AGATHA BDAY CAKE

Buttercream is a harsh mistress. This Lemon cake for Agatha tasted great and folks wooed over it, but it sure gave me a hard time!! Oh Buttercream will I ever tame you????

CHOCOLATE MOLE BROWNIES

That is a misleading title for this post actually cos, these are not very mole like. They are however, so so so delicious. Warming and spicey and gooey but not overly so. I used a recipe out Meatless Mexican Home Cooking. As you can see from the flecks of peeper in the pic, I ground my own pepper and I need a better grinder to get a finer result but I enjoyed the texture the flecks created. I used Mexican chocolate and Canele (mex cinnamon), I think next time I will use a high quality chocolate as some Mexican is overly grainy. For a first time try they were almost what I had been imagining. Look at the deep purpley crimson pepper! My hood is full of places pushin' peppers of all manner. Looking forward to experimenting with more spices in my baking.









Chocolate Chile Mole Brownies:
From Meatless Mexican Home Cooking by Nancy Zaslavsky
4 oz unsweetened choc
1/4 pound butter
2 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp canela ( Mexican cinnamon)
3 Tablespoons Ancho chile powder ( Or pulverize stemmed, seeded and toasted Ancho chiles)
I cup flour
Optional
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 cup chopped walnuts

*I used Mexican chocolate and I decreased the sugar, and I always try to use vanilla beans
*I ALWAYS under bake my brownies, just a little as they continue to bake when you take them from the oven and I like them really fudgey.

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter an 8x12 inch baking dish
Melt chocolate with butter over double bolier. Remove from heat and cool.
Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, canela and chile powder. Stir the chocolate into this mixture. then stir in the flour and the sesame seeds and walnuts. Dough will be sticky.
Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Bake for 22 to 23 minutes. Do not over bake the brownies or they will lose their texture and be crispy on the edges. Cool for 30 minutes.

I used Guajillo peppers instead of ancho. A great supplier of chile peppers/powder is Sweetfreedom farm

Design*Sponge DIY Cake Stands!

Came across this link and couldn't help thinking of DOTMC.
What a great idea to use all those old plates I have from thrift store days of yester-years! I think they would make great gifts too! A way to present your delicious creations and not have to ask for the platter back! yay!

BAKING AT MOLLY'S

Last weekend I went over to Mollys and we made (well, truth be told I did a lot of watching) some cookies.