I Pulled it Off - No Disaster to Report

This was supposed to be a photo essay but I didn't pull that off. I did, however, pull the birthday cake from scratch off. I also pulled off a Thanksgiving style dinner with less than 12 hours notice. It's hard to buy a fresh turkey in January. So hard that I was not able to do so.

Last night I asked my daughter what she wanted for her birthday dinner. I really expected a request for pizza or spaghetti. That would have made me happy, being easy and all. Instead she says, "I'd like a turkey dinner with stuffing and cranberry sauce and all that stuff."

Oh, goodie. On a Monday. How many days does it take to thaw a turkey? I knew it would have to be a fresh turkey. There wasn't time to thaw one. I went out to get one. The guy in the meat department at Dillons looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head. No luck at Wal-Mart either. I threatened to go run over a turkey but my son informed me that there are no turkeys on the street in Springfield. I'm sure he's right. I'm even more sure that I wouldn't recognize one even if I did see it running down the street.

I was running out of time so I did what any Slacker Mom would do. I bought two family size boxes of frozen turkey slices in gravy. I'm not sure what species of family they are referring to when they say family size. I really should have bought boxes three as it turned out. I cooked the rest of the meal myself.

My daughter ate like a pig. She really enjoyed the meal so I refuse to feel guilty about the frozen turkey slices in gravy.

The cake was a pain in the arse. I've made this cake before for my sister's birthday. It's a very rich cake. The batter does not pour like normal cake batter but is thick like brownie batter. I was not a Slacker Mom. I used cake flour and baker's sugar and real dairy butter and real vanilla. I sifted my dry ingredients together. I brought the eggs to room temperature before using them. I creamed my butter and sugar until they were fluffy. I followed all the rules of baking. My husband leveled the cakes with dental floss. They came out of the pans beautifully.

I melted a bag of chocolate chips and a stick of real butter on the stove. I added a carton of sour cream to that. Then a pound of powdered sugar. Then I beat it until the mixer started smoking. My husband frosted the cake.

It was perfect. Really, it was.

The recipe for Best-Ever Chocolate Cake can be found on page 280 of Better Homes and Gardens: Our Best Recipes. I don't want to violate copyright by posting it here so I went to their site and found it there. For free. And to think I paid good money for the cookbook. Here's the link.

Best-Ever Chocolate Cake