TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

For this week's Tuesday with Dorie assignment, Amy Ruth of Amy Ruth Bakes chose the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake from p. 286-287. 

Once again, I contemplated skipping out b/c the cake didn't sound fabulous to me, but I forged ahead and made it very last minute...to the point where I had to stick the cake in the fridge and cut and frost it while it was still pretty warm in order to have it done by 10 pm!

Despite my procrastination, I thought it was a pretty quick and easy cake to throw together.  I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand: I ran out of regular cocoa powder halfway through so I used half regular, and half hershey's special dark.  I also didn't have enough sour cream so I used half sour cream and half vanilla yogurt.  I was kinda worried b/c both my yogurt and sour cream were low fat and I was afraid that it might make the cake less moist, but I was wrong!  (and seriously, how can you be worried about not having enough fat when there are 2 sticks of butter?!?)  I also really think that the dark cocoa  was a change for the better--I ADORE dark chocolate w/raspberry and that's what it tasted like :).  Oh yeah, and I used raspberry rhubarb jam for the filling, but I told my coworkers it was just raspberry...ooops!  I also was using a slightly smaller pan than specified so I only filled it just over halfway full and baked the remainder in my freestanding heartshaped silicon cupcake liners.

Well, I sure am glad that I made this b/c it was amazing!  The cake was extremely moist with an almost velvety texture, and though I had slight reservations about the fruit filling I thought it definitely brightened the taste.  And the frosting!  How amazing is that!?!?  All you had to do was melt some semisweet chocolate and stir in sour cream!  Amazing!  Even though I had to slice and fill the cake while it was still slightly warm, I had no trouble at all cutting the layers and stacking them.

With my cupcakes I sliced each one in half and tried a few different fillings: nutella, chocolate peanut butter, and one with the jam.  As much as I love those chocolate spreads, the jam was definitely my favorite.  I don't know why, but the one I filled with nutella tasted very cinnamonny--and of course there was no cinnamon in the cake...weird.

Sadly, I did not get good pictures.  I waited until right before leaving for work this morning to try and get a good natural light shot, but it is so miserably hot and humid that this is what I got:

 It fogged my lens up! 

The first one up towards the top is somewhat clear, but it did not take any time at all to feel like I was photographing a fog, and by the time I got home from work, this is all that was left:

The cake was a hit at the office, except for sweet Larissa (though she still ate two pieces I think...).  She took a bite before I told her there was a fruit filling and just looked at me weird. Then she asked it it was orange or pineapple!  heehee--silly friend.  Hubs was also intrigued by the cake--he saw it on the counter and said "Cool! It looks like a meatloaf!"  which I don't understand b/c he HATES meatloaf and usually refers to it as gross.  But he didn't try it due to the jam.  Silly boy.

Thanks so much to Amy Ruth for this pick, and be sure to visit the TWD LYL post to see who baked along this week!

Happy Father's Day to my Dearest Daddy!

My dad and I have a very special relationship...it's very "tender" as my mom would say, which means that I cry about any father-daughter things...whether it be the Little Mermaid, or Father of the Bride or right now when I'm sitting down to type this.

As I mentioned before, I was born with a perforated intestine and spent my first few months of life in the hospital going through multiple surgeries.  My parents would take turns staying through the night with me and my dear wonderful daddy would stay up all night long holding me and brushing my little tufts of hair.

Dad had a tough life--with an alcoholic father his family was dirt-poor, but he didn't make excuses and always sought to be better.  He worked hard from his early teens and went on to college where he got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ--and his life changed!  Not only did he meet and fall in love with my gorgeous mom, but he also developed a passion for college ministry & spreading the gospel, which he has now been involved with for over 30 years!

 dad & mom in the early days

snazzy in the 70s!

Dad and I had our hard times--mostly during those ridiculous teenage years when I made bad choices about boys--but I think I finally matured and really came to appreciate the amazing man that he is when I started college and got involved in Crusade at WKU as well.  I got to see my Daddy through the eyes of a young college student looking for purpose and direction.  I saw how my peers respected and admired him.  Realized that for longer than I had been alive, he had been a mentor, a teacher, even sometimes a surrogate father for students who did not have relationships with their real dads.  And above all, he always pointed others to Jesus.  It is crazy to think of the tens of thousands of people--all across the world--that my dad has influenced, whether it be through hearing him speak, being in a Bible study or discipleship with him, or in one of the classes that he teaches.  But guess what?  None of them have the kind of relationship that I have with him--yep, I'm pretty special!  I get to be Thomas Weakley's oldest daughter :).

 giving the graduation red towel to WKU CRU students

in his element--providing for and ministering to a group of international students for their first American Thanksgiving at his house

Both of my parents were very intentional about how they would raise us kids.  They constantly sought to teach us about having a personal relationship with God and did everything possible to model a godly marriage and create special family traditions (even when I--as an obnoxious teenager--would do everything possible to ruin those traditions for everyone else!)  My dad really showed us unconditional love, and it's crazy to me because he did not have a model of what that is supposed to look like.  My heart still breaks over a fight we had when I was in that obnoxious stage--I told him that he was a horrible dad and he had no idea how awful it was to have a dad like him.  He quickly corrected me on that and reminded me of what he had to live with as a child--I would never understand what it was to have to pick up my passed-out drunk father or to have to support my mom & siblings.  I'm so thankful that I have a dad who is a man of character and who truly loves us with all his heart!

Just over four years ago hubs and I got married, and my dear beloved Daddy performed the ceremony on the front porch of my parents' lovely house.  It was so special to me to have our wedding there and to have him not only give me away, but to perform the ceremony and make our wedding one that was glorifying to God.  I only hope that someday if we have children, that we will be even half the parents that my Mom & Daddy are.

Here are some of my favorite memories & things that my dad has taught me:

• When I first started school he would take me out for breakfast everyone once in a while for "Daddy dates."   We would usually go to Burger King and he would get a bacon egg & cheese croissant and I would get French toast sticks-sometimes we would split them :).
• He would also take me (and each of us kids) out for a Daddy date on our birthday--he would check us out of school and take us to the restaurant of our choice for a special lunch. 
• We would go fishing when I was little and sometimes used corn as the bait--my sister (and may me too?) would eat it out of the can before we could use it.  I would also call the fish a la Ernie from Sesame Street: "HEERE FISHY FISHY FISHY!!
• We spent several childhood summers in Daytona, Florida on the beach while on summer assignments with Campus Crusade.  Dad would always take us out to play in the ocean, and when I was really little he would stick his hand under the sand and make a "sand moh-moh" (i couldn't yet say "monster")
• When we would take long car trips to Colorado or Florida he would sometimes wrap hot dogs in tin foil, lay them on top of the car engine under the hood, and then after driving for an hour like that we would have yummy car-grilled hot dogs for lunch!
• Dad would take on on family bike rides down to a donut shop in the neighborhood
• You know how kids always think that their Dads can do anything?  Well, mine can!  He laid concrete floors in the basement of our childhood home, basically rebuilt and restored their current home (build in 1848), he can fix cars and grill like a champ, as well as illustrate the gospel and having a spirit filled life on a napkin ;) 

 the grilling champ--he can grill burgers and hot dogs for over 100  hungry college students!

teaching hubs the ins and outs of home ownership--on the roof of course!

There are so many other stories and things I am thankful for about my Daddy but I will have to stop myself here for now.  Thank you for being an amazing Godly father--I love you!  Happy Father's Day!

Vidalia Onion Pie

Back when I was a young bride-to-be my dear mommy bought me subscriptions to Cooking with Paula Deen and Taste of the South magazines.  This was before my cookbook collection grew to over 100, when the majority of my magazine subscriptions were fashion magazines such as Glamour & Allure...not home or cooking things.  But I sure adored those two cooking magazines.  I would pull them out and read every single page...marking the recipes that I would love to try when I had a kitchen of my own and was no longer living in a college dorm!  I will still "Miss Hospitality" back then, I just did slice and bake cookies and brownies from a mix ;) 

During those first few issues in the spring and summer of 2006, I kept seeing a recipe--an advertisement, not actually a Paula recipe--for a vidalia onion tart.  I had just started to appreciate onions and really wanted to try making it eventually.

Well, a few weeks ago I pulled out one of my old magazines (of course I still have every one...and bought all the back issues too...), found the recipe and tried it.

Honestly, I wasn't thrilled.  I love the flavor of the sweet onions, but the recipe only called for one egg and one egg yolk and it wasn't enough to really bind the diced onions together.  It probably didn't help that shortly after making it I got a stomach virus, and sadly, half of the tart ended up in the trash :(.  If I make this again, I would definitely increase the amount of eggs to give it more of a quiche consistency, and I think it would be wonderful in tartlettes at a baby or bridal shower or tea or something lovely like that.

Vidalia Onion Tart
Celina Tio f/m the American Resturant, as advertised in Cooking with Paula Deen May/June 2006
 *makes 1 12" tart, 12 servings


 5 cups diced Vidalia onions (small dice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives
1 tart shell, partially baked (I was lazy and just used a frozen pie shell)

Cook the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until tender.  Keep covered to seal in flavor and prevent onions from browning.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the heavey cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Adjust seasoning, if necessary.  Allow to cool slightly.  Whisk the egg and egg yolk together and incorporate into the onion mixture.  Finish with teh chopped parsley and chives.  Pour mixture into the partially baked tart shell and bake at 325 degress for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Since I used a smaller diameter pie shell it took at least 45 minutes for mine to bake)