Sour Cherry Fudge Cake - Happy Birthday to Me!

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Sour Cherry Fudge Cake
Cake baked in its pan, cooling

For my birthday, I wanted to make myself a special cake. I love chocolate, and I love sour cherries. The combination is fabulous.

This is my favorite cake in the world. It's a very rich cake, and takes time and effort to prepare, but well worth it. My only suggestion to you is not to make it when you have a lot of other intense dishes to make, you'll look like me when you're done! Don't let that deter you - you and your guests will be impressed with this luscious cake.

Yesterday, I made Rose Fudge Truffles and Black Forest Fudge for Founder's Night at Spane's school, prepped Rose Petal and Lobster Salad for my birthday, and made this cake. By the time we got back from Founder's Night, I was so pooped that we decided to have the cake tonight. Amber and Noelle came by, and the four of us enjoyed cake together. A good time was had by all.

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Lobster Rose Petal Salad with Lemon Butter Dressing - Great Grandmother's Recipe

Lobster and rose petal salad
Dressed Lobster and Rose Petal Salad

When I was a little girl, my mother used to go on about how she loved going to her grandmother's house when she would serve Lobster and Rose salad. I was always hoping that my mother would recreate the recipe, but she never did.

When my great-grandmother was making this salad, lobster was a lot less expensive. I decided that for my birthday, despite to cost, I would recreate Christina Jacobsen's recipe myself.

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Experiment in Cupcakes - Box Cake from Scratch and Boiled Frosting

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I had a dream, yes I had a dream. I dreamed of cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting.

I'm not much of a cupcake person, but they are nice if you've got a lot of kids. They are easy because you don't really need a plate, and you don't need a knife, and you don't have to worry about someone saying their piece of cake is too small or too big. All the cupcakes are the same size.

Usually, I make a butter cake, similar to a 1234 cake, but it makes a three-layer cake, and that was just too much for cupcakes. I know that a regular box of cake mix makes enough for cupcakes, but I don't like things that come in a box. So I made my own box cake with fresh ingredients.

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Pirate Party Appetizers

Pictures and recipes for appetizers for Spane's 8th Pirate themed birthday party. Fruit boats, cucumber boats, a cheese ball skull, cannon balls (rum balls), and a Jolly Roger cake to complete the theme.

Jolly Roger Cake of the Pirate Rack Rachham with Cannon Balls

Jolly Roger Pirate Chocolate Cake
Jolly Roger of Rack Rachham

I just love marzipan. It is so forgiving, easy to work with, and delicious. As a child living in Germany, I remember every year at Christmas time, the bakeries would put out a nativity scene made from marzipan, with the structures made from gingerbread. These were true artisans. So, when I decided to make a Jolly Roger cake, I wanted to do something in that tradition.

Originally, I was going to make large cannon (rum) balls for Spane's pirate-themed party, but I soon realized that I could not put a candle on them the same way I could a cake. I still made the rum balls, and they turned out wonderful as well.

Making the cake was easy. I used my standard chocolate cake recipe, using Hershey's Dark Cocoa, with the addition of a little Chipotle powder and Saigon cinnamon. Black food coloring made for intensely dark chocolate.

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Cucumber Boats

Cucumber boats
Cucumber Boats

Cucumber boats floating on their blue ocean plate with fully open egg-white sails, rigging of toothpicks with whimsical olives making the mast, and filled with egg salad. Ahoy!

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Pirate Party Menu and Recipes

Pirate Flag Of Rack Rackham
Pirate Flag Of Rack Rackham

Pirate Party - It's a Pirate Party! This is a fun menu to make for your own pirate party, whether for kids, or adults who are celebrating International Talk like a Pirate Day. Of course, you can use these recipes at any time of the year.

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Day of the Dead Brownies

Day of the Dead Brownies
Day of the Dead Brownies
Day of the Dead Brownies Inspired by Crystal Skull on Exhibit at the British Museum
Crystal Skull at the British Museum

These Day of the Dead brownies have an extra kick from Chipotle and Cinnamon that takes them out of the realm of the ordinary brownie.

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