Mocha Medjool Date Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

It’s that time of year when visions of sugar plums start dancing in heads.  Lists are being made on a daily basis and If you’re at all like me you’ve started thinking about desserts to serve for the upcoming holiday season.  Well, to be honest, I think about dessert all of the time, but especially at Christmas.  You want a showstopper.  And today, I have that for you, with a little help from the friendly (and delicious) Natural Delights Medjool date.  And, believe it or not, but this cake is completely vegan, and can easily be gluten free, too.  This is a great recipe to have on hand when guests with special dietary restrictions will be seated at your table.  Rather than having various desserts to accommodate this or that food issue, everyone can partake in this cake. They may even lick their plates.  

Get Ready: Sticky & Boozy Chocolate Prune Cake

One month.  One month until Christmas.  Someone tell me how the heck that happened, and what exactly happened to the year 2013?  Maybe you've already sorted out your decorations and strung your lights or played a little Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack to get yourself in the mood.   Seeing as I have a wee kitten in the house who basically enjoys climbing on and destroying everything, I'm almost certain there will be no tree this year, unless I want to come home to one that's toppled over and my vintage ornaments in tiny pieces.  And that would make me sad, and I've already pledged that I will not cry this holiday season.  It never fails.  There is always some sort of meltdown-inducing incident and this year I'm not going to let it happen.  No puddle of melodrama for me, I swear on Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.   Sleep, exercise, chocolate and a little bit of booze will be my saving graces I'm sure, with hefty doses of good friends and Love Actually thrown in at the right moments (how is that movie 10 years old?!!).  Christmas isn't easy for everyone.  Whether you're working too much, or missing someone who should be by your side, or just consumed will all of the pressure and stress that somehow tags along on this holiday that should not be about any of that.  One month.  One month to get yourself ready, and my hope for you is no tears either.  Feel free to steal my route of self-medication.  Remember, there's not much that Colin Firth and caramel popcorn can't fix.

Chocolate Gingerbread Beer Bundt Cake

If I tell you there is dry mustard in this cake, will you believe me?  I hope so, because it's 100 percent true.  I know!  Dry mustard in a cake - who would have thought?  But it's one of the reasons I wanted to try this cake out.  Well, that and the beer.  Beer in cake too?  This is crazy talk.  I've put beer in bread and in barbecue sauce and down the gullet, but never in chocolate cake.  But 'tis the season of St. Patrick, so why not?  When you've been baking cakes as long as I have, it's cool to shake things up and see what the heck will happen.  I can tell you this cake started out by giving me grief, but there was a happy ending.  And that's all that matters, right?

Worth It: Chocolate & Sour Cherry Cake

90 days.  90 days since there's been anything chocolaty on the blog.  Sure there was that Raspberry and White Chocolate Tiramisu, but we all know white chocolate doesn't really count in the chocolate world.  No, there hasn't been anything deep dark and delicious since the time that crazy good Pecan Caramel Fudge Pie made an appearance way back in June.  June!  Do you remember June?  Summer was just beginning to breathe; full of promise and sunshine and the excitement of holiday playtime.  I hope you played well and hard, friends.