Mt. Chocolate Monster

I just avoided cake disaster. And by avoid, I mean Matrix like action maneuvers Oh man. It was bad. I have never really messed up a cake before but I guess when I do things...I go all the way. All or nothing. And this time, it was an all out FAIL!

This cake was for my brother's birthday party. We had invited extended family, so my reputation was on the line. I don't know if anyone realizes how much effort went into getting that DISASTER to look not so DISASTROUS.

Meet...

Mt. Chocolate Monster!!

Chocolate fudge cake, a creamy Peanut Butter-esque filling, about every frosting you can create as an attempt to fix this sucker and Reese's Cups (chopped and whole).

THE STORY:

First: For the first time EVER...the middle of my cake sunk. 

I thought it had finished baking. I had inserted my toothpick and IT CAME OUT CLEAN!! Silly me. My toothpick wasn't long enough to find the patch in the middle bottom that was still a pool of batter. Ugh. So, it sunk. AND I didn't want to put it back in because I was scared of burning it. This is why I HATE baking with chocolate stuff. I can never tell if it's burned or not :/ So i had a sunken-top cake. Fantastic.

But I wasn't too worried. I would just put a little extra frosting to fill in the top and make it appear even. Oh gee. How I wish it had been that simple.

For this cake, since my brother adores Peanut Butter so much, I wanted to incorporate it into the cake. A Peanut Butter filling! Genius. *sigh* Using my fishing line...I made a nice, straight cut (the best cut I've ever done) separating top from bottom. But upon lifting the top off, I discovered not only the pool of batter mentioned above...but that the middle of the tope had not accompanied the sides in removing itself nicely from the bottom. Oh, well. No biggie. And even when the top managed to break itself into four awkward pieces, I wasn't sweating it. 

I continued to fill my cake splendidly and placed the four pieces back on top. Yes, there was still a gap from the removed middle...but I thought "I'll just fill it with more frosting" If you haven't caught on, I view frosting as a cure all for cake mistakes. *stupid* 

EQUALS HERO!!

FROSTING

Now I bet all of you cake experts are asking yourselves when I flip the cake to hold the broken pieces in place. 

I don't.

Not for a while anyways. BUT I continue to frost a thin PB crumb coat...and here's where it get messy. The pieces kept sliding, the cake was ripping and the more frosting I added to attempt to "glue" it together just made it worse and worse. I had frosting pushing the pieces further out, I had frosting in my hair and I had frosting in my mouth a good portion of the time. DISASTER. (there are no pictures of this. I was a bit preoccupied. When saving/destroying a cake, one doesn't usually reach for a camera...or at least I don't haha)

Now, by this time it is 2:00am and I'm staring at the most horrendous chocolate mess. The top is in all reality a warzone of frosting. I have no more chocolate cake mix, no energy to make batter from scratch. I'm tired, frustrated, and sick from all the frosting I've consumed. And so...I go to my mother.

My dear, wise, loving, all-knowing and beautiful mother tells me to flip the cake. Flip it. And that, my lovely readers, is what mothers do best. Give what should be obvious advice to dim-witted blonde children.

I flipped my cake, frosted the top, decorated with Reese's Cups and compared to what it could have been...ended up not so terrible.









So now, I have a cake sitting in a pool of warring frosting stabilizing on four awkward sliding pieces of top layer, and covered with a "ganache" frosting which I experimentally created.

Yup. Many would still consider this ^ the epitomy of a "cake disaster". In fact, this would probably be the picture in the dictionary next to the term...but I consider it slightly less. More like a cake flop. Eh. you'll have to decide an accurate title.

Mt. Chocolate Monster...Death by Chocolate!

My Family's Reaction: I offered this cake unapologetically. I wanted themto think I made it like this on purpose! It's SUPPOSED to be lopsided with bumpy layering and uneven frosting!! It's a volcanoe of chocolate!!! Lol.

Top view :)

AAAAANDDD!! It was a SUCCESS!! They didn't even suspect that the cake wasn't supposed to look or taste like that. I got sooooo many compliments on it! I told you. FROSTING IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Reese's crown this epic disaster! 

Mt. Chocolate-Monster-PeanutButterLava-Volcano was a BEAST to create. Happy Birthday Brother!! Enjoy the last cake I EVER attempt to make at 2am in the morning!!

Ah, but what is life? Is it not a testing ground? A time to learn and grow? In the kitchen of life, it's necessary to mess up a few cakes to gain experience for our masterpieces :)
~MollyMarie

Cookie Monster's Got Nothing On Us!

I know. Shocking...it's not a bread recipe....please pick up your jaw ;) They're chocolate chip cookieeeeees!!!!!!

How is it possible to have a baking blog and NOT include these lovelies?? It's not. So I'm including them! They are just as tasty as can be and they are sooo easy to make! We make them in quadruple batches. Yup. We go big.

Don't they look mighty fine??. . .despite the less-than-spectacular photography. . . .

They are just the greatest...and they go super quick at my house!

               CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

                    2/3    cup    shortening

                    1/2    cup    sugar

                    1/2    cup    brown sugar

                      1               egg

                      1     tsp.    vanilla

                   1 1/2  cups   all-purpose flour

                    1/2    tsp     baking soda

                    1/2    tsp     salt

                    1/2    cup    chopped nuts (opt.)

~Mix shortening, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly.

~Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting.

~Stir dry ingredients together; blend in to wet mixture. Mix in nuts (completely optional. In fact I recommend leaving them out!!! But to each his own haha ) and chocolate chips (now these guys are a MUST! I mean, they ARE chocolate chip cookies after all...but uh, maybe I do leave them out occasionally...or substitute butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips...or candy)

~Place in rounded tablespoons on an un-greased cookie sheet, pressing down slightly.

~Bake @ 375 deg. for 8-10 minutes or until "delicately browned" (that phrase just sounds soooo delicious, doesn't it??)

YUMMY!! You will NOT REGRET MAKING THESE!!!

~Molly Marie

The Pathetic Attempts #3 ...and a new approach

Fail. Fail. fail fail FAIL.

Only word to describe my experience. 

See? They rose this time, at least. And the taste was good...they just...weren't Uncle Danny's. Or maybe my brain and tastebuds have glorified the memory of those rolls. Either way, these rolls just did NOT cut it. It could be due to the fact that the rolls are cursed...and only Danny can recreate them. More likely is that the recipe was produced by request and came from roll-making that was primarily by "feel". So since my Uncle is in Australia, I haven't been given the Roll Initiation. There hasn't been a "showing me how" rather a "look at the recipe and flail miserably in the land of fail" kind of attempts.

SO.

I have decided to perfect my own roll recipe. And I am well on my way....

Exhibit A:

DELICIOUS!!!!! And I don't even care if I sound conceited.

They aren't perfect yet...but they are pretty darn close. And they'll only get better. Thanksgiving is looking promising!

These babies were huge. And a big success with my family.

Next step is to try them out on other people until they become PERFECT!! Time to think of a name for these delightful delectables...suggestions??

~MollyMarie

The Pathetic Attempts #2

I tried again!! So pros: I didn't use rancid oil (everyone is safe) and I didn't kill the yeast. They actually rose!! woohoo...but the cons: they aren't the beautiful rolls I want. They taste a little yeasty still and they didn't rise as much as they should have. I MUST be doing something wrong. I WILL FIGURE IT OUT!!!!!!!

I mean, they're good. Don't get me wrong. They are edible and not bad. But when I'm involved, "fine" is just not going to cut it!! By Thanksgiving they WILL be perfect or I'm not bring them haha. I have areputation to uphold.

Here's a picture:

(Sorry the picture quality is so bad. I don't have a camera right now...so a phone shot is all I could get!)

I'm not giving up!! Soon, you'll have a professional looking photo of delicious, perfect, fluffy, and anything but pathetic dinner rolls. Just you wait!

~Molly Marie