It's 2012!

Good morning, everyone!! Who else thinks that 2011 flew by? We didn't do too much this weekend....mostly just hung out! Last night we had black eyed peas, baked potatoes, baked italian chicken (recipe to come soon!), rice, copycat olive garden breadsticks (so, so good....if anyone wants to see this recipe as well, let me know!) and corn for dinner with a big glass of sweet tea!!! Yum! :D Not extremely traditional, except for the black eyed peas, but delicious nonetheless! What did ya'll have for New Year's dinner? 


Well, I did promise a chocolate recipe on my last post, so here it is! I had this for my birthday last Wednesday! Basically its like a combination of a mousse with a cake. Tastes like the mousse, but bakes like a cake! :D Also, anything that has both melted chocolate and cocoa powder in it is bound to be awesome!

Chocolate Decadence (original recipe found here)

(not my picture)

Ingredients:

• 7 oz chocolate, finely chopped (we used a dark chocolate, but I think any kind would work, depending on how rich you want the cake to be) 
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 T flour
• 2/3 plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided 
• Dash of salt
• 1 cup milk (we used whole, and it worked just fine)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

1. Place chocolate and cocoa powder in a large bowl.
2. Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar and salt in a small heavy saucepan. Whisk in just enough of the milk to form a smooth paste. Mix in the remaining milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent burning (especially around the sides and bottom edges of the pot), until the mixture begins to bubble. Boil gently, stirring constantly, for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes (the mixture will get very thick and then you may notice that it thins ever so slightly as the starch cooks). Scrape the hot mixture immediately over the chocolate and cocoa. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. The batter will be very thick. Stir in egg yolks and vanilla.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating on high speed until the egg whites are stiff but not dry.
4. Gently fold about one-fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Scrape the batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top.
5. Set the cake pan in a larger baking pan and place on the oven rack. Pour enough boiling water into the baking pan to come a third to halfway up the side of the cake pan. Bake at 350 until the surface of the cake is slightly crusted and springs back when gently pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. (The cake will still be quite gooey inside.)
6. Once the cake is done baking, let it cool completely before serving. Mine was still a little gooey after 2 hours, but tasted delicious. The cake is even better after being refrigerated overnight. 

This is definitely my new favorite birthday treat!!! :D Have any of ya'll tried a cake like this before?

Well, my big project for the week is re-organizing my room. Fun stuff, right? I've been spending most of the weekend some time on Pinterest looking for some fun room decor ideas. There is a lot to work with on that site.....I love it!!!! I think I'm going to try to make this  because it is just so cute!!!! First though, I really need to find a way to get my fat cat out of my closet! It's really hard to organize in there when he just jumps right in when I'm done.....and gets black and white cat fur all over everything. Downside of having a black and white cat: None of your clothes are safe from fur! Anyway, that's the big thing for the week......it'll definitely be nice to have a project to work on! What are ya'll's holiday projects? Another thing I want to do? Flip-flop redesigning! 

Well, that's about it for today.....see ya'll later!!!