Love and Lots of Sugar

When I took the Wilton I course, I was so pathetic with a piping bag that rosettes were completely outside of my comprehension - so I never tried them again.  Until last week, when I just spontaneously knew how to do them.
These cupcakes marked the first time I’ve ever not had one single cupcake left over at the end of a party. I didn’t even get to try one.

I promise that I didn’t rub dirt on the cake.  That’s Special Dark baking cocoa.  It was a much more elegant effect than I was expecting.

This is a classic from a few years back; I made these cakes for a Hail & Farewell party at my husband’s command.  Kassy (I didn’t realize until YEARS later that I’d spelled her name wrong) was transferring to Italy; Jim came to Japan (about a year before we did).

FYI, Jim was, and is, a dear family friend. I cooked his wife’s first “real American Thanksgiving” (holy hell, no pressure there, right?), and he gave my older son his first set of drumsticks.  So the “we don’t give a f*** about you” vibe of the cake is all in good fun.

The Cassie cake was the first time I ever tried a tiramisu-inspired layer cake; and the Jim cake was the first time I hit upon the formula for The Perfect Chocolate Cake.   Mmmm…tiramisu…nobody ever orders it, but I make it for myself every year on my birthday.  Because TIRAMISU.  Kahlua and cream cheese, y’all.

There’s a ridiculous amount of chocolate in this cake.  Devil’s food cake with ganache filling and a ganache glaze under chocolate fondant, with ganache piping and modeling chocolate flowers.  I think I gained a pound just typing that.