Seasonal Saturday & Fresh, Clean and Pure Friday

So many amazing posts have been shared here in the last 5 weeks.  It's so hard to select among the many inspirational recipes, decor ideas, lifestyle changes, those posts to highlight from the previous week.  So I'm just going to be fair and honest . . . I'm an educator, and that's crucially important to my students . . . when fair, consistent, and honest, they trust me.  So here goes, here are the posts from last week's link-up that are so interesting and moving in many different areas:

Fresh food:
A Guide To Autumn's Apple Varieties  from Yvonne @ Stonegable
Autumn Harvest Bread and Spiced Apple Butter from Heather @ girlichef
Pumpkin Spice Browny Bites from Joce @ Inside BruCrew Life
Mini Harvest Muffins @ My Sweet and Savory
Pumpkin Rolls from Bernideen @ Bernideen's Tea Time

Fresh, new lifestyle/outlook on life:
Fall Into Fitness from Anetazia @ Your Work is to Discover Your World 

Simply Rest from Elise @Kissing the Leper

Fresh look in decor:

Fresh Autumn Decor from Donna @ Timeless Settings

Fresh flowers/fruit/vegetables from the garden:

Olives from elra @ garden at nina's place

Fresh photo/poetry/illustration/thoughts:

The Harvest Moon Gala Photo and Poetry @ Charm of the Carolines

An Autumn Equinox Fairy Illustration by aquariann @ the art & tree chatter
Living Each Day with Gusto by kismet @ positive kismet

Fresh fashion looks:

Autumn/Fall Fashion Tips from Java @ Never Growing Old

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!!!!  Check 'em out and consider following them for their great thoughts on living life in a more fresh, clean, and pure way!!  Grazie tutto!

So here's the routine again, that is so simple: 

• Add your post link (or blog link, it's all good) with a nice title.
• Add the photo of the post you wish to showcase.
• Grab the link-up button and post it either in your post or somewhere on your blog (delete it over the weekend if you wish).
• If you're new here, please follow "la bella vita" and leave a comment so that I can be sure and follow you back.  If I forget, go ahead and nag me again!  I am a true absent-minded professor!!!
• Please be a courteous blogger and visit a few other blogs who took the time to meet others like yourself. 
• Leave him or her a kind comment and make their day!
• No posts to try and sell stuff, no posts for giveaways, and no posts related to simple coupons (trust me, I do delete them; it's just not nice, OK?).  
• Many thanks for making this a fun community to learn from others!

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Wordless Wednesday

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A Mediterranean beach in Italy

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Thai Cucumber Salad That Tops Them ALL!

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I simply love Thai cuisine!  The food creations of this spicy cooking style is second only to my favorite Italian cuisine.  I've been so fortunate to have been able to spend a good deal of time over the course of two years in Thailand . . . and in various regions of the country too.

While there, I had a wonderful woman from the university I was working with on some academic research, drive me everywhere, including taking me to the best restaurants.  She knew what I loved and always ordered the food off the menu for me. . . I was never disappointed with her selections.  One of the lightest dishes that I went crazy over (and still do) that bursts with flavor in your mouth, is the uniquely Thai version of cucumber salad.  You can find this salad on the menus of nearly every Thai restaurant, but it will be difficult to find this creation, because from consolidating about 10 different recipes, I can claim this recipe as my own.  I could literally eat the entire serving bowl of this stuff.  I hope that you try it and feel the same!  PS:  This is not hot or fiery at all, as are many Thai dishes.  However, if you want some heat, then just add it.

Before I provide the recipe below, I wanted to point out the place mat with the embroidered pink flowers in the next picture.  This dainty place mat is just one example of the native, handmade crafts that I purchased in Thailand.  I've always loved the combination of pink and green in my gardens and even decorated my home with those colors (sometimes dominant in rooms, and other times barely there in other rooms).  The ceramic celadon plate is from Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, from the Baan Celadon pottery company.  I don't know how much of that celadon I purchased, but it is all over the house for use or for decorating accents.   Celadon pottery is just exquisite!

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The soft minty green color of the celadon pottery coordinates perfectly with my dishes!  What luck!

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Thai Cucumber Salad (Roz's version)

2 cucumbers, seeded, cubed or sliced (you can also peel them if you like)
1/4 cup red or white onions, chopped
1/4 jalapeno pepper, seeded, and finely chopped (add only if you like spicy heat)
5 - 6 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Dressing:

3 Tbsp. peanut oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. Thai garlic chili pepper sauce (this is not HOT sauce at all)

2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lime
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper

Red pepper flakes (sprinkle on only as much as you like or eliminate for no heat addition)

1/4 - 1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts (optional)

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Blend all the dressing ingredients together.
Mix in all of the chopped vegetables and herb, and peanuts (if you want the peanuts).
Add more of any of the flavors that you prefer, which is the true Thai way.
Garnish each plate with cilantro leaves and sliced limes.
Serve with a patter of add-ins:  lime slices, red pepper flakes, chopped cilantro, chopped peanuts, Thai sweet chili sauce, sugar, salt, etc. for your guests to add more of their favorite flavors.

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Ahhhh . . . so fresh and so colorful . . . and so deliciously Thai!

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Thai Cucumber Salad Pin It

Cranberry ~ Strawberry Daiquiris

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I've got some girlfriends coming over for a brunch today, so I will make this post very brief, because the gals will be arriving any minute.

Besides food, what's better for a Saturday brunch then a little, tasty beverage?  For this occasion, I found fresh cranberries in the market to whip into a regular batch of strawberry daiquiris and added a tad bit more sugar to soften the tang of the cranberries.  Oooh, yummy!  I think that they will just love this!

This recipe is my own creation, but inspired by the numerous recipes in the little pink cocktail book that you can see in the photo, "Pink Drinks".  Enjoy!

Cranberry-Strawberry Daiquiris

1 bottle strawberry daiquiri mix
White rum - as much as you desire
1/4 bag cranberries, washed.
1/2 bag fresh or frozen and thawed strawberries (I freeze mine every spring)
3 teaspoons red grenadine syrup
2 - 3 Tbsp. sugar or more to taste

In a large pitcher, add all of the ingredients and blend thoroughly with an immersion blender; you might even want to put the cranberries through a food processor first to really get them finely chopped.
Serve over cubed or crushed ice.

Salute' and ching ching!!!

Cranberry-Strawberry Daiquiris Pin It

Fresh, Clean and Pure Friday & Seasonal Saturday

Since we are now officially in the season of Autumn, a new link-up is here to share any post related to what is in season right now and what you're doing for this season . . . again, it can be a food recipe, a new decor, a new garden, a seasonal trip (ie:  leaf-watching as the colors of Mother Nature change!), or a new outfit, etc.  There's even a special button for it!.

It's still that time for all of you purists, cleaner-outer, fresher folks!   Link up any post on anything that you've included in your life to freshen and clean it up, whether that is your nutrition, lifestyle, decor, outfits, or outlooks!

Here are just a few of last week's very inspirational posts that were shared and the blogger who took the time to share with us.  Those include inspiration for:

Fresh food:

Foccacia Pugliese from Natalia @ gatti fili e farina
Fresh Cinnamon Rolls from Stephanie @ Still Waters

Fresh Apple Butter from Anne @ anniebakes
Healthy Oatmeal Banana Cookies from Monica @ Lick The Bowl Good
Fresh Blueberry Panna Cotta from Mimi @ Mimi's Kitchen

Fresh, new lifestyle/outlook on life:
48 Pounds Lost / Healthier Lifestyle from Melissa @ Melissa's Heart and Home

Fresh look in decor:
Fresh Fall Decor from Carol @ The Gardener

Fresh flowers:
Exotic Fruit from elra @ garden at nina's place


THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!!!!  Check 'em out!

So here's the routine again, that's really simple: 

• Add your post link (or blog link, it's all good) with a nice title.
• Add the photo of the post you wish to showcase.
• Grab the link-up button and post it either in your post or somewhere on your blog (delete it over the weekend if you wish).
• If you're new here, please follow "la bella vita" and leave a comment so that I can be sure and follow you back.  If I forget, go ahead and nag me again!
• Please be a courteous blogger and visit a few other blogs who took the time to meet others like yourself. 
• Give a kind comment and make their day!
• No posts to try and sell stuff, no posts for giveaways, and no posts related to simple coupons.  
• Many thanks for making this a fun community to learn from others!

<a href="http://bellavita-bellasblog.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj227/ewhites/BLOG%20FAIRY/seasonalsaturday.png" /></a>

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Wordless Wednesday

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.Our 4-year old grandchild, Evie, with "Carolina Luck" (Lucky), our 10-year old American Saddlebred, who is a 1,300 pound gentle giant!
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Caramel Glazed Apple Cake ~ ~ Oh My!

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Who doesn't like the combination of apples and caramel?  Actually, I love caramel MORE than I do apples!  I couldn't wait for a gooey caramel apple every time my parents took us to a fair or festival.  The combination of that tart apple with that super sweet caramel coating was irresistable!  When I had to wear 'braces' on my teeth, my dentist made me swear not to eat caramel apples until the braces were removed.  It was hell!

Apples are one of the first signs of autumn and it is officially the fall season, so this cake is perfect in timing.  If there is one fruit ingredient in a cake or pie that we just adore, it is the apple.  We love apples so much, that on every holiday buffet table, we serve a fresh, home-made sky-high apple pie!  Pumpkin pie literally takes a back seat to both our apple and cherry pies on Thanksgiving too.

My fellow caramel lovers, here is an apple cake topped with an incredible caramel glaze that is just delicious!  For September, The Cake Slice Bakers selected an apple cake from Nancie McDermott's Southern Cakes, the last cake that we will bake from this cookbook selection before moving on to a new cookbook.

Now about this cake:   It's rather plain to look at, but once you take a bite, you could eat the whole apple-caramel-cinnamony thing.  I made the following changes from the original recipe (I seem to always do that!):  For the cake batter, I added a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.  I simply could not believe that an apple, sugar, caramel recipe did not include any cinnamon . . . so in it went and wow, I'm so glad that I added it.  I also an extra teaspoon of vanilla, because we love a more enhanced vanilla flavor. And with almost all recipes, I eliminated the nuts because hubby can't eat nuts.

For the glaze, I used dark brown sugar only because that's what I had on hand, and I don't like to waste anything.  I also used a full stick of butter and not 1/3 cup, plus I added 1/4 cup regular sugar, because I felt the glaze didn't taste sweet and buttery enough.  Additionally, I chose not to use a 9 x 13 inch pan.  At first, I prepared this size of a pan and after scraping the batter into it I thought, "nah, this cake is going to be way too flat in this huge pan", so I prepared and used a smaller cake pan, more like a 6 x 10 inch pan.  I wanted a higher cake, not a sheet cake.  Because of this smaller baking pan I needed to bake the cake another 10 minutes to get the thicker inside portion of the cake thoroughly cooked.
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Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
(adapted from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Apple Cake:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (my addition to the recipe)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 jumbo eggs
1-1/2 cups canola oil
3 teaspoons vanilla (I increased this from 2 tsps. in original recipe)
3 cups finely chopped apples (I used Granny Smiths)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (my addition)
1 stick of butter (I increased the amount from 1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. heavy cream (I increased this from 2 Tbsp.)
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For the apple cake:
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan or a smaller size if you prefer, as I did.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Stir with a fork to mix everything together well.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a mixer at low speed until pale yellow and frothy/foamy.
Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.
Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and continue stirring the batter until the flour is completely absorbed and blended in (add about one cup of flour at a time, blend well, and repeat).
Add the apples and stir to mix well into the batter.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched near the center of the cake and the sides of the cake are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Place the cake still in the pan on a wire rack.
Pour the glaze over the cake while both the cake and the glaze are still hot.

For the glaze:
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Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil.
Cook for 3 - 5 minutes, constantly stirring.
Pour the hot glaze all over the hot-from-the-oven apple cake.

Serve warm or cool with vanilla ice cream!  (But it is much better served warm!)
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The hot, gooey caramel glaze bubbling on the stove.

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Caramel glaze running over with love!  You should smell this!  Ahhhh!

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Happy Fall!

Anne, over at "anniebakes" also made this cake, which you can view her post at:  http://www.anniebakes.net/2010/10/apple-cake-thank-you-roz.html

Thanks for the shout out, Anne!  You're the best!

Autumn Apple Cake With Caramel Glaze.

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Beet Salad with Avocados and Manchego Cheese

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I just love sweet beets!  My mother used to toss them with diced onions in a simple Italian vinaigrette when I was growing up.  She knew how much I loved beets prepared that way so much, that after I left home as an adult, she would always have a large bowl waiting for me when I would come home to visit.  That recipe was posted back on June 29, '09.

Beets were on my mind again lately, and so while I was at Whole Foods fresh produce department this week, my eyes honed in on the largest beets that I ever seen in my life!  Just look below at the photo where I show the difference between one huge beet from Whole Foods on the right, compared to the beet in the center that I purchased from Wal-Mart today, and a jumbo cage-free egg on the left.  I normally would not have bought beets from W-M, but I wanted to show just how large these beets are!  I only bought three of them and they made a salad that will last all week long!
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Upon purchasing these big red beauties, I had every intention to make my mother's simple Italian beet salad, but while at the market, I also picked up some perfectly ripe Haas avocados, Manchego cheese, and fresh eggs.

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After unpacking all of this beautiful fresh produce, I felt like jazzing up my mother's salad just a bit.  The recipe follows.  But, the truth is, I still love that old recipe so much that I used half of these beets to make my mother's original Italian beet salad recipe.

Just gorgeous colors of ruby red, green, yellow, and white in this vegetable salad!

Beet Salad with Avocados and Manchego Cheese

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3 large Beets (or 1 regular sized 'batch'), cooked in boiling water, cut into large slices or pieces

1 large sweet Onion, chopped

1 ripe Haas Avocado, peeled and chopped into cubes

3 jumbo cage-free Eggs, boiled, peeled, and sliced

1/2 cup dried sweet Cranberries

1/2 cup slivered Almonds

1/2 cup slivered Manchego cheese

Red-leaf Lettuce, cleaned and whole leaves pulled off, do not tear up into pieces

Vinaigrette

Salt and Pepper to taste

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Vinaigrette 

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1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

3 Tbsps. chopped Onions

1/3 cup extra-virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning or 1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing 

Bring water to a boil in a very large, deep heavy pot.

Place the beets in the hot water and boil until a fork can be easily inserted into the center.

Remove the cooked beets from the water to cool.

Peel and remove both ends.

Slice into very thick slices.

Place the lettuce on a platter for a base for the remaining ingredients.

Spread a layer of the thickly cut beets on top of lettuce.

Place the chopped avocados, onions, sliced eggs, dried cranberries, slivered almonds and slivers of Manchego cheese.

Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad.

Salt and pepper to desired preference.

Serve with some beautiful artisan bread.

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Beet and Avocado Salad With Manchego Cheese
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Blue Ribbon Grilled Turkey Breasts

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State fairs have been taking place across the country since August and will extend into October in those states where the weather is more warm.  In my home state of Iowa, the fair is always held in August.  Here in South Carolina, the fair is taking place right now, and yet to begin in Arizona, where I used to live, the state fair takes place in October.

When I was growing up, my parents would take us to the Iowa State Fair for one full week!  They would take our pop-up camper and let us loose on the fair grounds to discover all of the animal exhibits, shows and competitions, go to the Midway for the crazy rides and games, and visit the various agricultural, home and garden venues.  We'd come back for dinner that my mother prepared on the park grill on our camp-site and we would sit around and tell the tales of our adventures for the day . . . and then when it got dark, we were able to go back to the Midway to see all of the amusement park rides all lit up!  It was such an innocent time and so much fun!

Each and every day my siblings and I would take the old rickety wooden boats and drift along the rushing water stream through the dark and chilly Tunnel of Love!  It was the only cool place at the Fair in the middle of those scorching August afternoons!  We rarely saw anyone smooching because it was so dark in there, but we sure were looking to see if we could see some stolen kisses between lovers!  But to a future foodie, along with my siblings, I was able to indulge in eating endless and huge amounts of FUN FAIR FOOD!  Giant size breaded pork cutlet sandwiches, corn on the cob, funnel cakes, caramel apples, ice cold root beer, cotton candy, the list goes on and on.  And since the Heartland state of Iowa is blessed with some of the richest soil on the planet, the food bounty is simply incredible.

One year some friends treated us to this blue ribbon winner from the state fair:  Delicious grilled turkey breasts that soak in a 2-hour bath of a flavorful marinade.  It's so easy, you'll make this quite often!  Plus turkey is so good for us in replacement of too much red meat in our diets.

Iowa State Fair Grilled Turkey Breasts (Tenderloins)

2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1/4 cup Dry Sherry or Red Wine
2 Tablespoons minced onion
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground if possible)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (this is double the amount of the original recipe, but I'm garlic-crazy)
1 pound turkey tenderloins, sliced to your desired widths.

Wash your hands thoroughly.
In a bowl or pan, combine all of the marinade ingredients except the turkey breasts.
Pour the marinade into a self-sealing freezer storage bag.
Add the turkey breasts to the bag and seal it shut.
Place in the refrigerator and marinate for several hours (about 2 hours is good enough).
Remove the turkey breasts from the marinade and grill on direct medium heat for 8 minutes per side or until a meat thermometer registers 170 degrees F, and the turkey is no longer pink.
Discard the marinade.
Serve with your favorite side dishes!
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A richly flavored, aromatic marinade.

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Place the turkey breasts in a self-sealing plastic freezer bag, squeeze it tightly, twist the top so the marinade is completely covering the turkey.  Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

State Fair Marinated and Grilled Turkey Breasts
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Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday/Weekend #4

Welcome to the 4th Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday/Weekend blog link-up where you can link up your post on anything that you've included in your life to freshen and clean it up, whether that is your nutrition, lifestyle, decor, outfits, or outlooks!
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Please remember: No solicitation posts with simple coupons, sales pitches for any product/service, or promotion of giveaways . . . kindly STICK to the theme.
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So you may be asking, "What exactly do you mean by "FRESH?" Just fresh food? Well, that certainly could be one thing that qualifies as something fresh to post about, but here is a brief list to guide your decisions on what "Fresh" topic to post!

• fresh scent/s
• freshly prepared food
• non-packaged or preserved food (however canning or freezing 'fresh' food can be included)
• fresh new look/outfit/design/decor
• a fresh new quilt made, or any new hand-made treasure
• a fresh new beauty/exercise routine
• fresh cut flowers
• fresh new outlook, beginning, start, idea, experience, goal
• anything recently made or produced
• newly harvested
• fresh, clean and pure: water, air, make-up, rain, products you use/recommend
• anything unused and free from dirt, soil, impurities

. . . that's just to give you an idea of what 'fresh' things or behaviors that can be included in your post!

So here's what to do:

• grab the button below and place it anywhere on your blog (delete it after the weekend is over if you desire).
• follow this blog, 'la bella vita' and Claudia's (links provided above so we'll follow you back).
• add your post link and the image that you wish to display.
• visit and follow a few blogs and tell them that you found them here.
• kindly leave a comment here and with Claudia, so that we can follow you back!

All blog hops that I'm linked up to have their buttons displayed on the side and bottom of my blog.

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Fresh Peaches and Cream Ice Cream!

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The peach season seems to be lingering a little bit later this summer, because there are still bushels and bushels of fresh peaches in the markets and stores right now.  We always buy our peaches from our favorite, special fruit stand on the SC/NC border (on the SC side where the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains are and where peach trees thrive).  If you have ever driven (south) across the northern border of SC on Interstate 26 or Highway 25, you immediately begin to see the "peaches for sale" signs and then just as quickly as they appeared, the signs vanish about 45 miles south of the border.
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So we decided to make some peach ice cream (again!). . . and I say 'again' because the first recipe that I found this past July was from the Neely's show on Food TV Network (the recipe was and still is posted on the web-site).  Well, let's just say that it was so sweet that we threw the entire batch away!  We rarely throw food away, and in fact, we are huge left-over fans.  But I tell you that not even my sweet-toothed husband could eat more than a half teaspoon of that stuff.  So down the drain it went, along with four cups of our precious fresh peaches.  I was not too happy at that moment seeing the waste . . . but at least living on an acreage with a (uh-hum) septic tank, I know that it is working its way back into the earth.

So my search for the perfect peach ice cream recipe carried on!  Ultimately, I turned to one of my favorite foodie bloggers, Monica, over at Lick The Bowl Good.  Recently, Monica had posted a recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz (former pastry chef of Chez Pannise) which sounded divine!  It's so simple to make that hubby made it with the help of our ice cream machine while I taught an evening class last night.  As always, a few changes were made that are noted below.  That creamy peach ice cream was just waiting to say "hello" to me when I walked into the house (along with hubby)!

This peach ice cream recipe is simply perfect, luscious, and intensely peachy!  You can clearly taste the fresh peaches in this version, plus the two different kinds of cream make it silky and smooth, and there is just the right touch of sugar.  Mmmm!  I hope that you enjoy this comforting frozen treat of peaches and cream perfection.

Just look at the chunks of fresh peaches in this ice cream!

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Fresh Peach Ice Cream
(adapted from The Perfect Scoop)
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1-1/3 lbs (about 4 large peaches) fresh or frozen peaches (we freeze peaches every summer)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp. but we like more vanilla flavor)
a few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice
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Place a large bowl or container in the freezer to chill it before you get started.  This container is what you'll put the finished ice cream in and it will already be pre-chilled nicely.

Peel and slice the peaches, remove the pits.
Cut the peaches into slices or chunks.
(original recipe calls for cooking the peaches in 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes; we skipped this step because we like our peaches more fresh and uncooked, except in crisps and pies).
Add the sugar to the peaches.
Blend the peaches and sugar with the sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla extract and the lemon juice with an immersion blender or hand-held electric beater.
Blend until slightly chunky.
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions (we use a Cuisinart).
Freeze for several hours or overnight until desired level of firmness is achieved.

Garnish with fresh peaches!
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Fresh Peaches and Cream Ice Cream Pin It

Wordless and "Wow" Wednesday

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Tigger, our 15-year old grey tabby, is a very happy old boy . . . he lays on his back daily to sleep & relax!  He was a stray that wandered into our lives and never fails to make us laugh!
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Happy 2nd Blogoversary: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

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Happy 2nd Blogoversary to my 'la bella vita' blog.  It's been a great two years getting to know so many wonderful people and from all the way around the globe!!!  But sadly this is the busiest day of my teaching schedule, so I just couldn't find the time to prepare and photo a new recipe for this occasion.  Instead I'm just going to post an encore recipe that I baked last year (in September no less!) that is super-chocolatey and delicious:  Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake.  This monster of a cake is worthy of a second post and I hope that you enjoy it!

This month for The Cake Slice Bakers, the selected cake for September is this Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake. Wow, what a doozie this cake is. Rich, dense, and hefty, small pieces are all that is needed before you surrender to its power.

It is always so much fun to make chocolate cakes, the aroma of the kithen is just blissful! The beauty of shimmering, creamy melted chocolate is a visual delight!

The cake did have its challenges, I must admit. The white chocolate mousse filling wasn't as thick as I would have liked, so you can barely see it in the "slice" photo below. It sure is tasty though, so if you know of a way to thicken a mousse without ruining it, that's what I'd recommend. The frosting was a wee bit too bitter for our taste preferences, so I'd add sugar to take out some of the bittersweetness.

But besides those two issues, it's a tremendous and IMPRESSIVE cake! Plus it was just so much fun to bake and chat back and forth with Monica over at "Lick The Bowl Good". She's much more of a master baker/decorator than I am, and so my learning curve is rising as I chat with her and the other bakers.

Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

(from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne)

Here's what you need for the cake:

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup milk
1 ¼ cups hot, strongly brewed coffee
2 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise (not low fat or fat free)
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups sugar

White chocolate mousse (below)
Sour cream chocolate icing (below)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 9 inch round cake pans. Line the base of each pan with parchment.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring the milk to a simmer. Pour the hot coffee and milk over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Let the mocha liquid cool slightly.

In a mixer bowl, beat together the eggs, mayonnaise and vanilla until well blended. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and mocha liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth and well blended. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before un-molding onto a wire rack and carefully peeling off the paper. Leave to cool completely.

White Chocolate Mousse

4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg white
1 tbsp sugar

Melt the white chocolate with ¼ cup cream in a double boiler. Whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and let the white chocolate cream cool to room temperature.

When it has cooled, beat the remaining ¾ cup cream until soft peaks form. In a clean bowl whip the egg white with the sugar until fairly stiff peaks form.

Fold the beaten egg white into the white chocolate cream, then fold in the whipped cream until blended. Be sure not to over mix.

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing

12 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
¼ cup half-and-half at room temperature
½ cup sour cream, at room temperature

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Melt the chocolate with the butter and corn syrup in a double boiler over barly simmering water. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.
Whisk in the half-and-half and sour cream. Use while still soft.

How to assemble the cake:

Place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover the top evenly with half the white chocolate mousse, leaving a ¼ inch margin around the edge. Repeat with the second layer and the remaining mousse. Set the third layer on top and pour half the sour cream chocolate icing over the filled cake. Spread all over the sides and top. Don’t worry if some of the cake shows through. This first frosting is to seal in the crumbs, and is known as a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

After this time cover the cake with the rest of the icing, smoothing it down the sides. It should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Use a palette knife or the back of a spoon to swirl the frosting around the cake.

Makes a 9 inch triple layer cake; serves 12 to 16

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