Chocolate Therapy Cake

Today I'm joining a talented group of ladies to help celebrate the fantastic flavors of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream! This theme week is the brain child of Kristan and Shelly (they have the best ideas!) and they asked Peabody, Julie and I to pick out our favorite Ben and Jerry's flavors and recreate them in a dessert.

Years ago I had Chocolate Therapy ice cream at the Ben and Jerry's inside the Opryland hotel. It's a mixture of chocolate ice cream swirled with chocolate pudding and it's studded with chocolate cookies. Love at first bite. Even though I'm a Karamel Sutra girl through and through, I ultimately decided on this flavor because I can no longer find it in my area (boo-hoo!). I really hoped to capture this trifecta of chocolate in a dessert - but which one? I mused on brownies,trifles and mini tarts but none seemed just right. My motto has always been, "when in doubt bake a cake." So that's what I did!

I started with my favorite chocolate cake as a base, then added two cups of chopped fudge-dipped cookies to the batter. Boy, does this ever give the cake an amazing texture! In the baked cake, the cookies are soft, and the chocolate coating becomes melty and creates little pockets of fudge in the layers. I spent a good bit of time perfecting the chocolate pudding buttercream, too. It's so decadent and it does a good job keeping the cake moist.

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My Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

When mother's day rolls around, I always feel a little stressed about how I'm going to honor my mom. She's  a pretty amazing person. If you're in her line of sight, she'll become your mom, too - and not in a bossy, pushy kind of way, but in her own quiet way that says "I see you, and I'm going to give you help if you need it.". She has a true servant's heart and I hope to be just like her one day. One thing is for sure, she deserves more than I could ever give her.

Mom and I are really close and, well... here's why. About a week before my ninth birthday my dad died. He had cancer. This was awful and sad as you can imagine (I'm sure some of you know the feeling first-hand). My mom had to raise me on her own, and I know it was a struggle but she did so much for me as a single parent I don't feel like I missed out on anything important. Now that I'm an adult, there are at least a dozen things that come to mind every day that I want to thank her for - or say I'm sorry for.

Mom.
Thanks for all the meals you made for me. I was not as grateful for them as I should have been.
I'm sorry for that boyfriend I had that one time (eye roll).
Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes when I was 16. I'm sorry that I did not always return them.
Thanks for helping me move all those times. If I were you, I would  not have helped me.
Thanks for teaching me that it's okay to stir peanut butter and sugar together and eat it with a spoon. 

The list goes on and always will.

Mother/Daughter

Mom passed down to me a love of bangle bracelets and coffee the color of caramel (but I did not inherit her green thumb,darnit). She also encouraged me to make good food. Years ago she gave me a cookbook with all the basics, and I was happy to give her my own cookbook in return all these years later.

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Mini Oreo Sprinkle Cakes

If these little party cakes look familiar, it's because they were inspired by this sprinkle cake I made a few years ago. The minute I spotted Birthday Cake Oreos (!) at the grocery store, I knew they were destined to crown little chocolate sprinkle cakes. I baked one inside each cake, too!

A few people have asked how/where the pugs are lately, so I decided to include them in this post! They make regular appearances on my Instagram feed if you'd like to keep up with their curly tails (and antics) there.

To answer the question - they are well. Sweet and spoiled and all-around stinkers!

Oreo surprise inside!

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SnoBall Cake Roll

I am a lover of all things pink coconut, (remember this?) and spring is the time when it shows up in my baking the most. I blame the darling buds of May. Around here cherry trees are raining their pink petals down like snow. It's a magical sight, but the event is too short lived. I guess this cake is my way of prolonging the magic.

It's also a riff (yes, another one) on the Hostess Sno Ball (I'm obsessed!) and the flavors are reflected here with dark chocolate sponge cake, marshmallow buttercream and moist, sweetened coconut.

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Stanze Cake

It's a rare occasion that I'll watch a movie from beginning to end without having to prop my eyelids open, but recently I did just that! I watched Amadeus again. It's been years since I first watched it, and I've loved it since. There's Salieri, shaking his fist at God and cursing his own mediocrity. Young, impetuous Mozart overflowing with musical genius and that maniacal laugh.  And Stanze. Sweet Constanze Mozart, a devoted wife and voice of reason, though she was inclined to ignore her own advise and follow her beloved into dark places.

She was my muse for this cake.

The Hollywood version of Stanze looks too young for enormous powdered wigs and the other garb from that time period. She reminds me of a doll, or a little girl all dressed up in adult clothing. And even though some of her dresses are rather revealing, she has an innocence that is undeniable. That's what made me want to capture her sweetness in cake form.

I'd just made some macarons the day before I planned to make this cake, and I decided they'd look pretty on her dress. Stanze was German, but she was fluent in French so I don't think she'd take issue with wearing them as an accessory.

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Giant Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwich

The only thing I can think of that's better than an ice cream sandwich, is a great big ice cream sandwich. I loved this treat as a kid, and never outgrew a fondness for melty ice cream sandwiched between chocolate cookies.

This super-sized version is stuffed with banana split ice cream and the soft chocolate cookie tastes exactly like the original sandwich. I think it would make a fun birthday cake because it can hold as many candles as you'd like, and it can be easily sliced into smaller sandwiches.

I looked high and low for banana ice cream at my local markets but found none.  I improvised and made my own by mixing vanilla ice cream and instant banana pudding together, then  folded in all my usual banana split toppings - maraschino cherries, pineapple and swirls of hot fudge sauce.  It's heaven, I tell ya!

I loved serving slices in these little ice cream sandwich bags - they're so cute! 

Sprinkles for dipping!

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Chilled Strawberry Bisque

Three years ago I developed a quirky little recipe called chocolate soup. It's a chocoholic's velvety dream come true and one of my favorite recipes to make on this blog. It's been published in a few magazines and in the Foodista Cookbook. Who knew a dessert SOUP would be so well received? It remains one of my most popular posts to date!

I recently found a completely different kind of dessert soup recipe, and I love it just as much as chocolate soup. It's cold, creamy, and chock-full of fresh strawberry flavor. Its lightness is perfect for springy weather and just the thing for Mother's Day this year.

Just for fun, I made some dessert "caviar" with grenadine and Grand Marnier. It makes a pretty topping and compliments the slight amount of orange liqueur in the bisque. I'd also just made a vanilla pound cake so I cut two slices into cubes for "croutons".  I think they look pretty adorable as an accompaniment.

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