chocolate

So, unfortunately, over the weekend I suffered from a cold/flu bug. It all started on Thursday night when I lay comatose on the couch while Josh made me tea and theraflu. I felt a little better Friday morning so instead of listening to my husband (and to my own body) I proceeded to go to work, run, stay out way to late playing games with friends, and wake up just to go on another run. By mid-morning on Saturday, the fact that I had not properly rested and recovered caught up with me. Josh sent me to bed and I did not get up for 24 hours. 

After reviving on Sunday afternoon, I sent Josh to the store to purchase ingredients for a chocolate cake I had to make for a co-workers birthday party on Monday. Josh was pretty leery at the thought of zombie Amanda baking a fairly complicated cake, but I persisted.

His fears were realized within the first five minutes when I dropped our sugar canister, spilling the entirety of its contents on the floor. I should have stopped there.

But, I am a rather stubborn gal and soldiered on. Things went relatively smoothly until I added the flour mixture to the batter in my kitchen-aid all in one fell swoop. I thoughtlessly turned it on at a medium speed only to have myself and half our kitchen be immediately doused in flour.

Sigh.

Determination set in, as the bowls, measuring cups, spoons, and spatulas were piling in the sink, I continued my culinary efforts. Melted chocolate and cocoa powder were everywhere...on the dish towels, counters, floors, my sleeves...

Finally, I poured the batter into the bundt pan and put it in the oven. Hallelujah. 

Fifteen minutes later, I took a peek only to discover that the batter had risen over the top of the pan  and was falling in chunks to the bottom of my oven. Nooo.

Never fear though, because I have a hero on standby, ever ready to come to my rescue (even in the case of sugar spills), who calmly pulled out a cookie sheet and placed it under the cake. Problem solved.

The cake took at least 30 minutes longer than the recipe said to bake which caused some frustration on the tail end...and it didn't fully come out of the pan despite my best efforts at pre-greasing. 

Thankfully, all errors were hidden by a thick layer of ganache and chocolate chips.

I wish I had remembered to document the glorious final product but alas, a recovering zombie can only do so much. I snapped this photo of the final piece left after today's very successful work birthday party. I saved it for the hero who made this decadent and divine cake possible.

Here is a link to the recipe and a few prettier pictures of this cake adventure. The end result is absolutely worth any and all mishaps along the way.

Stephanie, don't you dare plug this one into that points calculator. This cake would surely break it:)