Chocolate cake

There is a place in Greenville near Fluor Field that has some of the best chocolate cake. My brother wanted a sweet potato cake from this place the other day, so I got a chocolate one when we pick his cake up. It is a chocolate bundt cake filled with chocolate chips. Chocolate ganache filled the ring of the cake while it overtakes the entire outer surface. When warmed, it gets gooey and floods the taste buds with semi-sweetness. I wish i had another piece left to eat.   

A sweet treat that you don't eat

Cupcakes...no wait...pancakes?

It was late night, yet it was time to eat. I had already eaten supper but the friends I was with had not. It was 10:45ish, so where should we go. The journey took us to IHOP, a great place for pancakes (or hopefully.) The current special was red velvet cupcakes....no pancakes. Red velvet pancakes. They looked dark red and had a drizzle of cream cheese icing all covered with whipped cream. The menu pictured made them look really tempting.

                                     
<--------This is what I ordered. Yes, it was tasty. Yes, I ate the whole thing. Yes, I went to a diabetic coma (not really, but I could my blood sugar surging) These pancakes were really good. I had been having a craving for red velvet cake, which these panCAKES took care of. Next time, I'm getting a doggy bag....maybe. ;)

Cupcakes cupcakes...again?

I recently went to one of my favorite places for sweets (aka Gigi's Cupcakes.) I posted about them a few posts again. Each day they have a daily special. I stumbled upon the Chocolate Malt special. It's devil's food cake, chocolate malt buttercream, garnished with crushed malt balls and a whole malt ball on top. It was very delicious. Find a Gigi's <click here>

  

We are getting a new farmer's market in Lyman near my house (just a quick walk and I'm there.) I went this past Saturday with a friend. One of the vendors is the new cupcake place (which is not far from house either.) It's called Two Sweet Sisters. They sell baking supplies and baked goods. At the farmer's market, they had 3 flavors: strawberries 'n creme (pictured), peanut butter and chocolate, and chocolate and cream cheese. I got a strawberry 'n creme cupcake (thanks to my friend :) It was good. The cake was french vanilla, and the icing was a strawberry buttercream. I look forward to the other flavors. I cannot wait for the Two Sweet Sisters to fully up and running.

I love cupcakes. Just the right size. Portion control :)

Sunday Night Dinner

This past Sunday was a dinner with Friends (same people from the Great Bay post.) We had Chicken baked in  mariana sauce and mozzarella cheese and accompanied with grilled corn and asparagus. It was a great meal (and I had asparagus for the first time.) Dinner likes this are always great. Is it my turn next?

I brought dessert. I went with something different than cupcakes. I made one of my favorites. My choice was blondie sundaes. The blondies were filled with white chocolate and pecans. They were topped with vanilla ice cream and a homeade maple butter sauce (served warm). That sauce has to be my favorite sauce. It is a perfect complement with the blondies. I think it went well. I'll have to make them again soon.

This is Matt as he finishes his sundae. I think he enjoyed it. I left the leftovers with him. He also supplied the vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell.) He also was responsible for cooking dinner.

Free sweets.....but surrounded by women

The past 2 days have been filled with interesting new sweets that ended up being free. On Friday, I went to a bridal shower at school...I'll call it a wedding pre-bash that included the groom and me. That sounds better (it was Matt's "shower" with his bride-to-be Valerie) The menu consisted of women food. Yes, I did call it that. On a very bright note, there was a cookie that I had to sample 3 times. I had to keep testing it.

It was a sugar cookie with pink royal icing. The flower seemed to be made of marshmallow petals. The yellow part was very intriguing, but I could not determine its contents. It seemed to be more icing. I wish I had one now. That was one piece of woman food I would try again. :)








Today was the last day for teachers (if we chose to work on Saturday.) For lunch, the math department decided to go to a new Greek/Italian restaurant near the school. The food was very good and plentiful. When we received our checks, the waitress brought out some complimentary Greek donuts.

The taste reminded me of funnel cakes. Each donut was sprinkled with white granulated sugar. To finish off the presentation, the donuts were drizzled with maple syrup. It was almost like eating a pancake in a fried free-form shape. It was a great way to end the meal and the year.

Free food, especially sweets, are always...good eats (to quote Alton Brown.)

Experimental Frosting

I had extra graduation wrappers and wanted to use them soon. I made a basic vanilla cake recipe. It's one of my favorite ones. However, I was not craving any particular flavor of icing recipes I have. I went for something new, which was chocolate.

It wasn't bad at all. Debate: cocoa powder or melt real chocolate.......I chose melted chocolate. I am always over anxious with new recipes. Everyone that tried it liked it, so my experiment was a success.