smooth tops with an offset spatula.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks; remove parchment and re-invert. Let cool completely.

Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan.

Place the first layer on the cake plate. Spread the top of the first layer with 1 1/2 cups of frosting. (I didn't let the frosting cool long enough so it looks like pudding, but it did firm up when I put it back in the fridge.)

Place the second layer on top and repeat process with another 1 1/2 cups of frosting. Place the remaining layer on top of the second layer, bottom side up. Spread entire cake with remaining 3 cups frosting.

I used ribbon to top the cake and also sprinkled pink spirnkles around the edge and on top to fill in the blank white space of the cake board.

Chocolate Frosting

Makes 6 cups

24 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Put chocolate and cream into a medium saucepan.

Cook over medium-low heat; stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, until thick, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in corn syrup.

Transfer to a large, wide metal bowl.

Refrigerate until frosting is cool enough to spread, about 2 hours, checking and stirring every 15 minutes. Use immediately.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!!!!

Spiced Panko Chicken with Tropical Rum Dip

It can't be the end of the year already! Oh my, I haven't figured out what my new year resolution is gonna be. Last year I decided to grow my hair out for Locks Of Love. I'm shy an inch so gonna have to stretch into the this coming year. See I'm almost there:

I haven't had my hair this long since I grew it out for my wedding 6 and 1/2 years ago. I usually like to keep it shoulder length. My only rule is I have to be able to pull it back in a pony tail. I'll show you pictures after I finally get it cut. I guess I'll have to share my resolution on my next post so I have some time to think about it.

Well, speaking of New Years, I have an appetizer I tried out that I think I'm gonna bring to the block party. Theses little chickens are easy to make and prep ahead of time then pop in the oven when you're ready. The thing I like is they stay pretty crispy so it'll last a while without getting soggy.

Spiced Panko Chicken with Tropical Rum Dip
(Adapted from Practical Gourmet Small Plates For Sharing)

1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
3/4 pound chicken tenders, cut in half
1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
1/2 teaspoon paprika
cooking spray
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons coconut rum
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I left this out there was plenty of mustard flavor from chicken)

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large resealable freezer bag. Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator for 4 hours. Drain, discarding marinade.

Combine panko crumbs and paprika. Press chicken into panko mixture until coated. Arrange on a greased wire rack set in a baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degree F oven for about 15 minutes until crisp and no longer pink inside.

Combine juice and brown sugar in a saucepan. Boil gently on medium for about 25 minutes until thickened to a syrup consistency. (Mine took longer then this.)

Stir in rum and mustard. Serve with chicken.

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup

I can't get over how busy the holiday's always seem to get. We just got back in town yesterday from Corpus visiting my family and had enough time to sneak in a nap before heading out to see the Nutcracker Ballet. I recently won 4 tickets from the radio so my hubby and I got to have some friends join us on our night out on the town. The show was wonderful and I can't believe I haven't seen it before. It makes you want to go home and dress up then leap around the house like I used to do as a little girl. Well, maybe not the same reaction from my hubby, but he enjoyed the performance as well.

Since the weather has stayed cooler I decided to make a couple soups and one that I tried was a Sweet Potato soup. This recipe comes from that Top Secret Recipes site and claims to be one of the Soup Nazi's recipes. While we've been to New York a couple of times we haven't gotten to eaten at the famous restaurant. My hubby is a huge Seinfeld fan so one of these trips we'll have to make it there to see if it taste the same as this. What they don't tell you is you need to blend the soup once it's cooked. Trust me I looked in the pot and was like "this can't be right, it's just mashed sweet potatoes and liquid", it's like magic and turns into a smooth velvet soup. Delicious!!

Soup Nazi's Cream of Sweet Potato Soup

(Adapted from http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/)

4 sweet potatoes (about one pound each)

8 cups water

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 tablespoons half and half

2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

dash thyme

1 cup cashews (split in half)

sugar to taste if the sweet potatoes aren't as sweet

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the sweet potatoes for 45 minutes or until they are soft. Cool the potatoes until they can be handled.

Peel away the skin, then put the potatoes into a large bowl. Mash the potatoes for 15-20 seconds, but don't need to mash them until they are entirely smooth.

Spoon the mashed sweet potato into a large saucepan over medium/high heat, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

When the soup begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 50-60 minutes. Cashews should be soft. Serve hot with an attitude.

This is where I then blended it in small batches.

I garnished it with a sprinkle of thyme.

Last minute wrapping idea and ornament

I hope you have all of your gifts wrapped, but if you don't I have one more idea which comes from my friend Laura. She used some old jewels she had and tied it on the box of home made goodies as a sparkling accent. Super cute if you ask me!

Don't forget to save those soda (or beer) cans after your guest are done. My mom has a neat ornament idea you can start on for next year. You want to flatten the can make a hole in the top using a nail then spray paint both sides blue. Once that's dried, paint on "Believe" or whatever phrase you like and finish up by using glitter paint for the stars. Attach your ribbon on the top and you're done.

I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends and I'm so thankful you stopped by. I'll be back next week with some tasty year end dishes!