Chocolate Raspberry Birthday Cake

Happy 21st Birthday Big Sis!

This calls for the yummiest cake imaginable:
Chocolate Raspberry 

Excuse the half-demolished pictures. But this was perhaps the best combination of flavors I've ever tried. Seriously, a winner.

Chocolate Cake

Whipped Raspberry Cream Filling

Raspberry Buttercream Icing

Raspberry garnishes

Make a traditional buttercream with butter and confectioner's sugar and divide it into 1/3 and 2/3. Use real raspberries, boiled them down to a jam, folded them into whipped cream, then beat that into the smaller bowl of buttercream. Smoosh it between two layers of your favorite chocolate cake. Mix raspberry extract into the remaining buttercream, and frost the outside of the cake with it (best done when frozen). Decorate with raspberries. Cut a big slice, hand it to the birthday girl, then eat the rest of the cake yourself. Perfect.

A Special Shout-Out

This week is big, it marks the debut of an amazing up and coming chef - my dad!

While I've been away at school he's taken over the kitchen at home. He has an intuition for flavor combinations...he could always make something tasty on the days when it seemed like we had nothing in the fridge.

His most recent masterpiece: fish tacos

 

"Trout, hot red peppers in garlic and olive oil, diced cherry tomatoes, lime, and a touch of ranch dressing."

Isn't it pretty? I miss him.

Shrimp Etouffee

Dear Salley,
That girl lugging the huge bag of pots and pans up the stairs? That's me. I've got big plans for us.

I cooked my first meal in my dorm's kitchen tonight. It was a little bit of a challenge but fun! It felt really good to get back into it - there are only so many dining hall meals I can stand. My boyfriend came over and we had a cozy dinner in Salley Hall. It felt like we were back home for a little while :) Sometimes those little familiarities make college life easier. (Sorry to the 5th floor for making it smell like seafood. I'll make brownies next time).

Ingredients
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp.
1 whole onion - diced
1 each red and green bell pepper - okay to dice one whole bell pepper, any color.
1 can of diced tomatoes, or dice 2 romas.
2 cloves of garlic - about a teaspoon, minced, or pre-chopped from jar.
3 green onions - sliced. Discard roots and old green ends - use white and light green parts.
1/2 bunch of parsley - chopped
1/8 to 1/4 cup clam juice, preference (this is for extra seafood flavor - you could leave it out.)
2 cups of water - for Etouffee broth
2 teaspoons of cornstarch - into reserved 1/2 cup oyster/water broth.
good shake of Cajun seasoning
2 whole bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce - optional
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Roughly chop one whole onion and red and green bell pepper.  Mix in tomato, bell pepper and tomato and cook in a pot over medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add minced garlic and cook about 30 seconds.

2. For the seafood stock, pour the clam juice into 2 cups of water. Set aside 1/2 cup of stock for later.

Add seafood stock to cooking veggies and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add 2 whole bay leaves. Add your heat - hot sauce, Cajun seasonings, cayenne pepper, whatever. Cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes at low heat.

4. Add chopped green onions and parsley.

5. Spoon 2 teaspoons of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of reserved seafood broth -- blend well. Stir cornstarch liquid into pot. Sauce should start to thicken into a gravy after a couple of minutes. Let it cook for about five more minutes over low heat.

6. Add the cooked shrimp at the end and let them heat to temperature, about 4 minutes.

Throw out the bay leaves.

Serve over rice with extra hot sauce

You can omit all the spiciness of this dish if you’re that kind of person. But I feel if you’re going Cajun, you should go all the way.