Chocolate cloud cake

("Eat more ham" flickr.com by Angela Mabray)

Happy Thanksgiving.....

I found a chocolate cloud cake recipe online at cookstr.com, by Nigella Lawson 

and I'm going to make it.  Here it is:

Ingredients and Equipment 

• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 6 eggs: 2 whole, 4 separated
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons Cointreau (optional)
• 9-inch springform cake pan

For the cream topping:

 

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Cointreau (optional)
• ½ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line the bottom of the cake pan with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, and then let the butter melt in the warm chocolate.

Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with l/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, the Cointreau and the orange zest.

In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35–40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no longer wobbly. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.

When you are ready to eat, place the still pan-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the cake from its pan. Don’t worry about cracks or rough edges: it’s the crater look we’re going for here. Whip the cream until it’s soft and then add the vanilla and Cointreau and continue whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff. Fill the crater of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently toward the edges of the cake, and dust the top lightly with cocoa powder pushed through a tea-strainer.

You can make this into an Easter Nest Cake by folding 7 ounces of melted chocolate into the cream topping and dotting with sugar-coated eggs instead of the cocoa. Leave the Cointreau out of both the cake and cream.

Then, enjoy your Chocolate cloud cake!

Day of the dull

Dear reader,

Today, I have no big thing I have or did so I'll just tell you about my regular sunday day.


I first went up to my country house Friday night that is upstate NY,so today I left. Woke up in the morning feeling like canned soup. Then I ate an oddly French breakfast and watched old SNL episodes later on. Then, left back to manhattan.

Athena was so gassy, It was a her horrifying smell that filled the car.

When I got to my apartment, I went to some cheap nail salon and came back home with navy blue fingers. Yeah, my day might not have been as exciting as yours but as long as I wasn't sitting on a couch, then blogging my snore sound. It's possible so be glad I had a story.


Sincerely,

Martine

Fashion Convention

Sorry I haven't been blogging. I've been forgetting. But I have been taking pictures of things I see. Ok, so it's fall....leaves fall automatically off trees, people raking, jackets (not tank tops) and heaters being turned on. I forget if I mentioned but I have another house upstate New York and here, it completely freezing. I saw ducks and thought "if i can't stay here with a three layer cot, you can't stay here and live off of seeds in a bunch of feathers.". 

Wait, I haven't shown you some of my pictures! (go to the bottom of the page)

I went to some fashion/art convention, it was free and on the weekend. Theyr'e were lots of hand-on things, Marc Jacobs did an inside look on what it's like to be a model and you walked into a room with mirrors (of course I don't have a picture) and then you went onto a runway with managers. Then you walked down it and the walls were covered in blue. after you walked you get out and in another gigantic room, you are projected into a show for 2008. Lots of technology goes on with it. projecting your body onto a projector, using the blue walls as like a techno background. It was amazing. 

SNAILELLIO

Meet my temporary best friend. When I was in Anguilla, Snailellio was the only thing I would get out of bed for. But this is a super fast snail. When I went to the beach he was there. when I  got back in about 3 hours, he was long gone. Fast Snail. Now, I'm long gone because I'm back in New York. Bye bye Snailellio. 

Tigro the sensitive turtle

TURTLES! I went to the zoo today and had no intention on taking pictures or having fun but the turtles were the only thing I fell in love with. I named the one off to the right side, Tigro! Tigro is a very sensitive turtle. He is wandering off to the side, away from the others on an epic adventure to the.............pond. 

Intergalactic Space Cupcake

(Created by Natalie Dee www.nataliedee.com)

Maximum Ride!!!!!!!!

I haven't read it before but It sounds so good. Maximum Ride was recommended by me from a friend. It's about a girl who can fly. Physically fly...like, wings grow out of her back and she flies. Here's a quick summery by Dipa Bhagwan. By the way, the author is James Patterson.

"Maximum Ride is a fourteen-year-old girl with wings who is the result of some experiments at a secret lab to inject avian genes into human embryos. Max is the oldest of the six members of her family, or as they refer to themselves, the flock. The others are Fang - a taciturn boy who is four months younger than Max; Iggy - who was blinded by experimentation on his sight at the lab; Nudge - a young girl who talks non-stop; and two kiddies, the Gasman - an eight-year-old boy with persistent intestinal problems and Angel, his six-year-old sister. Max and her companions were kept in cages and subject to repeated scientific experiments during their life at the School (as the lab was called); they were eventually freed by one of the lab scientists (who are referred to by the flock as White-coats) named Jeb Batchelder. Jeb secreted them at his mountain home and raised and educated them; but Jeb suddenly disappeared two years ago and the flock has been on its own since then. Suddenly, Erasers (experimental beings also developed at the lab who can morph into powerful vicious wolf-like creatures) raid the family's mountain hideaway and kidnap Angel. It's up to the flock to save her. 


I personally love the name. Maximum Ride is a saying...... I think. So it sounds like a clever name, also the other part I love is that her nickname is Max. I wish that was my name but I got settled with"Martine"

ELBOW TOE!

All over New York City's streets, "elbow toe's" quotes and pictures are posted on walls. It's not exactly graffiti, more like just art.
 There in alleyways and construction walls.
 Im just saying that HE IS SO MYSTERIOUS AND CREATIVE!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking about him with my friend and we decided that toe could be any gender. At first I thought that Elbow Toe was a boys name but then after our conversation, I was completely clueless.
 If you've seen his creations, (he always signs it saying elbow toe at the end) comment on what it said and where.

I've only seen six of them. But this is my favorite so far.

"FAITH IN THE FUTURE. FAITH IN THE PAST. LOST IN THE PRESENT. - ELBOW TOE"

isave some of your lives.

OK, you could take an amazon kindle or a nook and read, or just a regular book. here's a bunch that are my favorites that might save your book reading career.


BOOK                                                             LINK TO BUY IT

Molly Moon's incredible book of hypnosis       BUY

The Girl Who Could Fly                                  BUY

The Phantom Tollbooth                                   BUY

Smile                                                               BUY

Amulet                                                            BUY

The Red Pyramid                                           BUY


And more.


If I did help you and you want to have another book you like on this list, comment.

REMINDER: Only members can  comment on this blog.

I Blacked Out.

I love everything about this top EXCEPT for the huge tooth. The cross is good with me, I just think the tooth is odd. Maybe there should be a sharper tooth or Indian beads. That would go.  I get what she's trying to create. All dark with one multicolored item but it should be middle sized, you don't want the jewelry to be the highlight of the outfit. Big and bulging out.


Sea of Shoes

Lickin her lips

I didn't use any effects after I took the picture. The camera was on flash so thats how her eyes are highlight blue. But she decided she had chapped lips in the middle of our photo shoot so that explains the main point of the picture. Smart choice in my case!

IM back!!! =P

ITS STILL ALL ABOUT THE AWESOME

I'm back!!!!!!! yippie! 


Plus, now I've taken an odd interest in interior design so your probably going to have to deal with my faze for now. Now for a classic laugh......

"We wont be late Miss.Weems, get the children to bed around eight and keep your back to the wall at all times."