Cake

Cake is not a lie.

I made this cake mostly from the chocolate cake recipe in The Joy of Cooking.  As far as I am concerned, that is the only recipe book you should be using.  I’ve been making cakes for a few years now from Joy, and this was my 2nd generation chocolate cake.  Turned out alright, a bit lopsided, and I did learn some lessons.

First off, my cake pans did not cook evenly.  Our oven is tilted a bit, and I forgot to switch the pans partway, so it ended up being lopsided.  Secondly, it had been awhile since I had made a cake, and I did not grease the pans as well as I should have, so some stuck to the pan, but considering I had to cut the cake to even things out best I could, it was ok.

The major thing I learned was that you shouldn’t use whip cream as a center.  It would have been better to use ganache, then drizzle the whole thing with ganache, as the whip cream made it too fluffy, and hard to cut into.

I’ve also learned that I should probably invest in that pretty cake foil you can use on cardboard.  This looks kinda silly…

Taste?  Meh.  I recommend the white cake more than this, but my favorite so far has been Joy’s carrot cake recipe.

Field’s Steakhouse – Wisconsin Dells

My husband and I are coming up on our 1-year anniversary.  On our honeymoon, we went to the Wisconsin Dells.  After the snowy travel there, the problems with the hotel door buzzing, having to switch rooms, and not yet being able to relax, we were wondering if we had made a bad decision.  Perhaps we should have gone on the cookie-cutter Puerto Rico honeymoon everyone else does, maxing out credit cards and compartmentalizing our stress.  The Dells was supposed to be laid back.  We didn’t even bother booking the hotel ahead of time – that’s the kind of people we are, and the kind of honeymoon we wanted.  We ordered room service, some burgery buttery fatty thing that made us not hungry, but it wasn’t until the meal at Field’s later that night that the heaviness of what we just did – getting married – finally sunk in.

The night started when we pulled up to the building, wondering if they were open.  Apparently that day they opened late, and as I walked to the door to check out the hours display, the lights turned on like a bacon of hope.  Beacon of hope.  So we went in.

The restaurant was dim, romantic, and empty.  The fireplaces were already lit, and we requested an outside view.  From across the lake, we could see a camp, and in feeling the warmth of the fireplace, it felt very homey.  We ordered red wine, salads, and soup.  My starter soup – Alaskan Crab – was a meal in and of itself.  I love crab soup, only having had it a few times in my life.  When I saw it on the menu, I knew I had to try it.  My husband and I slurped slowly while talking, sitting side by side as we always do.  We started to feel like a married couple.

I remember ordering steak, which I rarely have.  I was coming off of being vegan, and steak was a big deal for me at the time.  This steak was sprinkled with bleu cheese and marinated in red wine.  It was tender enough to rock in the cradle and coo loving words to.  Every bite was like a word building a sentence, the meal becoming a chapter in a book.

We were feeling complete.

After nearly two hours of slow chewing, talking, holding hands, we ordered dessert wine and a creme brulee sampler.

So good.

Then we went to our hotel and talked about how now, officially, because of that meal, we were on our honeymoon.

I highly recommend Field’s Steakhouse in the Wisconsin Dells.  We’re thinking about going to Wisconsin just to eat there for our 1-year anny.