Chocolate Chip Butter Cake

Chocolate Chip Butter Cake Recipe

8 oz. butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
2-2/3 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 oz. German Sweet Chocolate Bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with milk and vanilla, beating until smooth after each addition.

Grate chocolate coarsely, reserving 1/3 cup for the topping.

Beat whites until stiff, and then fold into batter. Add grated chocolate to batter and mix.

Pour into a greased and floured 9x13-inch pan. Sprinkle the top with the 1/3 cup of grated chocolate. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove chocolate chip butter cake from oven and cool on rack.

Warning! Fried Ho Hos are Not Good for You!

I saw a letter to the editor of the Raleigh paper lambasting them for not following an article about Fair food with a talk about nutrition. The writer said there was an obesity epidemic and articles like this were reprehensible.

So, for all of you who think a fried Ho Ho might be good for you, it's not. You shouldn't even go to the fair. You should stay home and eat carrots. Raw. No ranch dressing. And for God's sake don't drink a regular soda! Are you insane?

I'm crazy like that. I figure adults can make their own food choices. Hey - if you can reproduce and vote, I think you can decide what to eat.

Speaking of deciding what to eat - I ate a pumpkin Krispy Kreme doughnut today. I've been wanting to try one for weeks!! It was good, but you know what? I didn't think it was pumpkiny enough. It was like a heavily glazed cake doughnut with a slight taste of pumpkin. Good, but not great. And for a whopping 300 calories, I want greatness.

However, these are really popular - they are selling out - so if you're curious, get thee to the doughnut shop!!

Note: the doughnut is not a health food, if you or someone in your family is participating in the obesity epidemic you should consult your Doctor or a health care professional before having a doughnut.

Deep Fried at the NC State Fair

I want to warn you readers that this entry is not for the faint of heart. Small children should not be exposed to these images. Stop now!!

The Sorbet Sistahs went to the absolute opposite of sorbet by visiting the N.C. State Fair. Most of our time was spent at this booth:










Would there really be any point to going anywhere else?


We lucked out in that it was a fabulous day - gorgeous blue skies, great temps - the perfect fall day. Ah, but where to start! We decided to get a fried Ho Ho and fried Oreos:

Tracy and I liked the Ho Ho better than the Oreos, Beth preferred the Oreos. We think the Oreos might have been better if they used the double stuffed Oreos. I think maybe if they had used Cakesters - that would have rocked! But neither of these REALLY blew us away.

So we decided to try the fried Reese's:

OMG - these were pretty damn amazing. I would like to try these again. What a great idea!!! And how insane! Only in the south, right? Hell yeah!!

We decided we should walk around a bit before we struck again. These looked too outrageous even for us:

These things are huge - about the size of a dinner plate. They are thick fried dough bases loaded with chocolate, custard, cherries, and cinnamon apples which you can get in any combo you can dream up. Yehaw!!

We saw the N.C. Fudge booth - look at these flavors:

And look at the man in the booth. What a sad sack. I asked him if he was the King of Fudge, but he only sighed and said "No, I just work here." I guess that means that there is a King of Fudge somewhere that he reports to. They had pumpkin fudge which I had to try - it was great!!! They also had Cheerwine which Beth tried - maybe not so good. But VERY creative! No fried fudge. Yet!

There was an ice cream booth that had PUMPKIN ice cream! YAHOO! Had to try it:

Fabulous!!!!! This I want some more of - it was soooo good!!!

Are you starting to be scared by everything we ate? Keep reading!!!!

Beth introduced us to these babies:

Little fried doughnuts they make right there. They were mouthwateringly good! I couldn't buy my own bag because I knew I would eat every one immediately and I still had things to try.

I could not leave the fair without trying fried pecan pie and... drum roll please...fried peanut butter and jelly:

Pecan Pie - good, but really too rich. Would have been better if it were pecan pie nuggets. But peanut butter and jelly - whoa!!!! This was great!! If there were a little less breading, it would have beaten the Reese's, but as it is, I have to call a tie. But maybe I should try them again.....

Here's the take away - it was a crazy, fun adventure on a gorgeous day. We broke all the "rules" - we took off in the middle of the day, we ate "forbidden" food, and we had a blast!! This is the stuff memories are made of. Make sure you take some time to break some rules and enjoy the season. Spend time with your good buddies. Life is way, way too short not to.

And don't let it end without having tried a fried Reese's Cup!!

Yee Haw!! The North Carolina State Fair!!!

I'm heading out to the State Fair with my Sorbet Sistahs - look for a posting tonight!! I plan to try Fried Ho Hos, fried pecan pie, and fried peanut butter and jelly - at a minimum!! If you read a story about a woman exploding like a weather balloon - it will be no hoax.

The Horror, The Horror!

This just in from Motivation By Chocolate reporter David Lindquist (David - thanks for the link to WRAL's story!):

Wreck spills 41K pounds of Little Debbies (41,000 pounds! OMG!)

Tarboro, N.C. — A tractor-trailer wrecked on U.S. Highway 64 in Edgecombe County Thursday afternoon, spilling 41,000 pounds of Little Debbie snacks.

State troopers said the 18-wheeler had gotten on U.S. 64 West after dropping off a load of food at the Sara Lee plant in Tarboro. The truck's front tire ran off the rod, causing the trailer to twist around. The cab and trailer both flipped over and landed upside down.

The snack cakes and frozen food in the truck spilled across the highway.

Both westbound lanes of U.S. 64 was closed for several hours as crews cleaned up the scene.


Can you imagine seeing that happen? I would have pulled over immediately and starting loading up! I mean, I would have pulled over immediately and checked on the driver (who was okay, BTW). I wonder what 41,000 pounds of Little Debbies would look like. I wonder if they had any of those fall brownies in there. How exciting! Wait, I mean how tragic.

Mmmmmm................Little Debbies.......

Little Debbie and the Exorcist

Thank you all for the well wishes on my surgery! I'm going in on the Monday of the week of Thanksgiving. I'll keep you posted. On to happier stuff.....

I have had a love affair with Little Debbie Snack Cakes for as long as I can remember. The Swiss Cake Roll is my most beloved. But this year I thought I'd try some seasonal treats. My eyes lit up when I saw these:

How cute are these? I mean, when was the last time one of your cookies smiled at you? These are delicious - very cakey, very spicy and pumkiny. But I wanted to eat the whole box. In one sitting. These cookies possessed me, called to me at night and wouldn't give me peace until I ate every last one of them. As much as I lover her and as cute as she is, Little Debbie is the spawn of Satan.

Now look at these:

They look fabulous and festive and chocolatey!! I was so excited!! But you know what? Not so good. Seriously. I was thunderstruck. Gobsmacked. I had to take another bite.

How could it be? What was wrong? I dunno. They just didn't work. I like the chocolate cake, white icing combo better. These were so lame I trashed them. Let me type that again - I trashed Little Debbies. You know they must have been bad. It was tragic. It makes me sad now just to think about it. What a waste of sprinkles.

There were also some Little Debbie fall brownies. I went back to get some and they were gone! Who knew there would be a run on Little Debbie brownies? Some of these fall products aren't around very long, so if you see something you want to try, grab it!! And if you like pumpkin, those cookies are soooo good! And if you buy some and need someone to perform an exorcism after they possess you, call me. What was it the priest said to the demon in The Exorcist? "Come into me, Pumpkin Cookies! Come into me!"

Happy Halloween!!

Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate Cake Recipe

2-1/4 cups sifted unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup cold water

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together, in a mixing bowl, until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer set on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla and cooled chocolate.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the water to the mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour the batter into two greased and waxed paper-lined 9-inch round cake pans.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or until the cake tests done. Cool in the pans on racks for 10 minutes. Remove chocolate cake from the pans and finish cooling.