wan' cake?

I just explained, in possibly too much painstaking detail, how to make the world's most delightful chocolate cake over at my food blog, so if you're in a cake mood, wander on over.

Last week I actually made two cakes, as it was both the Sober Husband and Iris Uber Alles's birthdays. For the Sober Husband, I made a very fancy cake I'd been longing to try for ages. It was a lemon bundt cake with caramel, which took over 4 hours to make. The cake had a limoncello syrup brushed over it when it was fresh out of the pan, and then a layer of caramel was applied to create a crisp shell. I actually burnt the hell out of my left hand on the caramel and had to finish the cake -- and indeed the entire festive meal -- clutching an icebag in my left hand. The cake was then served with whipped cream made with fresh lime juice. It was good, but honestly I'm not going to bother to make it again. It wasn't good enough to justify all those hours of work, although perhaps my outlook is flavored by the fact that my left index finger still hurts.

For Iris's birthday, I gave her my big Cook's Illustrated baking book and let her pick the cake she wanted. She chose a sour cream fudge cake, which Lola simply adores. I don't think this recipe is half as good as the easier cake recipe I posted at Cooking with the Drunken Housewife, but Lola is in heaven eating this cake.

Anyhow, we're suffering from a surfeit of cake here. I threatened to compost the remains of the Sober Husband's cake to make space for Iris's cake, but the Husband was appalled. He's still enjoying that cake and takes the position that one can not have too much cake about the house. Bon appetit, y'all!