Cinnamon Squares??? - Chocolate Heaven

When I first saw the listing for this week's TWD selection, I wasn't impressed and didn't think I would participate. Over the weekend I looked at the recipe and thought it looked interesting and really easy to make. I've been spending a lot of my time in the garden so I'm looking for easy right now. It was easy, but I think the name is wrong. It should be a name that includes the abundant chocolate in the recipe -- maybe Dark Chocolate Squares or maybe Chocolate Heaven. Any suggestions? The recipe is available at http://traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com. In my recipe, I substituted buttermilk for whole milk.

The veggie garden is planted but still kind of young to photograph. I've added some features to make it fit better with my old 1840s house. Pictures will come soon. The perennial flowers are starting their display. The clematis and columbine are blooming and the gorgeous peony is about ready to pop. The macro lens makes everything look incredible.

Chocolate Valentino - Daring Bakers - Heartless, Flourless Chocolate Cake

This may be a comment on my romantic life - but I baked my chocolate valentino in a round springform pan and then cut it in square serving pieces. Hooray, it's the last day of February and I'm having a dinner party tonight to give the winter a kick. There's still a foot of snow on the ground in Saratoga and it's cold today. I've been looking at the temperature in Firenze and it's nearly 70 degrees Farenheit and sunny! Why am I in this frozen tundra???

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I used couverture chocolate in my cake and mixed 4 parts of 70% dark chocolate and 6 parts 35% milk chocolate. This proved a great mix and the cake is dark and rich with a little sweetness. I used a whipped cream garnish in place of the ice cream -- can't think of ice cream when in this climate.

Brown out on Devils Food White Out Cake - TWD

This is a cake worthy of the cookbook cover - a real show stopper! I browned mine with as many of the crumbs as I could get on it -- so it's a browned out devil's food white out cake.

I ate this piece immediately after snapping the photo and found the strawberry was a perfect accompaniment. So, it's a longer walk with the dog and a couple more hours on the treadmill! Handing off the rest of the cake to my neighbors and friends.

This cake was much easier than I thought and way easier than the photograph would suggest!

Thanks to Stephanie for chosing the cake! Check out her blog at Confessions of a City Eater for the recipe for the Devil's Food White Out Cake.