Ramekin

Ramekin - a small container for baking and serving one portion of food.

June 5, 2009

I got myself a set of silicone bakeware (yes, as a matter of fact, it is red), and it had these little cake pans, I think they are called ramekins and they make litle individual cakes. They turned out so cute! I tried out a new chocolate cake recipe, and, by incorporating a few little homemade cake-making-tricks I have learned, it turned out perfectly. Exactly the right texture. AND it didn't sink in the middle when I took it from the oven like the other recipes I've tried did. I've never used silicone bakeware before, so I wasn't sure how it would all go. They are pretty floppy pans so I put them on a baking sheet and had to guess at the time since my recipe I was following was for a 9x13 cake. I stood at the oven and watched it like a hawk and, well, I guess I have to toot my own horn because they could not have turned out better. The recipe is below.

FYI - the cakes I removed from the pans while warm came out much easier (and prettier) than the ones I removed from the pans after they cooled.

Moist Chocolate Cake

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk

2 1/2 cups flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and sift together 3 times.

2. Cream butter and 1 CUP sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk to the butter sugar mixture until well blended. Set aside.

4. Whip eggs and remaining 3/4 cup sugar together until foamy and slightly thickened. Add this mixture to cake batter and mix well.

5. Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 until done, 40-45 minutes for a 9x13 pan. My ramekins which are larger than a regular cupcake took about 25 minutes.

I dusted my finished cakes with powdered sugar and added a cherry on top. The drizzling on the plate is just strawberry ice cream topping. It added some needed color as well as a little extra yummy flavor. I imagine you could use this recipe for a molten cake. I think I will try that soon. A carmel drizzle would also be tasty.

I finished up cleaning out the downstairs book cases today, and then moved on to Addie's room. We went through all of her clothes and sorted stuff out for DI and stuff that needs to be cut off for shorts. Then I pulled some boxes from her closet of Taylor's old clothes, as well as some other hand-me-downs we have acquired and had Addie try things on. I think we may be all set for school next fall! There were a bunch of jeans that are hardly worn and fit her just right. I bought her a bunch of new sweaters when I was in St. George in March for about a buck each at a sale. So hopefully I won't have to get her much. I love, love, LOVE hand-me-downs.

Then, since I had the cleaning bug, I moved on to Jack's room. He had assured me that his room was all clean and I wouldn't have anything at all to straighten. Let's just say that 1) he was WRONG, and 2) that vein in my forehead started doing that throbbing thing that makes my eyes hurt. For a smart kid, Jack sure has an interesting idea of what "Clean" means. Having never been a little boy myself, I have to hope that's just the way little boys are and he really isn't, um, mentally challenged, because I wonder sometimes.

Taylor is home from Girls Camp and all is right with the world again. I missed her.

I took the kids down to the bank today because the bank where the kids have their accounts (and by THEIR, I mean the ones they actually have access to, not the secret ones Lane and I keep for them) because this bank will reward students for good grades one time a year. So everyone got the maximum allowable and everyone was happy. Addie now has $12.00 is this account, and she is so proud you would think it was a million. Taylor is a pretty good saver, but Jack has a very strong impulse to spend money the instant he gets it. I can't blame him for that, that's the way I was (shhh - am), so he comes by it honestly.