52 weeks of baking: 50 - chocolate lava cake

Alright people. This recipe. I don't know how I've survived without it. It's insanely easy and ridiculously delicious. It's molten chocolate lava cake. Like you get at restaurants. Except AT HOME and made fresh with quality ingredients, because who knows whats in that nonsense from Chili's and how long it's been around. Here's the recipe, and bookmark that sucker because it is a keeper. I found it months ago but somehow just got around to making it. SHAME.

Like I said, this recipe is EASY. It's a one bowl wonder and it's only downfall is that it makes four little cakes. And that's definitely not a bad thing. If you've got four folks around, perfect, but if you're me and Brendon that leaves you with two extra. And these babies are made to be eaten right out of the oven. Not sure how well they'll keep, but we'retrying it out. Even if they're not as melty and perfect as they were fresh, it's still chocolate cake. It will get eaten. I think next time, and there will be a next time, I'll try halving the recipe.

I mean, is that not heaven? I love cake batter far more than I should, so this little cake was my happy place. Oh, cake batter. I love you so. Don't kill me, raw eggs!

Wassailfest 2013

As seems to be tradition since we moved back down south, we went to Wassailfest down in New Braunfels! (Here's Wassailfest 2011 and 2012) This year my mom, her friend Ray, Brendon, and I were joined by my sister and step bro! The more the merrier! Also, this year it was incredibly cold. I think everyone in middle America is enjoying a rather crazy cold spell at the moment. It's been hanging in the thirties or below for the past few days, which is rather wild for Texas. So we went a Wassailing in the cold, and it was very cold, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The buildings provided shelter from the wind and the endless supply of wassail kept you warm!

We also stopped by this bar called Pour House where a couple of my sisters friends (my sister knows EVERYONE in New Braunfels, seriously) were playing music. They were great! And it was a cute little place and the bar has swings to sit swing on. Coolest idea ever. There were fire pits and heaters to keep you warm outside, it was actually really nice!

Of course, because that is my luck, my camera died part way through Wassailfest. This blurry shot is the only one we got of the two of us. No picture in front of the tree this year, but that's okay! We'll get one next year!

It was a really fun evening full of holiday cheer and good folks. Although life has been crazy lately I'm very glad we were able to squeeze this night in. Last year we did TONS of holiday stuff, and this year I feel like we're just frantically trying to get everything done day to day, much less anything extra. Brendon finishes school this next week and I am very excited about that. Hopefully that will help slow things down a bit. This is my favorite month of the year and it is FLYING by! Slow down December, I love you!

52 weeks of baking: 49 - spice cake

Oh my gosh can you believe it? Only three more weeks of baking and my year of baking will be DONE! As busy as I've been the past month or two, I can't say I'm not a little excited. When life is normal (what is normal and when was that?) it's easy to knock the baking out but dang, I've been so busy it's been hard to squeeze in time in the kitchen.

This week I made a spice cake! For my step mom's birthday last month my dad made a cake and as we were all oohing and aahing over it (I mean, my dad bakes once a year, it's a thing of wonder) and guessing what kind it was, my sister asked if it was a spice cake. It wasn't but that got me thinking about spice cakes. We had them all the time growing up apparently, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what they tasted like. So of course, I had to make one! I used this recipe and it is SO EASY; a one bowl wonder if you rinse it out and use the same bowl for the icing.

Someone LOVES cream cheese icing! I'm a batter fiend, but he's all about that icing.

This cake is very yummy. Spice cake is pretty similar to carrot cake in that it's full of mulling spices and topped with tons of cream cheese icing. The recipe is spot on, although it's a little dry. I may have over cooked it at tad, although I did bake mine in a metal pan versus the glass one the recipe showed. Noted for next time, I'll probably lower the temp a bit. But other than that it's great! I love that it's not a giant cake. It's a sweet little 8"x8" which is perfect for us to knock out in a week.

The final weeks of baking are approaching, and I feel I must be extra picky when choosing items to bake! There are just so many choices! You'd think after almost 52 weeks of baking I'd have run out of ideas, but NOPE! There's just so much yumminess out there.

Eight

Enjoy this picture (oh my god) of Brendon and I at our senior prom, in honor of eight years of love and fun. We've been partners in crime for EIGHT years, and every year has been better than the last. And I think it's safe to say that our fashion sense has improved slightly.

Thank you for being the best Brendon Hogan and for picking me. I sure do love you. Your fro too. Find us a prom that we can crash to celebrate, okay?

52 weeks of baking: 48 - black bottom oatmeal pie

Well, we're back to it. The only posts I seem to have time to do lately are my weekly baking. So here's a recap of Thanksgiving and the past week. It has been BUSY. Dear lord. I always work a lot, but this month man... I can't even tell you. I am exhausted and time is flying. How has Thanksgiving even come and gone? PHEW. It was a good day though. Brendon and I ran the 5 mile Turkey Trot here in Austin and I did soooo much better than I thought I would, seeing as how I hadn't run in over a month. And holy cow, I have never run a race with so many people. Usually a mile or so into a run people kind of stagger off so you aren't running in a crowd, shoulder to shoulder, but this race was a crowd all the way through. People all around you until the very end, and there was a mad traffic jam at the finish line. Like, seriously, a standstill. There were something like 25,000 people there. Craziness! But we had a lot of fun and it was definitely one of my favorite runs so far. Very positive and the view and weather were great.

After running our butts off we headed down to New Braunfels for two back to back Thanksgivings, one with my mom and one with my dad. Lots of good food (so full, STILL) and good company, but needless to say it was not the most relaxing day. Too much running around. A very good day though.

So of course, here I am, blogging my baking at the very last minute. I actually baked two pies this week, a pumpkin pie for my crew at work (undocumented because I was in a huge rush) and this black bottom oatmeal pie for us. This pie is very interesting. I've never really had anything like it. I guess the closest thing would be a pecan pie, but it's softer. Oh and there's chocolate.

Helloooo there tiny kitchen! How I dream of one day having counter space!

Why yes, there is a layer of chocolate ganache at the bottom of this pie. Hence, black bottom! Cute and clever!

It's real good with a hearty dollop (or two) of freshly whipped cream. Excuse my terrible pie crust. My crusts never look pretty, but boy do they taste good! This pie is a little like a mapley oatmeal chocolate chip cookie... but in a pie. It's very different and very good.

Can you believe it is December? Where did November go? WHERE DID THE YEAR GO? Although I am glad that time is going by so quickly (only 18 months until Brendon graduates!), I've been feeling a little left in the dust and frazzled. I need a break, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Perhaps January will bring some calm into my life. Goodness knows I need it! Until then, bake on folks! Dessert makes everything better.