Back From the Abyss

The HUGE chocolate cake I made for one of the Christmas desserts. I have to say it was one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes. I'll have to find it in my bookmarks again!!
I'm sorry to whoever is reading! I have been gone a long, long time. Life has been kind of hectic. My Last post was about Halloween, so I'll try to recap everything I have done since then. I finished those paintings that I had started for the project. I went home for Thanksgiving and made fudge, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, the classic pecan pie, a chocolate tart with gingersnap crust and a very deceiving berry pie. For the main meal we had our usual turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, potatoes au gratin, pearl onions, sweet potato casserole and popovers. Mmmm. yummy. I didn't really have time to make anything in between Thanksgiving and Christmas break because of finals.



For Christmas I made a massive and delicious (if I do say so myself) chocolate cake, a pumpkin pie on request from my siblings, and our famous coconut cake. This year my mom's parents, known as Grandmama and Grandaddy, came to celebrate with us. With all the LaLa Daly family back under one roof and some g-parentals to boot, it was a full house. I have to admit, I think I get a little bit more insane every time we are all together but I don't know what I would do if I couldn't go home.I wish I could remember, but shortly before or after Christmas I made red velvet whoopie pies from Ina Garten's book, How Easy is That? I love her. She is so funny and dorky and knows the key know-hows to make anything taste good. These whoopie pies were crazy delicious. They were super moist and the cream cheese frosting wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. day my mom, grandmama, Tara and I went to lunch at the cafe in Neiman Marcus, Mariposa. (no words). Instead of rolls, they bring crispy and tasty popovers. Then we had some truffle oil fries, which were undeniable. I got butternut squash lobster bisque, grandmama and Tara split a salad and sandwich and my mom got another salad for us all to share. It was easily one of the best lunches I have had. We also invested in some unbelievable cheeses from the Beverly Hills Cheese Store. They are pretty expensive but worth every penny. The employees are funny and they also sell chocolate, various oils (we invested in some truffle oil), salts and breads. Also, everyone needs some cheese in their life. So if you're in the area it's a must! New Years Whoopie Pies I made for my parents get together. Chocolate with vanilla frosting and chocolate ganache in the middle.



With the rest of my break I went to visit my best friend Amanda at school in San Diego. Then took a mini get-away with my best friend Brittany and friend Kirsten to Palm Springs where we mostly rode our bikes and ate. All in all, my winter break was both busy and relaxing, a nice change from the cold weather to irregularly warm weather (I actually have some pigmentation to my skin as a souvenir).
Now back in Chicago it's often in the single digits and I even witnessed one of the biggest snow storms in history. Actually is was a sad day, because it started on my birthday and my mom had ordered cupcakes to be delivered. Long story short, Lake Shore Drive was closed and I didn't get my cupcakes until late thursday night. They were delicious though! Crumbs is the best cupcake place I've tasted so far. My second favorite cupcake place would probably be Magnolia Bakery in New York. Super moist and delicious frosting. And they have really beautiful cakes and super delicious cookies (and I'm pretty picky about my cookies) so it's fun to just go look at all the goodies.
So I have been baking occasionally since I've been back, but I haven't been taken pictures. Ooops! I will soon though!

Lemon Drops and Kahlua Cake

Making dessert's for Kenny's graduation got me my next job! Our other neighbor asked me to make some desserts for a Lemon Drop party she was having. So once I called and talked it over I decided to make 4 items. I made lemon bars, lemon ice box pie, mexican wedding cookies and a chocolate kahlua cake. For the lemon bars I used Ina Garten's recipe, from her 1999 cookbook. I absolutely LOVE Ina. Everything that I've made from her has turned out super delicious. I recommend any book of hers. The only thing bad I've heard about her is that her coconut cupcake recipe is pretty bland, but I have my own so no worries! Then for the lemon ice box pie, which is a classic southern dessert, I used a recipe that my family has been using for years. A lot of people have never had lemon ice box pie, which is really strange for me because my mom made it a lot over the years. It's a creamy and tart lemon filling, kind of like the consistency of pudding, inside a graham cracker crust covered with a fluffy meringue. Now my mother loves to have a super big meringue on top because she thinks its more "impressive" but I think that it's better without a huge meringue on top, so I make mine a lot smaller. Anyways I had a little left over so I made a mini pie and it was sooooo good. I want some right now. Next is the irresistible mexican wedding cookies. I tried the recipe from the huge orange Bon Appetite book that we have and is my favorite recipe thus far. They are super moist and just enough cinnamon sugar on the outside so that they aren't too sweet. Then one of the Daly classic desserts, the chocolate Kahlua cake. MMMMMM. It smelled so good while I was making it, but I couldn't sneak a piece, it would have been too noticeable. I put the glaze on while the cake was still a little warm, and then made another batch of the glaze too put on later. I cut the cake into slices so it would be easy to grab a slice at the party. But, alas I have a confession. This is one out of the two cakes I don't make totally from scratch. I got the recipe from my Grandmama Dale and I use a package of cake mix and a package of pudding mix, and the other cake, Rum Cake, is the same situation but with vanilla cake and pudding mix. So I'm always a little ashamed when people tell me how good the cake is because I don't make it from scratch, but I'm making it a mission to figure out how to make it scratch. (I'll keep you updated :)). . Since making desserts for that party, I have made molten chocolate lava cakes and a batch of my favorite double chocolate chip cookies. mmmm.

On another note, I've started babysitting and have a few jobs lined up so I can make some monaayyy! But I'll still be baking :)