Chocolate Oreo Cake and a Birthday

Last Wednesday was Jackson's second birthday!!! It was a lot of fun to watch him play with his new toys and get excited about blowing out the candles. I still don't know where the last 2 years went, but I can't wait to see him grow even more. He is so big, so smart, and SO adorable. He has a mind of his own and an opinion that he voices often.

So for his birthday I wanted to make him something special. I decided on a chocolate cake because for some reason he doesn't think vanilla cake is actually cake. I don't know why, but he usually won't even try it unless its chocolate, which is fine by me! I was planning on making traditional vanilla frosting, but then I saw a recipe on Baker's Royale for Oreo Buttercream and I just couldn't resist. Of course I didn't have Oreos in the house (I know, it's a sin) so I scooted out to the grocery store and picked some up, along with a bag of Chiptole Cheddar Chex Mix which is pretty good by the way (FYI: don't go to the grocery store hungry!)

Halloween Snake Cake

I am unbelievably excited about the Halloween season. Not because of the haunted hayrides (which you wouldn't catch me dead on), or the costumes. It's the decorations, specifically cake/cupcake decorations. I've been seeing them all over the web and I want to try them ALL. This is my first attempt and I have to say that I am pretty proud. I got the ideas from Martha Stewart's website where you can find the Snake Stencil. I used my go-to vanilla buttercream and dyed it orange with gel food coloring, then I dripped chocolate ganache down the cake to give it a spooky, but sophisticated feel. Next time I think I'll try dying the buttercream a little darker, but other than that I think it turned out really nice. I hope you try it. Be on the look out for more Halloween themed posts!

Chocolate Ganache (from The Art and Soul of Baking)

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan until it begins to simmer. Remove and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Let cool until it comes to a thick, slightly pourable consistency. Pour over cake and let slide down the sides.

Homemade Apple Pie

We went to Carter's Mountain Orchard this weekend to pick apples. It has become a family tradition, and one that we all look forward to once summer ends. This year however, the formidable fall wind put a little damper on our picking festivities. It was beautiful on Saturday, not too hot, not too cold. It was sunny all day, but I didn't get to partake in this lovely day because I was baking in the test lab at school. That's right my classes are on Friday and Saturdays from now until eternity May. So since we couldn't go to the orchard on Saturday we planned to get up early on Sunday and head up there.

We all woke up and, to our dismay, realized that it was a little more chilly than we had originally thought it would be. The fact that there was no sign of the sun didn't help matters. But we weren't giving up. We headed out of city, stopped by a Crackle Barrel (it's a road trip thing), and made our way to Charlottesville. We drove up the mountain, parked our car, stepped out onto the grass, and our teeth immediately started chattering. It was at least 10 degrees colder on the mountain than it had been in the city. I was close to jumping back in the car and "picking" some apples from Kroger, but we had already come too far. So I bundled Jackson up and we headed into the orchard. We picked Fuji, Jonagold, and Golden Delicious. Granny Smith weren't ready to be picked by everyone, but they had a big barrel at there general store for people to take. I picked up some of those as well as a few Stamen for the pie.