Made a six tier cake for my birthday and what a fabulous cake it was!

Possibly the best chocolate cakes I ever tasted ... surely this has got nothing to do with the fact that I made it myself, although it did boost my confidence just a tad :)

The recipe will only yield 2 layers, so I tripled it to make this beauty. However, I did not adjust for that below... Courtesy of David Lebovitz from his website.

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/2 cup & 1 tbsp tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk

Ganache frosting:
10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water (or cream)
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

Directions:
Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
3. To make the cake layers, sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
6. Mix together the coffee and milk.
7. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
8. Then add the coffee and milk.
9. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
10. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1. Melt the chopped chocolate with the water (or cream) in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth.
3. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.

To frost the cake:
1. Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes, which will help release them from the pans.
2. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate.
3. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top.
4. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.

Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome.

I like soups hearty and thick, hence the name for the blog, so I don't usually purée my soups, in the event that I do, it's probably just a quarter of it so as not to be 'watery'. Serve with buttered toasted baguette, and it's a meal.


Ingredients:
6 cups fresh chopped mushrooms (button, baby bella), I like to mix
1 cup chopped onions
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp thyme
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1-1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp sherry

Directions:
1. In a pan, caramelize onions, then add mushrooms.
2. Pour chicken broth and in and bring to a boil.

Took a page out of Giada's recipe, after all, how much more authentic can I get with an Italian lasagna ... Bechamel sauce, ricotta and all ... rich and hearty, exactly the way I like it ;)


Original recipe had 3 layers, I added an extra meat layer... for two reasons, that I wanted it more meaty and more importantly, or aesthetically, it didn't reach the top of the pan yet!


Bechamel sauce:
8 tbsp or 1 stick butter
4 tbsp flour (yes, I use a bit less, as it thickens)
6 cups milk, boiling
1 tsp ground or grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground black pepper
For added depth, I added 1/4 finely grated onion (this is just me!)

Meat sauce:
1 lb minced pork, turkey or chicken (or for a vegetarian option, load up on zucchini, carrots and eggplant)
1/2 lb minced mushrooms, baby bella
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
8 cups pasta sauce (or tomato paste and broth and wine)
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp paprika
Salt and pepper

Other layers:
4 cups ricotta cheese
6 large eggs
2 packs frozen chopped spinach
6-8 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup parmesan

Here's a visual aid for how to layer the pans ...

Directions:
1. Prepare pasta pot. Add 2 tbsp of oil and a sprinkling of salt to the water.
While waiting for water to boil, make the meat sauce.

2. Make meat sauce:
a. Heat olive oil in the pan, then add garlic and onions, sweating them till fragrant.
b. Add the meat, and when cooked, the mushrooms.
c. Push the meat and shrooms to the sides and make an opening in the middle of the pan to sweat out the tomato paste (is using), Gordon mentioned this is to take the sour tangy tomato taste out of the paste. Heck.. I buy it! Then mix it in and pour in the red wine and broth. If using pasta sauce, just slowly pour in and mix well into the meat.
d. Let it come to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes for depth.

3. The water should be boiling by now, drop in lasagna sheets, a few at a time. As they are done, place on a plate, spray with olive oil so they don't stick to each other. They should be slightly under al dente.

4. Now is about a good time to turn on the oven to 350F.

5. Make bechamel sauce:
a. Melt butter in a saucepan, then add flour, whisking till smooth.
b. Gradually add the hot milk, whisking to prevent it getting lumpy until thick and smooth.
c. Season with nutmeg and pepper, and set aside. Stir now and then to keep smooth.

6. In a medium bowl, break eggs and fork whisk them, add the ricotta to this mixture and combine. Season this with a bit of pepper as well.

7. When lasagna sheets are all done, start assembling. For a pyrex pan, 3 pasta layers will be enough to reach the top, but since I like to do it in a metal pan, 4 layers is a minimum.

There could be some leftovers of meat sauce, which can go into your next pasta dish, or bechamel sauce,  to which you can add cheddar cheese and make it a mac and cheese.

So there ... a bit time consuming, lots of pans and bowls, but so worth the effort.