Celebrating 600 Posts with a 12 by 12 Challenge

I took on the challenge. As a chocoholic I couldn’t possibly resist.

Although the title itself made me a little hesitant. I hate titles that tell me I need to do something. 10 steps you need to jumpstart your career. 10 exercises you need for flatter abs. 10 things your relationship needs right now. 10 celebrities you need to watch for. I don’t need to do anything. You don’t know me. So most of the time I don’t pay attention to stuff like this.

But something caught my eye.

I looked passed the bossy need in the title and just focused on the key words: Life-Changing Chocolate Cakes.

Yeah if you say something like that to someone like me, you better have the Bobby Flay-Tyler Florence-Food Network chops to back it up or we’re gonna have problems.

So I looked at the pictures, accompanying this article.

Dude.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

Don’t know if they’d be life-changing but I could guarantee they’d fix a this-sucks-bottom-less-pit kind of day in a second.

Twelve.

Twelve ultra chocolatey cakes claiming to possess the supernatural power to change your state.

The pictures were pretty convincing, so I told myself I was up for the challenge. After looking at the pictures, my son said he would help too. Official test taster. My daughter would be the egg cracker and flour pourer. So seeing how I was fully staffed I felt I was properly prepared to take on the challenge. Twelve cakes in twelve weeks.

I figured this week would be the perfect time to launch this challenge, seeing how I wrote my 600th post and all. I figured it was time to celebrate.

Chocolate is always a great celebratory treat.

And Double Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream sounded like the way to go.

 

What did I start with … only the best ingredient.

 

Added some fresh ingredients.

 

I was able to turn the raspberries into this Swiss meringue buttercream filling. I love chocolate. I really do, but this was definitely the best part of the case.

 

Made sure I spread it over every crack and crevasse.

 

My finished product …

 

The taste-testing phase begun …

 

Incidentally I have to thank my good friend Gisela for sending me these cake recipes.

Don’t you love it, when a friend gets you.  Really gets you.

If you want to try this recipe out here it is.