Tag Archive for: chocolate cake

Sometimes You Just Need Chocolate

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When it is someone’s birthday at the Library Society where I work, we all sign a card and pretend that it is not their birthday until about 12:30 when we assemble for cake and then finally say happy birthday to said person.  It is kind of funny since there are only about 8 of us who work here, so we all know what is going on.  But despite our quirky birthday traditions, we are all excited because we get cake.  It is Susan’s birthday today, and we had chocolate cake.  It was just a regular store bought small birthday cake, but maybe because I have been fighting a cold, or maybe because it is Wednesday, it was just delicious.  Sometimes  you just need chocolate.  Here is a great recipe for a very decadent chocolate cake that will satisfy all of your chocolate needs!

Extreme Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
 3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
5 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.
Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa and confectioners’ sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency.
Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally, cover the top of each layer with frosting, then stack them onto a serving plate. Frost the outside of the cake.

From the beach to the barn- two fun weddings!

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We went to two weddings this weekend, and maybe that is not a crazy thing, but one of them was in Charleston and the other was in Arkansas.  It felt a little crazy to me.  The first wedding was on Saturday morning out on Sullivan’s Island.  My very dear friend Kendall married a fantastic guy named Robert.  The wedding was at his family’s beach house, and it was so wonderful.  Kendall looked so beautiful, and it was an intimate, close ceremony right on the beach with a super fun reception that followed back up at the house.  Now that I am writing this blog, I feel it is my obligation to really focus on the cake at weddings- it is my lot in life.

Kendall and Robert’s cake was awesome!  The top layer was carrot cake, the second layer was chocolate, and the bottom was vanilla.  All three were delicious, light, and creamy.   Happy and warm in the sun, full of cake and surrounded by friends, it was very hard to leave, but on to the next.  We dashed home to pack and then went out to the airport to catch our flight to Northwest Arkansas, where Corby’s cousin was getting married on Sunday afternoon.  The two weddings could not have been more different.  I knew everyone at Kendall’s wedding and knew no one at Samie and Kevin’s wedding.  Kendall and Robert were married on the beach, and Samie and Kevin were married up on a hilltop overlooking Fayetteville, AR, in a beautiful barn.  Kendall had cake- Samie had pie.

Now, despite the differences, both weddings were so much fun.  It was so great to meet all of Corby’s family and friends who had come into town for the wedding, and the barn was so beautiful.  Now the pie, or should I say pies, because there were five different kinds- chocolate pecan, strawberry, apple,   peanut butter, and mixed berry.  I am not kidding when I say that peanut butter pie was something special.  If you follow this blog at all, you might remember that I tried to make a peanut butter pie and failed miserably.  Well, this pie did not fail- it was so so so good.  I have never thought about having pie at a wedding, but it was genius.  It was a busy but fun weekend, and I am glad to be back in Charleston and so glad these two wonderful couples are married- congratulations to them both!  Also, don’t forget, you have until Friday to enter the Daisy Cake giveaway- just click the link and comment to enter https://thesouthwillrise.com/mothers-day-dasiy-cake-give-away/

Alice Boffin Toft’s Bakery

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This is Alice Boffin Toft’s Bakery.  I am not sure where or when we got this, but as a child, this was a favorite.  It was my sister’s, and while she allowed me to play with it, I was extremely jealous, so for a birthday, I got a vegetable cart which you will see in other pictures.  Obviously, not nearly as cool, but when combined, the two were better than any mini grocery store.  If you look closely, in the front is a big yellow cake with a yellow rose.  I thought that was the most beautiful cake in the world and dreamed one day of being able to get a cake like that.  I actually hadn’t thought about that cake for some time, but my wonderful, awesome, beautiful nieces- Phoebe  age almost 6 and Anna age 2 1/2- came for a visit last week, and my mother brought out the Alice Boffin Toft bakery and the vegetable stand.  They loved it!  I will readily admit to taking the box and playing with the bakery while Anna was taking a nap and Phoebe and Walker were off doing something else.  Well, of couse Anna woke up from her nap and busted me in the living room playing with the bakery (you can see the vegetable cart in this picture).  Then Walker and Phoebe found us, and then my play time was over.  I am so glad that this little bakery and all its wonderful treats is still something that little girls and even little boys when dragged along by their sweet cousins want to play with.  In keeping with loving things from the past, here is my great grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe which is super delicious.  However, one day, I hope to be a baker fine enough to make a beautiful yellow cake with a beautiful yellow rose, but until then, I can always pull out Alice Boffin for fun!

Sarah Walker’s Chocolate Cake:

Cream:

1 ¼ sticks butter

2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Then add, one at a time

2 large eggs

Mix:

1 ½ cups unbleached flour

1 tsp. salt

Mix:

1 tsp. baking soda in ½ c. boiling water

1/3 cup buttermilk

Melt:

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350.  Place chocolate in small pan to melt in oven or in microwave.  Beat butter and sugar, add eggs.  Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with buttermilk and soda mixture.  Bake in 2  8” pans at 350 for 30 minutes.