"Michael" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Good morning, all! I hope everybody is doing well on
> this beautiful Sunday morning. Snow on the ground
> here and very cold, but the sun is shining. Thanks
> to Jill and Wayne for the praline suggestions. I
> stirred the pralines pretty constantly when it was
> boiling, and although the family thinks they're fine,
> I think they're a bit on the grainy side, just as
> suggested.

You could always send your portion this way....they'd go well with the
chocolate caramel cake I'm making!
>
> I'm baking a HUGE cake right now. I bought a 12"
> round pan a week ago at the cake store that was going
> out of business and I am just now putting it to use.
> I'm getting some experience with the Hershey's
> Perfectly Chocolate cake, so I did it. I increased
> the recipe by 50%, and that is just the first! I'm
> waiting right now for it to cool a bit and then I'll
> go for round two. That will be a total of three
> times bigger than what I usually make! I didn't have
> the flower nail to put in the center to conduct heat,
> and I was nervous about that. After 25 minutes the
> cake was still way wet, so I put it back for another
> 10 minutes. Going like this, it took 55 minutes to
> bake.
>
> I'm hoping to slice the two layers in two and end up
> with a four layer cake. After the next layer gets
> comes out of the oven, I'm going into town to rent a
> cement mixer to make the icing.
>
> Michael


Wow, big cake! I hope you're having plenty of company to help eat it?
I love the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake. If you like that one, you'll
also like the Black Magic cake and/or the Deep Dark Chocolate cake. What
icing are you making for this one? Last summer I made it with a chocolate
mousse filling and used that to ice it as well, then poured a thin layer of
ganache over that. Last time though, I used a cream cheese icing. It was
chocolate that time, but I have also made it with orange oil instead of
chocolate, and that is divine.

Let us know how it turns out!

Me, I went to the farmer's market a little while ago and found some
strawberries that were not only red, but sweet and juicy! I was utterly
amazed. So, tonight my daughter and I will be having strawberries with
freshly whipped cream on the flourless chocolate cake I made this morning.
Dinner is field greens with cucumber and tomatoes dressed with a light
citrus pepper vinaigrette (just evoo, lemon juice, blood orange juice, a bit
of balsamic, 1 clove garlic, lots of fresh ground pepper), a beautiful New
York strip that I picked up at Iowa Meat Farms, some corn my aunt canned
last summer, and a roasted artichoke with lemon-garlic-basil sauce. (Mayo
whirred in the blender with fresh basil, 2 cloves garlic, and the juice of
1/2 lemon).
I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

kimberly
>