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Chocolate "Sound Thrashing" Cake for Tim and Meredith

7/23/2015

The beloved son of our dear friends eloped last week. Both families favor the marriage and are happy for the couple. Congratulations to Tim and and his beautiful bride, Meredith!

Although a wedding is the start of a new life, it also includes a leave taking. As a mother I get a lump in my throat to think of how sad I would be if one of my children eloped. I hope I get to share the joy of that big moment, and to shower my children with love and blessings as they begin their new lives.
But for a young couple, of course, eloping is a romantic adventure.

So, when a young man I've known since childhood runs off and gets married, what should I do? The first thing that came to mind is to bake a cake. I chose the Black Chocolate Party Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

I told Tim that if my own son eloped I would give him a sound thrashing! Therefore, in his honor I will always refer to this recipe as Tim's "Sound Thrashing" Cake.

This cake contains finely chopped walnuts suspended in a thick sour cream and cocoa enriched batter. This recipe is inspired by Rose's Golden Lemon Almond Cake, also from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I love both of those cakes! She describes this one as "dense, tender and very chocolately."

Straight from the oven, the cake is brushed with a hot syrup made with turbinado sugar and cocoa.

Here's the cake unmolded and brushed all over with the cocoa syrup. It's wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then served the following day.

Here are Tim and Meredith with their "Sound Thrashing" Cake. Wishing the two of you a long and happy life together!

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Traveling Eats at Beer Durham: sweet treats meet craft beer!

7/17/2015

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Southern Living Magazine named my hometown of Durham, NC as the Tastiest Town in the South. This week I want to introduce you to two of the reasons Durham stands out.

Meet Bernie and Jill--the mother-daughter team known as Traveling Eats!

I met these two ladies at a cupcake decorating workshop that I taught a couple of months ago. Last week I caught up with them at a local craft beer shop, where they were meeting, greeting and offering some fantastic treats!

The venue was Beer Durham, a charming bottle shop in Durham, NC.

Ashley and Chad offer 20 craft beers on tap, plus bottles and cans, locally made snacks and wine. It's a great spot for a beer and banter in a terrific location right next to the Durham Farmer's Market.

Jill and Bernie have a way with single-serving treats! They are full of great ideas for flavor combinations and innovative ways to serve their delectable offerings. Here is a shot of some of their goodies from last week:

They had a huge menu of mouthwatering goodies baked in waffle bowls! How cool is that? I had that one in the middle--chocolate cake with peanut buttercream. I can't remember all of the flavors, but I also sampled their fresh Blueberry Pancake treat, topped with lemon curd.

Jill is FEARLESS when it comes to trying new things! Look at this one--Chicken and Waffles with maple syrup! If you aren't a southerner, that combination may sound crazy...but don't knock it until you try it, it's a sweet and savory delicacy--especially this one!

Abelskivers--Danish pancakes! See, I told you--these two are full of great--DELICIOUS-- ideas! These women are AMAZING bakers! Keep up with Jill and Bernie on Facebook here:

Traveling Eats

Beer Durham is the perfect combination of a friendly neighborhood tavern and a boutique carrying the finest artisan brews. Here's staffer Theresa with Ashley and Chad. While in Durham, don't miss it! More about Beer Durham here:

Beer Durham

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The Red Velvet Mariah

7/10/2015

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Back in March I posted about my dear friend Judy, who had taught me about Hammantaschen, and opened other culinary and spiritual truths of Judaism to me. (see that post here--http://artfuloven.weebly.com/roses-alpha-bakers/hamantaschen-to-honor-an-old-friend)

To our delight, last night, Smitty and I were lucky enough to spend an evening with Judy and her youngest daughter Mariah! Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Tom, Judy's husband. His itinerary didn't bring him to Durham in time to join us. He was sorely missed!

Of course, I wanted to bake something to sweeten up the occasion, and Mariah's favorite dessert is red velvet cake...so may I present
"The Red Velvet Mariah."

This cake is a combination of components from three books by Rose Levy Beranbaum, my favorite cookbook author. Rose has forgotten more about baking than I will ever learn, but I am indebted to her for the best cakes, breads, pies and pastries that I have ever tasted. Her recipes are part of virtually all of my family's celebrations.

First, the red velvet cake recipe comes from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. The original recipe is for a single layer, baked in a heart shaped or 9-inch round pan. I doubled that recipe and baked it in two 8-inch round pans. The resulting cakes were very tall, so I torted them for a total of four layers. That's a cake leveler there on the countertop. For cutting cakes horizontally, it's the easiest method.

Rose includes a beautiful raspberry glaze for her Red Velvet Rose cake in The Baking Bible. I glazed the layers before I filled them with icing.

It would be unthinkable to serve a red velvet cake without cream cheese icing, at least here in the American south!. That recipe is Rose's Cream Cheese Buttercream from The Cake Bible. I made a double batch of that icing. I wish I had made another half batch because I prefer to work with more icing than this amount allowed.

It was very warm in the kitchen, and keeping the soft icing cool wasn't easy! Yes, those layers are sliding and listing! The cake went in and out of the fridge several times during the process.

Piping FAST because the warmth of my hands softened the icing as I worked.

The tops of the fresh raspberries got flattened out in the cake carrier. Oh well.

Smitty is getting good at packing up cakes to travel! The chilled cake survived the trip across town in a cooler, and we shared it with my friend Judy, her sister Joy and of course, Mariah.

And here we are, the beautiful Mariah and her cake. It was such a joy to meet Judy's youngest child, and I know that she will grow in wisdom and grace.

I am so grateful for the friendships that have enriched my life! Smitty and I will treasure the memory of this evening, and pray it won't be so many years until we meet again! And next time, we dearly hope, Tom will be with us!

I really appreciate your time, so thanks for visiting my blog and posting comments!

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Thanks for visiting me and my Artful Oven!

Chocolate "Sound Thrashing" Cake for Tim and Meredith

Traveling Eats at Beer Durham: sweet treats meet craft beer!

The Red Velvet Mariah

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