Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Happy Belated Birthday Canada! I Made Cake!

Woosh!  It has been a busy few weeks for me.  Mostly with the usual stuff, but busy is busy, right?

I hope all of my fellow Canadians had a good long weekend.  We spent part of it at a friend's cottage and it was lovely.  Not too many mosquitoes (although one did manage to get me on the sole of my foot!), beautiful weather, and good friends. 
The kiddo seemed to enjoy herself as well, although the big waves in the lake were too scary for her when we went swimming.

I was also smart, and booked 2 vacation days at work, to extend my long weekend, even though we came home on Monday.  I've used the last two days to be uber-productive!
My house is swept, vacuumed, and laundered for the most part. 
I've made pickles using local cucumbers and dill from the back garden.


The guinea pigs have a lovely clean cage:


And then today, after running errands and having a lunch date with partner at a really yummy Mexican restaurant (I had the vegetarian burrito), I made one-bowl double-chocolate cake with chocolate glaze.

I started with Better Homes & Gardens' one-bowl chocolate cake recipe as a base.  I added one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the cake batter, and baked it in a round cake pan.
When it was done baking, I made a quick chocolate glaze using:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp butter
one 100g 75% cacao chocolate bar, broken into pieces
I melted the chocolate & butter together in the microwave, and then stirred in the water & sugar until I had a nice glaze.  You may only need 3 tbsp of water, or you may need more - just keep adding water one tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want. 
After the cake has cooled for 10 minutes, remove it from the pan, and drizzle it with the glaze.  You should end up with something like this
I may have already eaten some, and it is as rich, if not richer, than it looks.
Oh, you may also run into the same problem I did with this cake.  Despite using a non-stick pan AND greasing it before hand, the chocolate chips stuck to the bottom a little, which has given my cake a bit of a lumpy top.  Just so you are forewarned.

Happy belated Canada - enjoy the cake!

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