Woodlandnymph's Profile

you're supposed to say, "and what subject is that?" so i can say "WIENERS!"

i know your most favorite subject!

and we can talk about boooys and boooooks

It came out really well! I think the most (and only) disappointing part of the cake was the chocolate cake mix I used. It was Betty Crocker, labelled with some sort of triple super quadruple extra fudge thing, so I thought it would be great. It was... mediocre. Well, maybe better than mediocre, but it was easily the weakest part of the cake. Maybe next time I'll feel crazy and try from scratch. A few months ago I checked chocolate cake recipe book out from the library and it was absolutely wonderful. It included plenty of recipes, as well as tools and information to make up your own creations (recipes for basic icings, ganaches, standard chocolate cake, guides on choosing ingredients and determining quality, etc.). I took pictures of some of the particularly tantalizing recipes to save them for later, so I've definitely got that in my pocket for reference.

if not that you shall just stay here.... forEVAH!

now i am not DDF, i am charon! mwahahaha

I actually found this orange cream cupcake recipe and wound up basing it off that. I used a box mix of chocolate, substituted 1/2 cup water for 1/2 cup OJ (it called for 1 1/4 cup water, so I did the remaining 3/4 with straight water so it wouldn't get crazy), and added about 2 tbsp of fresh orange zest. For the frosting, I mixed OJ with cool whip and powdered sugar (to thicken it). The batter tasted subtly orangey, and so did the frosting. Right now, the cake is cooling!

I really wish I had one of those chocolate oranges like you pictured, though. That would be amazing to garnish each slice with. Instead, I just have a bit of left-over zest (and one big piece for the center) and some basic cake decorating skills for piping frosting decorations.

If this turns out well, next I'd like to try chocolate lavender with a ganache frosting! My mom has a lavender plant and has agreed to hook me up with some stuff.

cobwebs!

So, I'm interested in baking a cake, but need some advice from someone more experienced. So I asked myself who does awesome baking and the answer was Woody! So can I pick your brain for a minute?

I was thinking of making a chocolate cake with some orange zest mixed in. First off, will that turn out good? Will I need to add a splash of OJ for the flavor to be noticeable or is zest more powerful than I'm giving it credit for? And the big question... what the hell kind of icing even goes with that? Aid me, o magical one.

hey did you check out my siggy? hehehe