Thursday, September 24, 2009

Barefoot Bloggers - Birthday Sheet Cake & Beatty's Chocolate Cake




Welcome to chocolate overload zone!

I made these cakes on the same day during my Ramadan blogging hiatus. The making of both is somewhat of a blur (which you are no doubt thankful for). I was so geared up to make these, especially the sheet cake because who wouldn't want a humongous chocolate cake with fudgy icing (well, except Kayte). See, in my mind, I had turned this into a chocolate sheet cake and was euphoric about the Barefoot Bloggers selections for September. Two cakes! Both chocolate! That is, until I realized this wasn't a chocolate cake at all. Ultimate bummer.

We aren't huge fans of white or yellow cake, so I doctored the cake batter with a healthy dose of Vietnamese cinnamon. The end result was a subtly cinnamon cake with chocolate icing that was delicious. It's a very sturdy cake, not a tender crumb but perfect for a child's birthday party. Since there were no available children having birthdays, I took this to the mosque to serve after iftar (the meal we have after breaking our fast in the evening) and it was very popular.


But Beatty's chocolate cake was a transcendent chocolate experience. I pulled out all the stops and used the "good" chocolate as Ina always suggests. It was moist, and oh the frosting, the frosting, the frosting. I iced the cake in record time (hence the awful appearance and specks of butter, which melted right in and didn't affect the texture or flavor) before I had to leave for the evening, and left the kitchen looking like it had been used for a kindergarten cooking class. Since I was fasting when I made and iced the cake, I didn't taste any of it until I got home around midnight. Oh my. I licked the offset spatula, mixing bowl, paddle from the mixer and the plate on which I set the paddle. Too much information? Sorry. So much for losing weight during Ramadan.


This cake is The One. My new go-to chocolate cake recipe. As in go to this website and get the recipe. Make it tonight or this weekend. Just don't deprive yourself (or the chocolate lover in your life) of it any longer than the weekend. I told M. I was making it for his birthday (which was last month, but he was on a business trip), and then I ate more of it than he did.

If you'd like to check out what the other Barefoot Bloggers did, you can find them all here.

6 comments:

BMK said...

Yours looks great! We love this cake recipe. Its definitely my go to!

spike. said...

oh my, looks amazing! I loved the beatty's cake too. Chocolate, I now need some chocolate for lunch

Peggy said...

I haven't made these yet, but I am making ONE of them this weekend. So I was thinking the Beatty's one - is that what you would choose if you were only making one? I have to take dessert to a party on Sunday and this will be the dessert I take! Yours looks delicious. Sorry I did not get around to making the cheese sandwiches this week. I have been a slacker on cooking this week.

Jennifer said...

These were both delicious...and an addition of Vietnamese cinnamon sounds awesome!!!!

Katrina said...

Definitely looks like chocolate heaven!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

I really appreciate the fact that you located the perfect chocolate cake for me! It all looks delicious, and it appears that you made a lot of people happy with this baking spree!