Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Honey Cake

For the past couple of years I've been engaged in a serious internal debate: Who is more awesome- Ina Garten or Nigella Lawson? Both have fabulous life stories. Both make great food. Both make a fabulous living making great food. I just can't decide. I will tell you though, this cake gives Nigella a bit of an edge (well, the cake and the British accent). I've made it several times for special occasions. It is beyond rich and sweet and would go perfect with some vanilla ice cream in the summer. I like to decorate the cake with almond slivers shaped into flowers and blackberries (above). Blackberries are so underrated in baking. Why? WHY, I ASK YOU? I love them. Nigella's original recipe called for marzipan honeybees, which I made once, but was underwhelmed by.

The number of my pictures which have wine in them are astounding. At least in this one you see several glasses, so I wasn't drinking alone.

I will not write out the whole recipe, which you can find here: Deliciousness Ahoy!

Tip: the consistency of the icing is key. Make sure you do not pour it over the cake while it is still too hot, or everything will run off and form a giant puddle on the plate below (and possibly on the table below the plate below). Also, when in doubt make more icing than the recipe calls for- better have too much (which, oh i don't know, you could dip blackberries in) than to run out and make more, which inevitably will be a different color than your first batch.

Proof that I do in fact eat vegetables

See? I had these for dinner one night. Bell peppers. YUM.
Of course, I added chicken and cheese (and some fajita sauce) due to my love of protein.


And yes, this means I'm eating meat now! BIG life decision! Chicken, turkey and fish. Never red meat or pork or bacon or any of that. And not when served in a form that reminds me that I am in fact eating an animal (i.e. No bones please. And if I eat fish, I don't want it looking at me). Cognitive dissonance is key. But the siren song of lean protein was too tough to resist.

Oreo Truffles

As you may recall, a couple months ago I made some peanut butter pretzel truffles for my dear madre. And it was so easy it got me thinking- couldn't I basically make truffles out of anything? Like, I don't know... Oreos?

And so I did.

And they were delicious.

Why does it looks like this pic was taken with Hipstamatic?

So delicious, in fact, that I had to get them out of my house before I ate them all. So I brought them with me when I went for a nighttime stroll with my friends Paul & Pete. They each ate a few... and then I ate the rest.

Mission divest-self-of-calorie-bombs FAIL. But whatevs. Totally worth it. And we walked all the way down to 72nd street and back so I like, totally burned off all the calories... right?

Oreo Truffles

Why yes, in addition to the truffles I did in fact dip a few Oreos in the leftover chocolate.

Ingredients:

• Oreos
• Vanilla icing (premade is fine)
  
• 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips

Crumble oreos (as many as you want, depending on how many truffles you want). Mix in icing one tablespoon at a time until the mixture is the right consistency for molding. Form teaspooon-sized balls of mixture and place on wax paper. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Melt chocolate chips, roll balls in chocolate, place back on wax paper and chill 30 minutes or until chocolate sets.


What else do you think would be good as a truffle? White oreos? Chocolate chip cookie dough? Peppermint patties? The possibilities are endless.