Coffee / Corrales / Food

Mixed It Up

Timothy Price85 Comments

                Chopped chocolate

We have five birthdays in October in our family. The fun has begun. I baked Laurie a cake for her birthday, which was yesterday (Saturday). I baked special chocolate sour cream bunt cake that’s a little more complicated than the plain old fashioned chocolate cake I have made for her in years past.

Chopped chocolate mixed with cocoa powder and espresso powder ready for boiling water.

I prepped the flour while the chocolate mixture cooled so I could add sour cream to it.

Getting ready to blend the butter and brown sugar into a smooth, fluffy paste.

I think this was the most exciting part of the mixing. Mixed it up and got it ready for the eggs.

The chocolate mixture after I whisked the sour cream into it. It didn’t look much different from before.

The batter all mixed up and ready for the pan.

The recipe has you make a chocolate butter past to grease the bunt pan and then coat the pan with cocoa powder. Laurie said it worked better to use a mixture of cocoa powder and flour. Either way, I made a mess.

A well-coated bunt pan

Laurie had made this recipe and filled bugs and bunny cake pans with the batter. The little cakes rose well above the top of the cake pan. Keeping that in mind, I filled the bunt pan 2/3 full and prepped a pie pan for the rest of the batter.

Coated pie pan

Intermission: The birthday girl showing off how her exercise clothes and nails complimented her birthday bag full of goodies.

Batter in the pie pan.

Nice textures

It turned out that the cake didn’t rise at all for me. It just poofed up around the middle.

The cake came out of the pan really easily and looked great other than being a little short.

Drone view

The cake in the pie pan didn’t rise either. The sour cream I used was really sour, perhaps the sourness changed the leavening. I put the bunt cake on top of the pie cake on a chrome platter. The stack gave it a sculptural look. Tristan asked me to make the tangy whipped cream suggested in the recipe using heavy whipping cream, brown sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. The cake has a super chocolaty taste and the tangy whipped cream gives it a nice zing.

Note to Herman. This cake is great with a cup of espresso. Together they make the real breakfast of champions.

85 thoughts on “Mixed It Up”

  1. Hey Chef Tim, this looks delicious! The cup of Espresso does seem like a great addition. Happy birthday to your wife too. 😊

    Reply

  2. It’s fun to see all the steps in the process. You and Laurie cook so many good things and I have seen the process in real time before. Seeing your process of making this new-to-you cake through pics is the next best thing. The images are delightful.
    Happy Birthday to Laurie! 🌹🎁🎈

    Reply

    • Thanks, Donna. There are plenty of things that I can’t do, ant two of the three you named I can do fairly well. I’m no good a Welsh. I’m not a very good Welshman I’m afraid.

      Reply

    • Hi Nancy. I used to bake bread. I ventured into Italian artisan bread many years ago. It was wonderful, but so touchy and time consuming. It wore me out and I haven’t made much bread since those adventures.

      Reply

    • Hi Gabriela. How close is your birthday to the 26th? I would love to give you a piece of cake. As I have discussed with Herman, we need transporters for things like sharing birthday cake.

      Reply

      • Thank you so much Timothy. That’s so sweet of you. I should have not asked. The cake is for Laurie and please give her my best.
        Not too close…. 26 is Scorpio. I am a Libra like Laurie.
        Anyway the idea of a transporter is wonderful. How can I help?

      • The closest thing we have to a transporter right now is overnight shipping. I could Fedex you a piece of cake for your birthday. Star Trek had many great ideas that have become reality like cell phones, tablets, personal assistants like Alexa and Siri, wireless devices, smart watches, and video calls. There is technology similar to the “Tricorder” in Star Trek, and apps that monitor our health are similar to the device Bone’s used to check people’s health on the original show. If someone can come up with a transporter that would make moving stuff around a lot easier.

      • The kitties are magic. But poofing pastry around the country is a little out of their kitty powers I’m afraid to say.

      • Is 21 a milestone in Canada like it is here in the US of A? Legal drinking age, entry to strip clubs and other rights of adulthood? Do you remember what you did when you turned 21? My 21st birthday was rather boring as I didn’t drink or have interest in strip clubs. Our baby will be 34 next week.

      • Nope. Here in Quebec we can partake at 18. Funny, though weed is legal here, THAT they out at 21.
        And nope, don’t remember doing anything special but by August I had (foolishly) moved in with my boyfriend, who had a son that spent every weekend with us. I entered the mature phase way too early. Funny, I didn’t have my first kid till I was 32. Otherwise, I could easily have 30+-year old kids.

      • Spunk just waived his paw over a piece of cake while I chanted

        “Abracadabra mice tails in Ginger Ale, although she’s far away like Arabella, bring this cake together with Gabriela!”

        Let’s see what happens.

      • I did/do but it has lain dormant for a good while. It’s a mess and needs lots of work and I’m not the most computer savvy …

  13. Pure delight Timothy … lovely to see more of your talents…also the cake does look delicious…have a happy day and congratulations on your wife’s birthday ☺️🥳☺️ sending you all joy ~ hedy

    Reply

  17. First, a Happy Birthday to Laurie! And yes, the photographs were enough to make my mouth water… Wish I had a Star Trek transporter! 😉

    Reply

      • Who doesn’t love chocolate? They must have a genetic aberration. All kidding aside, I’m wishing Laurie a Hapoy Birthday and wonderful year ahead to both of you. Thanks for sharing this awesome scene !

      • Believe it or not, when we lived in Spain, a lot of Spanish women did not like chocolate. Chocolate is a basic food group.

      • That’s amazing. Well, I’ve never been to Spain but I kind of like the music. I actually do Have a friend who doesn’t care for chocolate… to each his own.

  25. Awwww…. how lovely!!! Happy Birthday to Laurie 💐[and you!] That looks delicious! Autumn is a great season for birthdays, isn’t it?! 🎂🎁💐🎉🎊🍁🍂

    Reply

  27. Amazing, Tim!
    I can’t bake a cake for the life of me.
    I can, however, bake pies and make a mess every bit as good, or better than yours!

    Reply

  28. You really know how to live the good life 🙂 Nice to know your talents are not only with photography but baking as well ~ cheers and a happy birthday to all!

    Reply

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