A Homemade Life: Winning Hearts and Minds Cake

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary.  9 years.

9 years of being silly.

Being serious.

Sharing laughs.

Sharing tears.

We've gone from being kids.

To having kids of our own.

And every year has brought us closer together.

The 9th Anniversary is the Willow Anniversary.  Thatboy's card to me included a quote from Bruce Lee - "The willow survives by bending in the wind."  I laughed when I read it.  "Are you really quoting Bruce Lee?" 

"I know, but the quote is still a good one!"  And really, it is rather fitting for an anniversary.  Our marriage has survived, we have survived each other, through our ability to bend.  To be adaptable to changing winds.

Thatboy's gift to me commemorates the strength of the willow through art. 

And I got him a picnic basket.  Made of willow.  Containing information about a surprise weekend trip I booked for us.  He was actually more excited about the basket itself than I was expecting, but the weekend trip really sealed the deal.

We went out to dinner to try a new local restaurant I'd read good things about - and the reviews were dead on.  I'm so excited to have a local, artisinal, farm to table restaurant to call "home."  Even though we had to bring the boys with us, we enjoyed our meals, from the compressed melon salad we started with, all the way to the butterscotch pot de creme at the end.  And then we came home to cake.  Because what kind of celebration would it be without cake?  But not just any cake.  This is the cake that Molly Wizenburg served at her wedding.  Or cakes, since she made one for each table.  Seems fitting for an anniversary.

The cake is almost like a chocolate lava cake, with a dense, rich, center that seems held together only by chocolate itself.  It has that undercooked, fudgey flavor, the search for which causes many people to pull their brownies from the oven early.  Brownie-like is actually a good description for this cake, with it's crackly exterior and decadent chocolate interior.  I highly recommend it for your next anniversary, birthday, or Thursday night.

 

Winning Hearts and Minds Cake (From a Homemade Life)

7 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 3/4 stick butter, cut into cubes

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

5 eggs

1 Tbsp flour

1. Preheat the oven to 375.  Butter an 8 inch round cake pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, and butter the paper too.  Put the chocolate and butter in a medium microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring often, until just smooth.
2. Add the sugar, stirring well to incorporate.  Set the batter aside to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, one by one, stirring well after each addition.
4. Add the flour and stir to mix well.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is lightly crackled, the edges are puffed, and the center of the cake looks set.  
5. Remove the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for 15 minutes.  Turn the cake out of the and then flip it onto a serving plate, so that the crackly side faces up.  Cool completely before serving.