a few dessert recipe recommendations and a preview of recipes to come

Hey, y’all,

We here at Emandam have something of a busy month.  Em has big science presentations coming up, and I’ve got finals (yes, after winter break – my law school’s trying to make me hate January).  So we’ve got a hectic schedule – particularly this week – that admits of little blog posting.  But we don’t want to have total radio silence, so here are a few recipe recommendations and a preview of a recipe I’ll write up after one of my finals is done this Friday.

1. Chocolate Stout Cake – from Smitten Kitchen.  This is a great recipe, although next time I think I’ll flour my Bundt pan as well as greasing it because I definitely damaged my cake when I tried to take it out of the pan.  Anyway, it was the perfect cake for the beloved carnivore’s and my 1-year anniversary (hence the candle).  On our first date in December 2009, we both drank a really good stout.  The bar/restaurant where we had our first date is also a microbrewery, so I used the same stout in this cake, which was perfect because the beer has some hints of espresso flavor, and that really complemented the mild coffee flavor used in the cake.   I’m not sure you can make a non-alcohol-using version of this cake, so I don’t have any substitution suggestions – apologies to our Baptist readers (and we know we have a lot, between Em’s family and the beloved carnivore’s friends and family!  Em and I joke we should change the name of our blog to “Cooking for Baptists” – but rebellious Catholic that I am, I keep cooking with booze).

2. Root Beer Float Cupcakes – from Smitten Kitchen.  These were a fun treat that my sister and I made – actually, she pretty much made them all by herself while I was making the Chicken Pot Pie.   Because I love marshmallows with my chocolate & ice cream, I made two versions – the normal, though rushed & less pretty kind with whipped cream (on the left) and some with marshmallows in place of whipped cream (on the right).   I liked both versions.   Also, I really enjoyed using A&W root beer for this, since the taste of A&W root beer takes me back to my grandparents’ house in Texas when I was little.   Great memories!

3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake – from Smitten Kitchen (of course!).  This was for the beloved carnivore’s birthday, and it was perfect!  He loves Reese’s cups, just like me – in fact, he brought me some on our first date because he knew I liked them.  Anyway, I figured this would taste like the cake version of a Reese’s cup, and I was right.  Without a double-boiler, I made the ganache / chocolate glazze in the microwave, and it didn’t work as well – but the last time I tried the fake double boiler method in his kitchen, I started a small fire, remember?  Anyway, my cake wasn’t as pretty as Deb’s but next year, I will have a double-boiler when I make his birthday cake, so it will be prettier.  Plus, who cares?  It tasted delicious.  Once he blew out the candles.  Which were trick candles.  Which was an accident, I didn’t realize I was buying trick candles. . . Whoops!

4. Palmiers – recipe to come on Friday or Saturday!  All you need is flour, egg, unsalted butter, and sugar . . .