Chocolate Cake Success!

WHEW! I'm not a total cake failure! Not only was I able to make the most delicious cake, it was a moist vanilla cake with a rich decadent chocolate (non-glaze) icing, but it was the Thalhimer's Chocolate Cake! Those of you Richmonder's know what I'm talking about here, but those of you who are not from the good old RIC, I'll fill you in with some photos I found online:



(All gussied up for the Holidays)



(I love this retro photo!)


Thalhimers was a Southern Department Store based out of Richmond, Va. that I remember very much going to. Especially at Christmas time. It was located in downtown, Richmond and for me was always an event to go shopping there. What I remember most, besides the Christmas decorations, was this little restaurant located inside the store, called the Richmond Room, which was known for certain southern delights to include to most amazing chocolate cake.



I guess you know when you are getting old and you begin to become nostalgic over a department store and chocolate cake, but it's a nice memory that I have! They have been out of business for a long time now, and as a result, really put a halt on Richmonder's shopping downtown. (Which is a shame, and don't get me started on that) however, I am happy to report that they are revitalizing that area of downtown and turning several of the old buildings into modern city lofts.


Pretty cool.


Anyway the cake was delish, Ben was happy with his birthday cake. Overall, a huge success.

Happy Baking to all of you out there!

Caramel Cake Update

The recipe said that caramel icing can smell fear. Be Brave, and it will turn out fine. I think that I was brave, I showed no fear....

....and it still came out like a glaze. The caramel didn't thicken like it was supposed to, it remained very watery. It tasted like caramel, and was really really good. I was proud of that, but didn't look anything like frosting or icing, it looked like melted caramel. It wasn't even the right color. I dipped the spatula into the pan, thinking, "surely it's going to thicken up" and lifted it up, looks like I have on my hands a pan full of really, really, runny caramel.

So, what did I do? I showed my bravery by putting it on the cake anyway. I'll show you Caramel Icing. It then proceeded to run all over the plate. And my counter top.

I thought it would harden, and work out just fine. We said a little cake prayer and went to bed. It will do magical things overnight and all work out.

But, that's not really what happened. After the cake sat with this super yummy "glaze" overnight it did weird things to my cake. It turned my beautiful, fluffy, light, cake, into a 15 pound, dense, pound cake-cake. Literally. It tasted good, it was sweet, with a hint of almond and caramel, so there was success on that end, but as far as the icing, better luck next time.

I didn't even take a photo of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my cake, as Julia and my Mom always said, "Be proud of what you put on the table, no excuses!" it was yummy, and was appeared to be a hit at the party, but it's definitely not blog worthy of a photo...not yet.

Next up. Red Velvet.

How hard can that be?

White Cake Boxes

As the Carver's summer comes to a close, we had a nice three day weekend to reflect on it all. Whew. Sometimes it feels like we need to stop and breathe, and really soak it all up. Funny to think, this time last year, we were gearing up for all things New Mexico. Things have certainly changed. New Mexico would have been crazy and fun, but I think so far staying in the ol' RIC hasn't been too shabby.

It's impossible to say everything that we have done this summer, but it's been a good one. Let's just say. Copper agrees, he has also spent his lazy summer sunning in the back yard or lolling on the screened in porch. It took him a while, but we think he's finally adjusted after his big move.

As it all comes to a close, it makes me think about life and how interesting this has all been. This is so not how we expected it to be....but I have to say, it's not too bad. Which brings me to this post. When I think of celebrating and happy times, what immediately comes to mind?

Cake.

Eating cake, baking cakes, making someones day by giving them a homemade cake, these are all things that make me happy. I know, I know, no one is surprised by this. Of course, I might also answer this question with champagne or Paris. But, currently the answer is cake. :)

Whatever happened to the lost art of cake baking? From scratch I mean. I'm reading this great book now (which I can't remember the name of) that talks about old Southern Cake recipes, about a time when you always brought a coconut cake to a funeral or baked a hummingbird cake to say welcome to the neighborhood. I love that.

So, this Fall, I've decided that I'm going to experiment with baking as many cakes as I can. I want to bring this back. Watch out friends, you might just find me sitting on your back steps with a white cake box waiting for you!

Lemon, coconut, chocolate, red velvet, milky way, you name it, I want to bake it. My first experiment to tackle: Caramel Cake. Which I'm going to make tomorrow. Ekkk. I'll keep you posted.



Do you have happy memories do you have surrounding cake? Did you always request the same cake for your birthday? If you could have any slice of cake right now....what would it be?