Snow and Chocolate

Yesterday most of Oklahoma was blanketed with at least 6 inches of snow on top of an inch of ice that covered surfaces the day before. Along with the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 2009, there has been a bumper crop of snow and ice this winter.

There is something about cold weather and being snowed in that creates within me a craving for chocolate. An online search for a chocolate cake yielded Tish Boyle's Diner Desserts and a recipe for Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake. This recipe, with the addition of brown sugar, cocoa, sour cream, and ice water, is nicely crumbed and moist and has that perfect balance of sweet and chocolate that appeased my craving for chocolate but brought a new addiction of its own.
The. best. chocolate. cake. I. have. ever. baked.

Now I am on the hunt for a copy of Diner Desserts, which is out of print. I did make minor modifications to the recipe, which I have noted below, and I made a scaled-down version of this cocoa-based frosting from Allrecipes.com instead of the Fudge Frosting listed with the original recipe.

Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
modified from the original by Tish Boyle

2-2/3 cups unbleached flour
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream, room temperature (I used yogurt from a local dairy
1 tablespoon vanilla
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1/2 cup corn oil (I used canola oil)
1-1/4 cups ice water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter bottom and sides of two 8-inch round cake pans. Dust pans with flour and tap out excess.

In medium bowl, sift together and then whisk flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In medium bowl, whisk eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, use paddle attachment (or beaters) on low speed to beat melted butter and oil till blended. Beat in water. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed about 1 minute, till blended. Scrape down sides of bowl and add egg mixture; mix about 1 minute, till blended. Scrape batter into pans.

Bake about 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes, then invert onto racks and cool completely.

Frost cake with your favorite chocolate frosting.

Haiti: How to Help

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Merry White Christmas!

Most of Oklahoma was under a blizzard warning yesterday, and with heavy snowfall and winds in excess of 50 mph, it was a sight to see.

Visibility was poor with blowing snow.

All the interstates in Oklahoma were closed, the airport was closed, and thousands were stranded in their cars last night. Here is the official "Record Event Report" from the National Weather Service:

TODAY DECEMBER 24TH... 14.1 INCHES OF SNOWFALL HAS BEEN MEASURED AT WILL ROGERS WORLD AIRPORT IN OKLAHOMA CITY. THIS HAS BROKEN THE PREVIOUS RECORD AMOUNT OF 2.5 INCHES...WHICH WAS SET ON CHRISTMAS EVE IN 1914.

THE 14.1 INCH SNOWFALL IS THE GREATEST SNOWFALL EVER MEASURED IN 24 HOURS IN OKLAHOMA CITY. THE PREVIOUS RECORD IN 24 HOURS WAS 11.3 INCHES ON MARCH 19TH IN 1924.

THE 14.1 INCH SNOWFALL IS ALSO A RECORD FOR THE GREATEST STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL IN OKLAHOMA CITY. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 12.1 INCHES ON JANUARY 5TH TO THE 7TH 1988.

These are some of the sights that greeted us this morning on this rare white Christmas in Oklahoma.


The backyard and pool are only fit for Eskimos and Buddy:

Desperate Yard Crashers - Part 2

The back yard project is mostly finished, at least for the winter. More grass seed will be spread between the flagstones, since the first attempt didn't take. We want to build a pergola over the flagstone area and a little gate arbor leading into my (hopefully huge) garden area. But for now, we are happy to have most of it finished! (Photos courtesy of my talented daughter, Jenni)

We have a firepit for s'mores!


My favorite part of the back yard.


The pool has a solar cover to help retain the heat.


Buddy has already fallen into the pool twice, so he spends a lot of time on the deck.

Desperate Yard Crashers - Part 1

If you are a fan of DIY Network, you will understand the combo title of my post. Before our pool was actually completed, my husband, who is my own personal Ahmad Hassan, began the sod replacement and flagstone bed preparation.

Here is the blank slate.


The sod, flagstone, and good Oklahoma sandy loam await our blood, sweat, and tears.

Hubby carted many loads of dirt and personally laid all the sod, because the rolls of fescue were too heavy for my daughter and me to lift.


I am a weak wuss, but my daughter was a trooper, filling the wheelbarrow with load after load of dirt to be dumped into the bed for the flagstone and to build up the corner for a flower bed. I think I moved two loads of dirt, total, before I was wiped out.


Finally the dirt and sod were removed from the driveway, and my yardgirl attempts to leave before we make her do more back-breaking work.


Remember the relocated crepe myrtle? It now has a new home.


Hubby installed stairs from the deck to the flagstone.


The flagstone is being properly laid by a landscape company, but it has been delayed due to daily rain. Part 2 will reveal more fun and games.

Life's Too Short--Build A Pool! - Done!

Our pool was begun on August 6 and completed on September 10 for a total of 35 days--not bad considering all the rain delays. Business, yard work, laziness, and enjoying the pool have taken priority over posting the final pictures of pool development.

Here is the yard before and after.



Below is a brief gallery of the process since the gunite was applied:

Plaster is mixed on the truck and runs through a hose to the back yard.


Plaster is sprayed onto the gunite surface.


The plaster is smoothed to dark blue perfection.


The last step prior to filling the pool with water is acid wash. I was happy to see this gentleman arrive.


The hose is turned on full blast to fill the pool, starting at 10:30 a.m.


Here it is half-full at 6:00 p.m.


We turned off the water to the pool overnight then resumed filling the next morning. Here it is at 10:30 a.m., being cleaned by a happy hubby.


In the meantime, this awaited us.


My next post will be about the ongoing yard renovation.

Life's Too Short--Build A Pool! - Part 2

The pool is progressing so fast now that I have not kept up with blogging about it! The gunite has been sprayed, the tile set into place, and the deck is complete. Now we are ready for the pool to be plastered.

The trucks arrived for the gunite--noisy and exciting!

The hose snaked from the truck to the pool.

The gunite is sprayed manually.


A screen was set in place to block some of the dust.

These guys worked quickly, but it was a lengthy process.

We squinted our eyes to picture our completed pool.

Gunite has to be watered twice a day for 7 days during the curing process. A neighbor told me that the Hoover dam had to cure for several years!

Next was tile!
We chose a matte tile with blue, dark brown, and beige, with dark brown grout, and we love how it looks.

Buddy and Randy survey their domain.

Next was prepping for the plaster.

I missed getting pictures of the first dark layer of plaster; the workers are laying the template for the "faux" flagstone decking.

The decking has been sprayed over the forms.

When the templates are removed the darker layer beneath appears to be flagstone grout.

Our weekend will be spent placing sod and garden soil to fill in the yard. During our breaks we will check out college football, and at 6:00 all work must end to watch the Sooners play BYU! GO SOONERS!!