3 to Zip

The spectrum from failure to success is often defined by two clichés: Three Strikes and You’re Out to Third Time’s the Charm. Yesterday’s attempt to melt chocolate for a cake didn’t result in a charm but an out. A temporary out that is.

My determination for a thick slice of chocolate cake was greater than the issue of my third bowl of seized chocolate. And when faced with a problem my tenacity is limitless. Rather than succumb to my own personal meltdown and after slamming the bowl of ruined chocolate on the counter, I calmly and quietly turned to another chocolate cake recipe that is not only foolproof but does not require melting temperamental chocolate!!

As we get older we become wiser and over the years I’ve learned if you step away from a problem and engage your mind elsewhere on something unrelated to the issue, a solution often arises.

So while putting the ingredients together for the runner-up chocolate cake, I realized what I need is a larger and heavier bowl. The culprit of yesterday’s seized chocolate session was steam. A tight fit is needed between the bowl and the pan of simmering water.

My theory will have to wait until the next time I have a hankering for chocolate cake.

However, there was a minor issue with the runner up cake recipe. This was my fault and luckily it turned out not to be an issue. I think the whole issue was my desire for chocolate cake!! If I’d just let that go I would have been fine. But then I wouldn’t have had fodder for two blog posts.

The recipe called for 1 ¼ cups of cocoa. Again, with the chocolate! But at least I didn’t have to melt it!

Before I put the batter into the pans, I cleaned up the kitchen. In my next life, my kitchen will be the size of my first floor, which should be enough space. Anyway, as I was cleaning up and putting things away I grabbed one of the measuring cups and looked down at it, the handle read “¼ cup”. What the heck did I use? Over by the sink, waiting to be washed was the measuring cup I’d used. I glanced down at the handle -- “1/3 cup.” It’s too late now to do anything about it as I peered into the stainless steel bowl of my two ton KitchenAid Pro mixer.

Well, all’s well that ends well because the chocolate cake is to die for! I’m not kidding. Although I think the recipe has more to do with it than my skill . . . as evidenced by the three bowls of seized chocolate.

Now I’m off to spend some quality time with a thick slice of chocolate cake and a tall glass of ice cold skim milk.

Namaste
Chris