Something old, something new, something borrowed, some things blue

Then

 

Now

Today is Ben and my anniversary. We are celebrating 7 wonderful years. In lieu of going to a restaurant and celebrating on our own, we decided on staying in this year. What’s on the menu you ask?? Chicken salad sandwiches, waffle fries, french style green beans and POUND cake! We kept it simple for us considering we have two young ones that will be joining us at our “reserved” dinner table this evening. The pound cake, is the exception. It is nothing short of extraordinary considering it is a passed down recipe from Ben’s grandmother, GB. This chocolate pound cake was Ben’s absolute favorite cake as a kid. GB made it for him on his birthday and many other special holidays and family get-togethers. So naturally, I took this recipe, something old, and made it for our special evening.

I used the recipe as a template and made some modifications to it in order to fit our wheat intolerance bill. I traded the All-Purpose flour for spelt and the milk for buttermilk. I also upgraded the chocolate taste by adding mini chocolate chips and the chocolate ganache. Super dark chocolate flavor is nicely balanced with the sweetness of the cake. I didn’t want to mess with this cake too much only because it did belong to Ben’s grandmother and by the many, many stories that I’ve heard of her baking and cooking, I wanted to preserve it’s foundation. So my alterations to this recipe make it my something new.

Ben and I were married on September 2, 2006. When we were deciding on a date, we really wanted to pick the 2nd as the date since we started dating on the 2nd. As we went through the calendar, we found ourselves looking at another date much earlier in the year, which wouldn’t have been a sufficient amount of time, but then found September 2nd, was on a Saturday. We choose the date. After announcing the date, Kathy, my mother-in-law, told Ben and I that the wedding date we had chosen was her mother’s and father’s wedding anniversary. GB during this time was quite ill and going through a lot physically and mentally, but when she had told GB about the date we had chosen to be married, it made her very happy. Something borrowed.

Some things blue. Together, Ben and I have two beautiful boys, Aiden and Elijah. They are the light of our eyes and our reflection to the future, as we continue to pass down the love we have for each other and our faith in God that is the core and foundation of our family.

Ben, together we will walk hand-in-hand, side-by-side, forever. Happy 7th Anniversary.

 

 

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Spelt Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 3 cups cane sugar
• 5 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. instant espresso coffee, dissolved into 1/4 c. of hot water
• 1 C. buttermilk
• 2 C.  + 4 tbsp. spelt flour
• 3/4 C. unsweetened Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 C. mini chocolate chips, dredged in a tablespoon of spelt flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 285°. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the dissolved coffee and buttermilk. Mix to just incorporate!! Add dredged mini chocolate chips into the batter by folding them in, using a spatula. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 4 oz. dark chocolate disks or squares
• 2 oz. of coconut milk or alternate milk of your choice
• 1 oz. butter

Method:

Put all ingredients into a glass bowl that will wedge itself nicely into a steaming pot of boiling water that covers the bottom of the pot. Stir on occasion, until all ingredients are melted. Remove glass bowl from the pot using oven mitts. Ganache will be nice and shiny and smooth. Pour onto cooled cake. Add more mini chocolate chips if you wish.

Some tips from the little red bird:

• The temperature is quite low due to the fact that the bunt cake mold was dark in color. The darker the pan, the lower the temperature. This is because heat is transferred much quicker to darker colored pans and you don’t want the outside done and the inside runny.
• It is imperative that you not over mix this batter if using spelt flour. Spelt has very little gluten and if over mixed, you make end up with a giant hockey puck of a cake. Be gentle with this flour.
• You can sub AP flour back in, just eliminate the 4 tbsp and only add in the 2 cups.
• If you don’t have buttermilk, just use one cup of milk, minus 1 tbsp of milk from that cup. Add in 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar back in to make the milk equal one cup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Boom. Buttermilk.
• I used coconut milk in the ganache because I have some dairy issues and heavy cream would not be good for me. If you have no issues, use a ganache recipe of your choice.