On the anniversary of the bombing of the Boston Marathon, my thoughts are with all those affected. I’m looking forward to seeing the race come back better than ever next Monday.
Personally, when someone says “Boston Marathon” I think back to the day I brought home my first baby from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. I sat in the back seat of the car so I could hover nervously over my newborn on the drive home. Much to my chagrin the drive took extra long because we had to take a circuitous route back to our tiny on-campus apartment at MIT due to road closures for the marathon. Eventually we made it home safely and without tears (the baby’s or mine)! I can hardly believe it, but that baby turned 12 years old this past weekend! Which brings me to purpose of this post — the birthday cake:
In our family, we’ve got birthdays in January, April, July, August and December, which means I’ve had many opportunities to experiment with various recipes to come up with the perfect chocolate cake and frosting recipes. The ones I’ve tried in the past were either too dry or too brownie-like (don’t get me wrong, I love a good brownie, but not when it’s supposed to be cake)! Finally, I’ve found the best chocolate cake ever. The following recipes make a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate mousse frosting and a chocolate/raspberry/blackberry filling.
Cake:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-iii/detail.aspx
For the cake, use organic sugar (regular sugar is too bitter) and high quality cocoa powder (not hot chocolate cocoa powder) — e.g. Ghirardelli or the raw cacao sold at Sprouts. For the vegetable oil, we used safflower oil.
Chocolate mousse frosting:
For the mousse, the ingredients list is at the end of the video above. Double the mousse recipe to frost a two-layer cake. Use a high quality brick of baking dark chocolate like Valrhona. Put the metal mixing bowl in the freezer before you whip the cream and make sure the cream is chilled beforehand as well. Again use organic sugar. For the filling between the two layers of cake, mix 1/3 of the chocolate mousse with a small pack of blackberries and a small pack of raspberries. Frost the cake with the remaining chocolate mousse and garnish with the remaining berries. You can shave some extra chocolate on the top with a cheese grater if desired.
To keep the frosting from melting, put the frosted cake in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. Enjoy!
Fit Fun Mom 
Fun story about the long drive home from the hospital because you had to avoid the marathon route. Were you running marathons at the time?
BTW – I got the book in the mail last week (sorry, I should have emailed you then!). I’m hoping to have some nice weather and time to sit outside this weekend and read it!!!
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I was not a runner at the time — I started running about 3 years ago when I was 39. In fact I swam throughout most of my pregnancy (and the next two pregnancies) — it felt so wonderful to take the weight of my belly off by gliding through the water! Of course now I much better understand the joy of running and would love to be back there for the marathon someday!
I’m glad the book arrived safely and I hope you enjoy it!
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I was at the birthday party. The cake is as delicious tasting as it is pretty. I recommend it!
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