The Chocolate Lady Dishes

I remember having Christmas lunch at Grandma’s house when I was growing up. After we had stuffed ourselves with turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy we would all enjoy a thick slice of Aunt Maureen’s Ice Cream Roll.

I was intrigued by that cake. How did she got the ice cream on the inside? Aunt Maureen didn’t just bring an ice cream cake, she made it into a real yule log with fancy swirls in the frosting to look like bark and little holly berries piped on the top.

It looked just like a picture in a magazine!

As we started making our own family traditions for Christmas, I decided to give the yule log a try. My children loved it, and it has been our traditional Christmas Eve dessert ever since.

I will admit that after 18 years of trying, my ice cream cake has yet to look like a real yule log. Actually- some years it doesn’t look very pretty at all. But that’s okay- we eat by candlelight on Christmas Eve!

I love the fact that it can be made ahead of time (since it has to be frozen anyway!) and it has proved to be a perfect birthday cake for Baby Jesus!

Chocolate Ice Cream Roll

Line a 15 x 10 inch pan with foil and generously grease it.

Beat 4 egg whites until foamy, gradually adding 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Beat 4 egg yolks and 1 teaspoon of vanilla on high 3 minutes. Add 1/3 cup sugar and beat for 2 more minutes. Set aside.

Combine 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Add to the egg yolk mixture alternately with 1/3 cup of water.

Carefully fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites.

Spread evenly into the prepared jelly roll pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until the top springs back when touched.

Immediately invert the cake on to a towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off the foil. Roll cake up lengthwise in the towel. Let cool.

Unroll the cake and carefully spread 2 quarts of softened ice cream (any flavor) over the surface. Reroll cake, place on serving tray and glaze with chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

Melt 4 tablespoons butter. Stir in 4 tablespoons of cocoa and 4 tablespoons of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Don’t boil.

Remove from heat and cool slightly. Blend in 2 cups of pwdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla.

If you are talented like Aunt Maureen, you can cut the two ends off of the log on the diagonal before glazing and set them next to the cake to make “branches”. You can use your knife to texture the frosting so that it looks like bark and pipe on some pretty green holly leaves and red berries.

Freeze until time to serve.

Merry Christmas!

Improvisation in the kitchen once again saved the day!

Every year we celebrate the first snow by making and enjoying a snow cake.

Traditionally we have made my favorite chocolate brownie recipe and then sprinkled powdered sugar on the top to look like new fallen snow.

This year however, the first snow came right after the “big move”. It was a time when my pantry was empty and my day was full.

When I heard the excited cries of “It’s snowing!”, my first thought was “Good!”. We had hoped to be in the new house by the first snowfall.

My second thought was one of panic as I frantically tried to remember if I had the ingredients I needed for snow cake, and more importantly, could I find them?!

Thank goodness for Dagmar! She found a brownie recipe and even made it for us. But when it came time to sprinkle the powdered sugar, we realized we were out.

It was time to improvise!

We had just unpacked all my pretty plates and china dishes to fill Grandma’s China hutch. So I pulled out my beautiful star plates. We put a brownie in each one and covered it with a big dollop of whipped cream (the snow).

Arranged together, the snow cake made a pretty presentation and received rave reviews from my children.

This is one special snow cake, it was an old tradition carried to our new home.

Little Buddy turned 8 this month. Poor guy, his birthday ended up falling on moving day.

My lovely niece Sarah, a graduate student, fills in as guest blogger today with the perfect quick “chocolate fix”…

Some days you need a good dose of chocolate but can’t find enough time to drag out the mixer and turn on the oven only to wait half an hour for a cake which then has to cool for another half an hour.

Such a long time to wait for desert! Well, my roommates and I were intrigued by the recipe my aunt sent last week: “A cake in 5 minutes?!” we exclaimed. This could be a very good thing! We experimented with the recipe during our weekly “Roomie Hangout Night” and were quite impressed by the results.

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to share!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night.

ENJOY ! ! ! ! ! ! We sure did! Even if our cakes turned out to be a little less than conventional in their appearances. :]

~Sarah

Ahh…I bring a mystery today: The Case of the Disappearing Coca Cola Cake.

It began quite innocently with my daughter baking a Coca Cola Cake for the home school hot dog roast.

When we arrived, we put the cake on the table with the other desserts and proceeded to fill our plates and tummies with all matter of wonderful, but definitely unhealthy foods.

As the evening progressed, we heard many postive comments on Dagmar’s cake. People were going back for seconds and thirds.

Darkness fell and the kids took off to play hide and seek in the dark while the grown-ups moved closer to the fire to talk and stay warm.

Later in the evening, several of the ladies went in for a tour of our hostess’s new house while their husband’s rounded up children and packed up the vans.

We were, of course, the last ones to leave. (I guess I talk a lot!) As I was packing up the remains of our food in the pitch blackness, I realized that the cake pan of Coca Cola cake was missing.

We looked under the table, got a flashlight and searched the area. But it was gone.

Vanished.

Disappeared.

Then one of the children found a full, uncut pan of brownies in a cake pan similar to mine on an out-of-the way table.

Aha! The plot thickens! One of the dad’s slipped out with my cake pan and the remains of Dagmar’s amazing cake, leaving behind his wife’s pan of brownie mix brownies.

But the mystery remains….Where is the Coca Cola Cake?