I apologize that I have been having trouble with the recipes; everything at the Bistro is still really topsy-turvy and cattywampus, and I’m not sure how we will get it together again. The kitchen, despite our best efforts, is a disaster area. Besides that, the staffing is complicated. Peirce has gone on a trip to Canada, Wode is still AWOL, one of us has a short term gig as an assassin, and one of us is doing an obscure Tennessee Williams play.
However, Mousy & I did put together a cake for the Milligan College Library’s 4th Annual Edible Books Festival. It was a Fireman’s Cake, themed around Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. It was a Double-Dark Chocolate & Hot Pepper Cake with Lapang Souchong Tea (smokey)Frosting and a Chocolate Chip Cookie cover.
The cake was a variation on my standard cake recipe, and we made cupcakes with the extra:
- 3/4 cup powdered chocolate
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. hot paprika
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 cup strong Lapang Souchong Tea
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup dark molasses (not black strap)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
The frosting was pretty standard:
- ½ pound softened butter
- 3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 4 Tbsp. Lapang Souchong (拉普山小種) Tea, steeped, then boiled down to very intense.
- additional heavy cream or sugar as needed
The book cover was a standard Tool-House cookie recipe, baked out on a baking pan, and the detail work was melted chocolate.