enjoy the process!

i have a confession (or a confection!) to make ... although i normally admonish the use of processed food in almost all forms, i am guilty of succumbing to the ease and convenience of duncan hines! let me back up a moment. i am all for organic flour, french butter, sugar in the raw from hawai'i - but there's something about those processed cakes and frostings that just send people wild.

lemon tarte with fresh, flaky crust and bits of zest ensconced in a creamy custard (maybe topped with a perfect raspberry and silver dragée)? yep. buttermilk scones, sliced in half and slathered with caramelized pear butter and creme fraiche? definitely. but cake out of a box? frosting out of a can? well, don't be so judgmental!

this habit started in earnest shortly after the kids arrived on the scene. for jared's first birthday party, i (a relatively inexperienced baker) was stumped - how to craft a 5 foot long cake comprised of 5 letters - J-A-R-E-D, all jumbled together. the idea was born - bake 5 cakes, each in it's own rectangular pan, whittle each into it's own letter, fashion them on a foil-covered foamcore board, ice them, decorate them, and store them (where?). but how? alas, for a fraction of the price of one kilo of lescure, i was on my way with duncan hines devil's food cake mixes, and matching frostings (by the way, vanilla tastes exactly the same as cream cheese; milk chocolate tastes exactly the same as classic chocolate)!

the cakes - well, they take about 30 seconds to mix, and are completely predictable. they don't fall. they don't burn. they don't behave like insolent children! you can bake them on the top rack of the oven, you can crowd them, you can neglect them - and they still come out the same way! additionally, they can be flash frozen (and expediently defrosted), or basically left out on the counter for weeks, with nary a bacterial impact! and the icing. flip open the lid - no separating, no beating, no effort! just grab your offset spatula and you're good to go.

so, yes, i did just whip up a batch of homemade puff pastry for whatever may come my way. but when it's time for a birthday cake, a superbowl cake, a valentine's day cake - it's DH to the rescue!

chocolate ganache: minority report

i'm not exactly sure what's happened. when i was a kid (no comment), there was nothing better than a slice of sara lee chocolate cake. the (probably faux) ganache chocolate on top of the (probably preservative laden) fluffy cake was heaven on a plate ...

in the era of grownup, carb free foods, most guests wistfully and willfully decline any dessert whatsoever. how sad. dessert is where i start (and end) any meal - what comes after the main course often defines what the main course is. forget the greenmarket, what's in season, organic blah blah blah - tell me what the tart, cookie, or cake is, and i'll give you a seven course dinner.

of late, i have pawned off wedges of chocolate ganache cake - the real thing - on unwitting guests. triple layer devil's food cake, homemade with real dutch cocoa, creamy plugra butter, fresh organic brown eggs - sound good, right. sliced and leveled to provide me with the perfect platform for the most simple and elegant of delicious toppings - ganache. the same stuff that makes up your truffles - pure and simple, equal parts fine quality chocolate and scalded cream. left to consummate their union, these two likely culprits become one - glossy, rich, deep, sweet, and oh so yummy. carefully encasing the aforementioned three layers of cake - and voila - perfection.

so why so few takers? the kids turn their noses up - they dream of duncan hines. i can almost forgive their ungrateful and brainwashed attitude. but adults? how to resist a wedge of cake? it's CAKE, for goodness sake ... aren't you listening? this is what life is all about!

so, the next time someone offers you a wedge of cake, think of me and eat it!!!

h