Jordan turned 12 on the 9th - just getting around to posting about it! His birthday fell midweek - so the actual day wasn't too eventful. There was a fieldtrip scheduled that day for our homeschooling group to tour the local powerplant, so Jordan went with my mom on the tour. (little ones are not allowed, for safety reasons). Rawhide is located about 25 miles north of where we live, so it was a nice outing for Jordan and my mom.
I would like to take this moment to share some serious frustration with technology, in general. The photo of Jordan in a hard had that was supposed to be pictured above was nice. I wish you could see it. My mom took it with her iPhone. When she sent it to me, of course I couldn't paste it in because the picture data is all wonky and it won't copy over. (don't even get me started on my frustrations with all things Apple) So I had her send me a jpeg and see if we could do it that way. And this is what we get. A fuzzy photo, that you can't even see when I look at the preview of the post. I hate my techno illteracy. And the fact that my husband is on a campout this weekend, and is not around to help me fix it. I'm not happy with Google, Blogger or Yahoo either. Bleh.
Back to the birthday...
My dad came over later in the afternoon to deliver 1 1/2 yards of garden soil. (Thanks dad!!) After many wheelbarrow trips and dirt baths, we finally unloaded the trailer and my dad took the kids for a ride down the street and back.
We cleaned up, I frosted the cake, and we headed out to dinner at Jordan's favorite restaurant: Red Lobster. (Well, one of two. He also loves the Hibachi Japanese Steak House, but we did that last year). We had a great dinner then it was on to cake and presents. The cake (pictured above) is called Chocolate Blackout Cake. I got the recipe from Cook's Country, when I saw them feature this cake one day a few years ago. You need to be a member to see the recipe, but there are several versions all over the place on the internet. I have the Cook's Country version here... with commentary!
Chocolate Blackout Cake
From the episode: Forgotten Cakes
From the episode: Forgotten Cakes
Serves 10 to 12.
Be sure to give the pudding and the cake enough time to cool or you'll end up with runny pudding and gummy cake.
Ingredients :
Pudding (frosting)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cake
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), plus extra for greasing pans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , plus extra for dusting pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Table salt
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup strong black coffee (room temp)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions :
This is a relatively easy recipe to pull together. I've made about five cakes now, and I've always had good, consistant results. I'm a terrible baker, and I can't even mess up this recipe!
1. For the pudding: Whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt, half-and-half, and milk in large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk constantly until chocolate melts and mixture begins to bubble and thicken, 6 to 8 minutes. (Be patient and KEEP STIRRING. It will look all wrong, but as soon as it bubbles the chocolate will melt and the cornstarch will do it's job and thicken it right up. You will feel the drag on the whisk pretty quickly as it thickens). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. At this point serve yourself a small bowl of warm pudding because it's just awesome. You deserve it. You worked hard doing all that whisking! Transfer pudding to large bowl, and place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.
2. For the cake layers: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl.
3. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant (this is called 'blooming'), about 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool layers in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour.
Yep - you guessed it. This recipe is all about whisking.
5. To assemble an authentic Blackout cake you do this: Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside. Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 cup pudding over cake layer and top with another layer. Repeat with 1 cup pudding and last cake layer. Spread remaining pudding evenly over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle cake crumbs evenly over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly to adhere crumbs. Serve and refrigerate any leftovers.
This is just too complicated for me. I just did a two layer cake (pudding in between) and frosted the whole thing with the pudding - leaving about a cup leftover - which makes awesome pudding just by itself! I then used a tub of chocolate frosting and piped on some decorations. The level of fuss you want to deal with is up to you. Yes it is rich. It makes your head swim with its chocolately goodness. That is why I make this cake only once a year. It is all our tastebuds can handle. And, it is the birthday boy's favorite. :)
This is one of the gifts Jordan recieved for his birthday. In fact, it was the only thing he asked for. (A gift from his Gma Pat and Papa Van). Well, this and money of course... This is the first birthday that Jordan did not put in a request for Lego's. Strange. But I think it was a wonderful choice! We found it here, when we were poking around for a rock-polishing kit. I love that he is exploring his interests. He put in a request for the Geology Merit Badge (one of three requests) during scout summer camp next month. I hope he gets the chance to study it. It also gives me a good jumping off point for the direction our science studies will go, once he gets back from his various travels this summer.
It was a good day. I can't believe this boy is twelve.
