Nia's Birthday Cake

As I shared in my previous posting, that we were celebrating seven birthdays in the family. We choose Valentine Day February 14^th, for the big celebration, as my sister in law lives with her family in Mississauga which is the next big city after Toronto, and they are part of the celebration party. Mississauga is almost four hours driving to North Bay.

It was a simple choice for the birthday cake, the Landry's love love love chocolate, I choose a double chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, check the earlier posting for the recipe.

Now when it comes to a child birthday cake, you have to very careful with what you are using… my plan was doing an Ariel Cake and cover the cake with homemade fondant as well as the doll, also make fondant under the sea characters. To be honest, it will be a gorgeous cake, but do you really want a five years old girl to eat all that sugar even if its her birthday cake, who cares if the cakes is gorgeous or not… It’s covered with sugar. I know for surel that Lorraine will not be happy giving Nia all that sugar, and the cake will stay in North Bay for someone to eat, and will not go with them to Mississauga…

For sometime I wanted to try Farida’s Zebra Cake www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/ it looks great the recipe doesn’t include lot of sugar … I still wanted to go with under the water theme, and I wanted to use a nice icing which will stay perfect on the cake, light and not overly sweet… and my seven minutes icing is perfect for the job... it never failed me before. The candy store has a big variety of jelly candy, I found several under the sea characters , I grabbed couple of each and went back to assemble the cake.

By the way when we carried the two cakes we left Nia’s cake in the truck, I wanted to surprise her… and oh boy, she was surprised for sure, she yelled, cried from joy and hugged and kissed me then hugged me again... I leave the rest for the photos.

The big surprise on Miss Nia... She new there is a big cake for all of them but didn't expect a special one for her!!!!

P.S. my husband is after me now to bake him some Zebra CupCakes for his lunch box.

H2OPE FOR HAITI & A Double Chocolate Cake

It’s been snowing since last night; the ground is covered with snow… I was sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee and looking outside at the falling snow , I felt happy to see the white powder again, funny for someone who hates the winter cold snowy season, I felt happy to see the snow…

We didnt have a bad winter season this year. It was mild in comparison to earlier years... Especially in Northern Ontario where we will be covered with snow till mid of March…It didn’t snow all January, and this is the first snow in February.

In just the past two years alone, there have been major food and fuel crises, a global recession, and climatic disasters. There have also been other natural catastrophes, like the earthquake in Haiti which wrought so much pain and destruction. Last week Madeira landslide changed the map of the City, taking with it several victims, hundred of families lost their homes.

The devastating magnitude 7.0 quake that ripped through Haiti last month, reportedly killing thousands of people, the severe shaking which was so damaging, leaving thousands homeless without a safe shelter, the infrastructure is completely destroyed leaving the victims without food and water.

From Sunday, February 21 to Sunday-March 7th, 2010

BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine (BA-CFF) will be launching H2Ope for Haiti, an online raffle to raise funds for Concern Worldwide relief effort in Haiti.

They selected Concern Worldwide because of its long track record and quick response after the quake to provide clean drinking water and water purification tablets.

Concern Worldwide estimates that its initial response to the emergency will last at least six months. The money raised by this raffle will be paid directly into Concern Worldwide's account by Justgiving and will be used exclusively for the Haiti relief effort

Although the donation is small ; coming from a warm sincere heart will make a difference, and penny over penny will reach the target

Go to the Justgiving donation page and follow the instructions on how to win. You will find the list of great raffle prizes donated such as an I-Pod Shuffle, artwork, autographed cookbooks and so much more!!! You can also see the list of prizes on www.cooksister.com/2010/02h2ope-for-the-haiti-the-prizes.html for a complete list of prizes

One raffle ticket will give you the chance to win your choice of wonderful prizes donated by some fabulous bloggers. How's about an I-Pod Shuffle, an autographed copy of David Lebovitz's latest cookbook, Indian artwork or many more exciting prizes.

Also I got a $50.00 shopping spree from http://www.csnstores.com/, they have over 200 stores. you can shop online from Baby & kids, Home Decor, Home Improvement, Housewares , Outdoors, and many more PRIZE CODE: HFH35

Double Chocolate Cake

I've been using the Epicurious Double chocolate Layer Cake since some years now, and every time I make the cake, I try to add a new flavour. The original recipe of this cake make two 9 " round cake pans. Because I made this cake for a big birthday Party I doubled the recipe using two 12" cake pans, and four pounds of Callebaut Chocolate between the cake the ganache and the the chocolate flowers which were my first time trial. "the birthday party was on Feb 14th - what's better than chocolate on this special day"

For cake layers

• 3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
• 3 cups sugar ( use 2 1/2)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For ganache frosting

• 1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

for my cake I have to use 2 1/2 pounds of chocolate.


Note: I added 2 cups of toasted sliced Hazelnuts , this is optional
I use a strong brewed Melita Coffee, then add extra tbsp of Nescafe to the mix.


All I can say, this is the best ever chocolate cake you will ever eat PERIOD

Once again I remind you to check the justgiving and bid on one of the prizes.. there are plenty to choose from. and remember your money is going toward a great cause, God will bless every penny paid . Thank you so much every one for your support.