Showing posts with label Southern Living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southern Living. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Southern Living Chocolate Truffle Cake

My contribution to Thanksgiving dinner this year was a Chocolate Truffle Cake from one of my Southern Living cookbooks...it was a huge success! It was a sweet (and pretty) treat if I do say so myself!
It took a little while to make and decorate, so I would advise planning ahead for plenty of time to try it out!
The finished product before...
...and after! Enjoy!
Cake Ingredients
  • 8 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1¾ cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2⅔ cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1¾ cups buttermilk
  • unsweetened cocoa
  • Chocolate Truffle Filling
  • Ganache
  • 2 (14 ounce) containers of Pepperidge Farm Pirouline hazelnut rolled wafer cookies
Microwave chocolate in medium glass bowl for 1 minute or until melted. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar together at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, and then chocolate and vanilla and mix until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended after each addition. Pour batter in 3 greased 9-inch cakepans dusted with cocoa. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to cooking racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Truffle Filling
  • 4 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares, chopped
  • 6 TBS. butter
  • 6 TBS. whipping cream
  • 2½ cups powdered sugar
Microwave chocolate and butter for 1 minute or until melted. Stir in whipping cream. Gradually add powdered sugar, stirring until blended and smooth. On cake stand, place first cake and then spread truffle filling between each layer as you stack.

Ganache
  • 10 (1 ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares, chopped
  • ½ cup whipping cream
Microwave chocolate for 1 minute or until melted. Add whipping cream and stir until smooth. Spread ganache on sides and top of cake. Break cookies into long pieces and and line the sides of the cake with them. Decorate with thick ribbon and tie or hold in place with a long pin.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Living...Southern Style

This past Sunday, Alan and I drove to Nashville for reasons of our own:
Alan's Reason: go to a Titans game
My Reason: see the 2011 Southern Living Showcase Home

Let me just say, if you think Pinterest gives you great ideas, you (are right of course but) haven't seen nothin' yet! A...MAZE...ING is all I can say. Not only do you get to walk through a beautiful home, each room custom designed and decorated, but you also get to speak to the designers, ask them any questions you want, and the best... open up every drawer, closet, etc to see all the incredible details. The pictures below do not do this home justice but enjoy:
front door (already decorated for the holidays, I love it!)
living room
breakfast nook
mud room (this was one of my faves)
awesome sliding glass doors opened from the living room to screened-in porch
master bedroom
this little detail was one of my faves...double doorway
beautiful hallway upstairs, notice Elizabeth's "slippers" we had to wear, ha!
family room (this was Alan's fave)
backyard
After a late lunch, we went on to the Titans game.
cool display of the American Flag during our National Anthem
Elizabeth and Patrick... thanks for inviting us, we had a blast!
Such a fun day!