Friday, April 17, 2015

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (From Scratch!)




I have been meaning to try baking a cake from scratch for a little while and I finally did it! It was awesome! So, without further ado...

Ingredients:

  • 2½ cups flour
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup hot, strong coffee (I used some of Mom's chocolate coffee!)



The first step is to combine all of the dry ingredients (but not the sugar) in a bowl and set aside.


Next, cream all of the wet ingredients (but not the coffee) together with the sugar. 


Once they are creamed together, slowly add the dry ingredients.


When the dry ingredients are all incorporated in the mix and when your coffee is brewed, slowly pour the hot coffee in against the side of the bowl while mixing. This is kind of like pastry cream, you DO NOT want to cook the eggs! Also, this batter will be thin, so don't worry!



Pour the batter into two, 8" rounds (make sure you spray the pans) and bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes. A knife should come out clean when inserted in the middle indicating that they are done.



Now you can finish this up however you'd like. This is what my brother and I did...



So, to do the cake justice, I added some raspberry jelly to the frosting and only frosted in between the two layers. 

And my brother makes an excellent Ganache, so, we drizzled ganache on top and down the sides until we agreed that it was perfect!



This recipe gets 5 out of 5 cat whiskers! It was simple and amazing. And it was sooooo moist. It's definitely better than a box mix and just as easy!


I found the recipe here.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Update

It's been a good while since I forced myself to sit down and write for my blog. This week I'm playing catch up with the recipes I've done. So, here's what you missed with the fosters...

Both Rosemary and Maggie Moo got adopted. Rosemary is still with the couple who adopted her and they continue to love her. We also receive updates from them via Facebook. I love it when we receive updates from our previous fosters!


Rosemary

However, the lady who adopted Maggie Moo returned her to SOAR Doggy Rescue this past week because the lady has health issues and cannot continue to care for Maggie Moo. I hate it when people do this, but at least she returned her to the rescue and not the shelter. So, Miss Maggie Moo is back with us. It was great to see Maggie! She is really beautiful, Mom and I think she is cuter than when she was a puppy. She is a Pocket Pit weighing just 47lbs! Adorable! And she remembers everything about her routine at our house!! And of course she remembers our dogs and us (dogs have such good memories.) Luckily for us and more importantly, her, the lady had kept the name we gave her so that was one less change that she had to deal with.


Maggie Moo

We are also fostering another dog, Ruby. We took her in on Thanksgiving night. She is a bigger ham than Jack, which is saying a lot! She is about a year and a half and is a shepherd/lab mix and weighs 55lbs. She is still quite the puppy, but Maggie Moo moving in has helped her realize she must grow up a bit :-).


Ruby

 Up until a week ago, we were networking her ourselves, but SOAR took her under their wings and now Ruby is getting even more exposure. Thank you SOAR!

Ruby

Now the race is on, which one of these beautiful girls will get their forever home first?