The Smell of Corn (?)

I grew up in West Virginia, and lived the vast majority of my life so far there, though we moved away about 3 years ago. I'm sure everyone has heard of science fairs. We had those in West Virginia, but we also had a Social Studies Fair we could participate in as well. I LOVED the Social Studies Fair and took part in it pretty much every year from the time I was in 5th grade. I got pretty good at it and placed just about every year at school level and county level. A couple of times I placed 1st at county level and so got to move up to the state level of the Fair! This included a fun trip to Charleston, the state capital, where the fair took place. I loved it.
One year, Mom and I were headed to (or maybe from, I don't remember) Charleston. They call West Virginia "The Mountain State" for an excellent reason: most of the state really is a sea of mountains and nothing else. It's gorgeous but can get a little monotonous after driving through it a while. Anyway, we were partway through the drive, in the middle of the mountains, stuck in a radio wasteland. Mom was flipping through the radio channels, trying to find something good to listen to. At one point, we heard a snatch of an extremely bizarre song. It sounded like a really old song, and some guy was singing soulfully, "The smell of coal...". Then the radio flipped to the next station and it was gone. It was just so weird and random Mom and I looked at each other and started laughing. I'd heard "the smell of coal" but Mom thought she'd heard "the smell of corn". In any case, it's something we laugh about to this day. We've never been able to figure out what we heard. So if any of you know of any songs about the smell of coal or corn, let me know what they are! It's a mystery I'd love to solve.
Anyway, speaking of the smell of corn, here's a recipe that smells of corn and deliciousness; skillet corn. This is one of our favorite side dishes- it goes great with so many meals. It's an easy recipe and a delicious treat of a way to get your veggies.

The ingredients are pretty much pantry staples, and you can use fresh or frozen corn. You'll need: 3 cups of corn, 1/2 c water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/4 c butter,  1/4 c milk, and 1 tbsp flour. (The recipe calls for 3 cups of corn, but the package of frozen corn I used only had about 2 and 1/2 cups' worth in it- that worked just fine).

Place all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the milk and flour into a saucepan and cover it with a lid. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until it starts to simmer.

Next, stir the flour into the milk until it is thoroughly mixed. Pour this mixture into the corn mixture. (You can leave the lid off the pan now). Cook and stir the corn until the sauce thickens.

And that's about it! Simple and delicious. It's buttery, creamy, and warm, with the fresh, sweet taste of corn- a definite comfort food.

--Taylee

Recipe found at: http://www.plainchicken.com/2008/05/my-favorite-corn.html 

Book Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

I have now read three of Michelle Moran's books and I've loved all of them! I love her style and subject matter. She really makes history come to life. Her writing style sort of reminds me of Philippa Gregory's in The Other Boleyn Girl.


OVERVIEW: Cleopatra's Daughter begins at the defeat of Alexandria by Octavian. At the time, Selene, Cleopatra's daughter (hence the title) is 11 years old. The story focuses on Selene and her life as a political prisoner in Octavian's household. As far as prisoners have it, she has it great- she lives comfortably, as if she is part of her captor's family. She makes friends with the other kids in the household and she is given an excellent education. She is given the opportunity to study architecture and even contribute to many of the architectural projects Octavian's family sponsors. However, she is not content: she is suffering from unrequited love, she is deeply worried about her twin brother's life (as a male heir of the enemy, will he be killed once he reaches the age of 15?), she is worried about where she will end up (most likely married to some gross old man for political gain), she mourns her dead family and misses her home, and she chafes under the injustices of the Roman culture (woman have extremely limited rights, 1/3 of the population is enslaved, babies are thrown away like garbage, etc.). In the meantime, there is a rebel in the midst of Rome. He calls himself the Red Eagle and he fights against slavery. He leaves propaganda all over the city. What's worse, he seems to know what's happening even within the emperor's family. Octavian is angered at the unrest and fearful of what could happen if this Red Eagle inspires enough rebellion in the populace, and stops at nothing to find and kill him. He even suspects members of his household could be involved. Selene is intrigued by the Red Eagle and supports his cause.

THE GOOD STUFF: I love Michelle Moran's writing! It really sweeps me into the story. I really reacted emotionally to much of what happened in the story. I was sad, I was angry, I was heartbroken, I was intrigued. The book was well-researched and I learned quite a bit about the history and culture of Rome. (I also decided that the Roman empire was a crappy place to live, especially as a woman and/or a slave, and I'm grateful not to have lived then!) Happily, it has a pretty happy ending, and that made me happy too. I appreciated that other than some raunchy Roman poetry, most of the sexual content (rape, prostitution, homosexuality, adultery) was only alluded to and not at all graphic.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF: I don't have too many complaints about this novel. There were a lot of sad and maddening things that happen in the story, but it was a good story. My biggest complaint (not to give too much away) is probably that the love story near the end was dropped on us rather suddenly. I feel like it could have used a little more build-up. But that is a minor complaint.

TO SUM UP: Seriously, read Michelle Moran's books, especially if you're a fan of historical fiction! They're awesome!

(above image found at https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/8141616-cleopatra-s-daughter)

Hooray Sports!

If I'm ever in a bad mood, I like to go on Pinterest and scroll through my humor boards. It gets me laughing every time. I don't know about you guys, but to me it's been a long week and IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY...!!! Time for some hilarious memes.

I come from a pretty athletic family- my grandpa was HUGE into sports and was a renowned coach, many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins are amazing athletes and coaches, and we even have a (former and hopefully future!) NBA player in the mix. Somehow, that gene did not make its way to me. I pwned everyone in the sit n' reach in gym class in elementary school... but otherwise, I HATED PE with my entire being. I did ballet for several years, and I do some mean yoga now, but that's about the extent of my athleticism. You'll have to ask my husband about having me help him choose his college basketball brackets last year- pretty hilarious story, actually. The only sports I'm interested in are the Olympics and BYU football and basketball- and even then, it's mostly just me enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of having sports on TV (reminds me of fun times playing with cousins at Grandma's when sports were ALWAYS on TV). I also enjoy cheering on BYU, watching the crowds looking for hilarious signs and costumes, and searching for Cosmo the Cougar.  I've attended a few BYU games too, which were fun- I love the excitement and the Cougar Tails. But otherwise, this is me regarding sports:




In any case, here is a roundup of some sports-related humor I've pinned on Pinterest.

1.


2.


3.
 

4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.


11.


12.


13.


14.




Ahhh, hooray sports!!


--Taylee

(So, I do not own any of the above images! I'm too lazy to go find all the urls and copy them here. If you really want to find that info, go to my Pinterest board and work from there: https://www.pinterest.com/littlebird121/it-cracked-me-up/  And please don't sue me!!)

Book Review: Medicus by Ruth Downie

Looking for a book that combines mystery and humor in an ancient historical setting? Medicus by Ruth Downie is a great choice!

SYNOPSIS: Medicus takes place in Roman-occupied Brittannia. It follows Ruso, a military doctor at the hospital in the occupied town of Deva. He has recently been transferred to Deva from a post in Africa. He is recently divorced and is struggling, along with his brother, to keep the family farm and reputation afloat, as their father left them deeply in debt. The farm is located in Gaul, and while the brother and his family work to make the farm profitable and keep their creditors at bay, Ruso sends home as much of his salary as he can. On top of these stressors, he finds Britannia to be a backward, savage, dirty place. His lodgings are filthy and the food is terrible. The bureaucracy of the hospital, not to mention the military post, is in disarray; and Ruso has to perform the work of several men. His supervisor is a nosy, micromanaging creep with bad hair. He is kind of having a tough time, to say the least. Soon after the story begins, Ruso witnesses the terrible treatment of a slave girl, and before he knows what he has done, he has spent his badly needed money to buy and thus rescue her. In the meantime, a body has been found and identified as one of the dancing girls from the local bar. Later, another body is found, another girl from the same bar. Ruso, stepping outside of his responsibilities, finds himself swept up in investigating the murders and landing himself in plenty of frustration and danger in the process. Once he has healed her, he finds his new slave, Tilla, to be an invaluable help to him, not only in domestic life, but also in solving the murders.

GOOD STUFF!! This was an enjoyable read. I LOVED the sense of humor in this book. Even the pages introducing the cast of characters was funny and creative- I love how it was done. Ruso seemed to be a decent guy with a dry sense of humor, the girls at the local bar were fun characters, Tilla, the rescued slave girl, is intriguing and funny, Ruso's roomate is funny.... just great characters all around. The antagonists are despicable and (some of them) get what they deserve at the end. I loved the setting- obviously it's impossible to tell how accurate it was historically, but it was a great imagining of it. I don't know tons about Ancient Rome or Britain, and learned some things about the cultures. I appreciate that, despite the story largely surrounding a brothel, there weren't copious amounts of sexual content, and none of it was too graphic. I also liked how the book wrapped up. I believe it is the first in a series, but it stands alone quite well.

NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF: The story kind of dragged. I wasn't really swept up in the mystery; there wasn't much suspense or urgency to it until the end of the book.

TO SUM UP: This was a fun book! I don't know that I was impressed enough to read the next book in the series, at least not immediately. But it was worth the read. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

(Above image found at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8489416-medicus)

Salted Dark Chocolate-Covered Clementine Slices... of Amazingness and Wonder

Chocolate- especially dark chocolate- is life. Let's just accept that fact right now. :P

I know a lot of you are working on New Year's weight loss and/or healthy eating goals- props to you! I know how difficult it can be. If you are looking for a smart way to indulge, I have a great recipe for you!

ORANGES. Specifically small varieties, like clementines, or manadarins (though I don't see why this wouldn't work with regular navel oranges, too. They'd just be larger, obviously). Juicy, fresh, delicious, and healthy.

DARK CHOCOLATE. Rich, indulgent, and also healthy (in small doses).

SALT- for the right amount of crunch and savor.

Put them all together and you have a simple yet special treat!

This is wicked easy, guys. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with a sheet or wax paper, or a silpat. Peel yourself 4 clementines. Discard (or eat) any segments that are leaking juice- the orange needs to be dry in order for the chocolate to stick to it.

Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Nuke it for 30 seconds, stir, then heat it in 10-second intervals, stirring after each time, until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth. (It took me a total of 60 seconds).

Dunk each (dry!) orange slice into the chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off. I like to cover the orange slices halfway. Then place the slices onto the wax paper.

Sprinkle the slices with coarse salt. I used chunky kosher salt. Make sure to do this quickly, while the chocolate is still sticky enough!

Place the pan of oranges into the fridge for about 20 minutes or until the chocolate is firmly set. Then, dig in!! Store any remaining orange slices tightly covered in the fridge. These keep for a couple of days- though I doubt they'll last that long! :) Seriously- these things are amazing.

--Taylee

Recipe inspired by: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20583009,00.html/view-all#salted-chocolate-clementine-wedges-1

Salted Dark Chocolate Clementines

• 4 clementines, peeled
• 1/2 c dark chocolate chips*
• dash coarse salt

Make sure your clementine segments are dry, so the chocolate will stick. Place chocolate into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave until melted and smooth. Dip half of each clementine wedge into the melted chocolate, and place onto a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Sprinkle the chocolate-dipped half of each wedge with coarse salt. Chill clementines in the fridge until chocolate is set, about 20 minutes. Store tightly covered in the fridge.

*While peeling my clementines, I had to set aside a few wedges because they were too juicy. So in reality I used about 3 1/2 clementines. I had just enough chocolate to cover them. Depending on how thickly you coat your segments in chocolate, and on how many you need to set aside, you may want to add an extra tablespoon or two of chocolate chips to ensure you have enough to cover all of your clementine slices.

BOOOOOOOOOOOKS.

Books are amazing Beautiful. Wonderful. We loves them, precious. Last year I read 73 books! This year, I set a goal to read 50 books. I use Goodreads, and it's great. I love being able to keep track of the books I've read, set reading goals, read book reviews other readers have submitted, and look for new books to read! I have a HUGE list on my "to-read" shelf, and it's nice to have it as a reference whenever I visit the library to find more to read.

I plan to start reviewing the books I read here on my blog. I've long begun to sort of "write" reviews in my head after I finish a book, but have never actually written them down. I hope that this blog will help someone find their next great book to read!

So, on to business: the first book I read this year was The Widow's War, by Sally Gunning.

(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8378248-the-widow-s-war)


SYNOPSIS: It's the story of Lydia Berry, a woman in her late 30's who becomes widowed when her husband dies at sea. The book mostly covers her fight to regain a measure of independence in her life. The story takes place in mid-1700's colonial New England.

As she recovers from the loss of her husband, Lydia goes through much mental and personal growth. She is an independent person and better educated than many women of the time, and comes to realize how this sets her apart. She realizes more clearly who she is and what she wants in life; unfortunately, that does not fit in well with the society she lives in. Her son-in-law legally inherited 2/3 of her husband's property upon his death, as well as the "care and keeping" of Lydia. Unfortunately, her son-in-law is also a jerk, and her own daughter makes no effort to comfort or welcome her mother into their home. Quite understandably, Lydia longs to go back and live in her husband's house and live on her own terms. Legally, she is entitled to 1/3 of the house, so eventually she moves back into the house and uses exactly 1/3 of it. This creates all sorts of upheaval in her family and town.

GOOD STUFF: On Goodreads, I rated this book as 3 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed reading it, especially as a historical piece. It was interesting to learn about the culture, lifestyle, and some of the legalities of the time and place. The author does a great job of invoking the atmosphere of the time and place. It was fun to immerse myself in the setting and imagine what life was like then.Lydia was a good, strong, character, though, and I enjoyed reading about her. The book did a great job of portraying the fact that life as a woman back then was completely unfair , and really kind of sucked. I wanted to smack the son-in-law so bad several times. I HATE the hypocritical attitude held back then on morals: men can indulge in certain bad behaviors, and it's totally okay, but if a woman dares to do so, she's outcast. Women were pretty much thought of as livestock (there is a scene that points this out beautifully in the book- that was well-written!)

NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF:  I don't know that I'll ever pick it up and read it again. The story was good, but didn't blow me away. I was left slightly disappointed, though I can't quite put a finger on why. Most of the characters annoyed me: the son-in-law was a total jerk, the daughter was a weak, ungrateful person, and the lawyer was horribly disappointing.  I was also disappointed by a few of the decisions Lydia makes.

TO SUM UP: If you like historical fiction, you will probably find this book to be an enjoyable, quick read. Pretty good, but not my favorite book ever.

Let's Stick to Fuzzy Kittens, Glitter, Unicorns, and Cupcakes With Sprinkles! Or I'll Punch You In The Face.

Lately I've seen several of my friends on Facebook complaining about the general negativity they've been seeing online lately. And trust me, I've seen it too. And it makes me sad. It turns me into this:


(buy the t-shirt here! I know I want one! I may even need one: http://www.teeturtle.com/products/the-magical-kittencorn?variant=24994148681)

Full disclosure: I am a very sensitive person. So sensitive, I think I've entered empath territory. I also have anxiety. Things that have little to no direct affect on me can upset me HORRIBLY if I let them. I have to be very careful about the things I read and watch, particularly on social media. I believe it is possible to be aware of things that are going on, but to also protect oneself and avoid things that hurt, too. Not only possible, but smart, and for some personalities, extremely necessary.

With that in mind, I'd like to lay out my policy with content and comments on my blog. I want this to be a place to come and find fun, positive content. I will avoid controversial topics as much as I can. With that said, in this day and age, people are offended by anything and everything- I've seen horrible, nasty arguments erupt in the comments for a FREAKING COOKIE RECIPE before. So please keep in mind that it is NEVER my intent to offend or belittle anyone. I ascribe to the following:

(image taken from http://www.azquotes.com/quote/369668)

So let's do our best to give Mr. T a break, shall we? :)  (wah wah wahhhhhhhhhh....)

I reserve the right to state my opinions and beliefs, but I will do my best to be polite. (You will probably find more potentially "flammable" material in my book reviews, since books make one think and decide...). In any case, you can respectfully disagree (in your own mind, preferably) and then move on. Like an adult. That's what I do, and it's totally worth it.

PLEASE BE KIND AND COURTEOUS WHENEVER YOU COMMENT! If it doesn't need to be said, than don't say it. At least not here. Don't be a jerk, 'kay? I don't like contention, so I really don't want to see arguments and trolling here. I reserve the right to delete any contentious comments. Because darn it, this is MY blog and I want it to stay warm, fuzzy and welcoming!! Let's fill this piece of the blogosphere (and heck, the world in general!) with warm fuzzies! There's already more than enough crap out there, folks. Be nice. Or else I'll punch you in the face. :P XOXOXO


(on certain days I need this shirt, too. Found at: http://www.teeturtle.com/products/stabby-the-unicorn?variant=24994273353)


--Taylee

Onigiri. Or "doughnuts", according to Pokemon.

My kids have recently gotten into watching Pokemon on Netflix! When it first came out back in the day, I was about 13 years old and just slightly too old to get into it. However, my younger siblings all became obsessed with the whole franchise: the show, the game, the cards, everything. Now that my kids are watching it, it's been so much fun to see them enjoying it, and fun to see some of what I missed.

The other day, I sat and watched an episode with my boys. The characters were eating a picnic lunch, and raving about the doughnuts they were eating. Brock was all like, "I especially love the jelly-filled ones!" or something like that.


(image courtesy of http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Donuts.png)

 I had to laugh. Because what they were eating was clearly NOT doughnuts: it was onigiri, a type of Japanese snack. Onigiri are basically balls of rice, often stuffed with fish or vegetables, and topped with a strip of seaweed and sesame seeds. I REALLY don't think you'd want to stuff them with jelly. :P I wonder why they decided to translate "onigiri" as "doughnuts" and not just "rice balls" or something more accurate.

In any case, it had been a long time since I'd thought about onigiri. I'd had them a couple of times before. The first time, I was a freshman in college. A bunch of my classmates and I met up at the house of one of our Japanese TA's to plan for a skit we would perform for the Japanese department's bunkasai (cultural festival). Our TA was a native Japanese, and while we were at her house we all helped make some onigiri. If I remember correctly, I think the rice had been cooked in chicken broth and there were cooked carrots in it. They were delicious!

I tried making onigiri again at home a few years later, but I don't remember much about it.

Anyway, after seeing those "doughnuts" on Pokemon I decided I wanted to try making them again! I looked up a couple of recipes, and using those as a reference, I gave it a try.

First, I bought some rice. One recipe I read said to use short grain rice, and another said to use medium grain. I bought a bag of medium grain. I measured out a cup of the dry rice, poured it into a fine mesh strainer, rinsed it under the water till the water ran clear, then dumped the washed rice into my rice cooker with two cups of water. Then pushed "cook" and waited a while. :)

In the meantime, I got the rest of the ingredients together. I found nori (seaweed) at the store that came in big sheets, used for making sushi rolls. I used some clean kitchen shears and cut one sheet into several strips, approximately 1" by 4" each.

For fillings, I had some tuna, some salmon (which turned out to be lemon-pepper flavored; I wasn't paying close enough attention at the store! It turned out good though), small chunks of cream cheese, and some sesame seeds.

Once the rice was finished cooking, I dumped it into a bowl. I shook a little (maybe a couple teaspoons' worth) of rice vinegar onto it, for flavor, then fluffed the rice.

Next came the fun part. Time to play with my food! I poured some salt onto a plate and added warm water. Before handling the rice, I dipped my hands into the salt water to help keep the rice from sticking. (And it really worked; I forgot one time and the rice stuck to me, well, like white on rice *ta-dum-ch!*) After dunking my hands, I filled my palm with warm rice.

Next comes the filling. One recipe I read said to shape the rice ball first, then make a divot for the filling that is then covered with the strip of seaweed. The other said to just shape the ball around the filling. I tried both methods and liked the latter method better. I used about a teaspoon or two of fish for each onigiri.

Most onigiri I've seen are shaped like triangles. To do this, flatten one side against your palm while squeezing the other two sides with your other hand. Turn the triangle and repeat, pressing firmly, until you had a nice triangle shape. Be sure to press firmly enough; otherwise your ball will come apart after you put it down (I had one of mine try that on me... it was a shady little sucker.)

Once you have your rice triangle, grab a strip of seaweed and moisten one side in the salt water.

Then wrap it around one side of your triangle. After this, if desired, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds onto the onigiri (but I forgot this time. Dang.)

I ended up making 11 rice balls with the amount of rice I'd cooked. 

Onigiri really are a tasty little snack. It tastes quite similar to sushi (it IS made with pretty much the same ingredients!), and it's pretty healthy too. Have you ever made and/or eaten onigiri? If so, what are your favorite fillings? Let us know in the comments!

****UPDATE****

So, something highly amusing happened as I was preparing this blog post. My two young sons saw the picture of Brock at the top of this page and said, "Oh look!! It's Brock and the doughnuts!" I chuckled and told them I'd made those "doughnuts" and they were in the fridge. I then attempted to explain to them that the "doughnuts" were actually onigiri and were made of rice and fish... but they were too busy running to the fridge and getting into onigiri to pay any attention. The next thing I heard was, "Ewwww....". LOL. My kids are picky eaters, and I'm sure it was a shock to eat fish and rice instead of the doughnut you were expecting!

ONIGIRI (Japanese rice balls)

(Recipe adapted from  http://www.earthpoweredfamily.com/2016/01/14/onigiri/ and http://www.food.com/recipe/basic-onigiri-60398)

Makes 11-12 onigiri.

• 1 cup medium grain rice
• 2 cups water
• Fillings: a packet of tuna or salmon, an ounce of cream cheese cut into small cubes, avocado chunks, crab meat, shredded carrots, umeboshi (pickled plums), cucumber chunks, etc., etc. Whatever you'd like!
• Rice vinegar, if desired
• A sheet of nori (seaweed), cut into 1" by 3" or 4" strips
• A dash of salt and some water, for shaping the onigiri
• Sesame seeds or Chinese five spice, for topping, if desired

Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stove top. Once it is cooked, let cool until you can handle it. Mix the rice with a little rice vinegar, if desired. Fill your palm with rice, press a teaspoon or two into the center, and form the ball around the filling. Using the palm of one hand and your fingers and palm of the other hand, shape the ball into a triangle, pressing firmly. Moisten a strip of seaweed and wrap it around one side of the triangle. Eat immediately or refrigerate. Onigiri will keep for a day or two, tightly covered. To prevent sticking, place them in layers of wax paper.

Dr. Pepper Chocolate Cake, or, The Hazards of Lumps, Salt and Math in Cooking

I tried out a recipe I found on Pinterest, by Monica H. from Lick The Bowl Good, for Dr. Pepper Bundt cake. It combines three things I love, chocolate, Dr. Pepper, and cake, so it was definitely worth a try! I'd recently bought a six-pack of 16 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper because I needed some for another recipe I was making. I don't drink soda very often so it was nice to find another way to use up some of the soda.

It was a pretty simple cake to make, nothing complicated. I did find a few things to improve upon if I ever make the cake again, though. So to save you the trouble, I'll pass this knowledge on to you!!

First of all, the batter IS pretty lumpy when you mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. However, you have to be sure not to stir too much, otherwise the cake will end up being tough. Kind of a catch-22 for me. When I sliced into the baked cake, there were lots of white spots where the dry ingredients did not get mixed into the batter. So I recommend sifting the dry ingredients into the batter; I imagine that would help ensure everything gets mixed up properly.

Secondly, the recipe I followed noted that the original recipe for the frosting makes a ton, and the baker ended up only using about half of the frosting on the cake. So I cut the recipe in half, and the amount turned out to be perfect to cover the whole cake. However, because I am, apparently, a total and complete GENIUS, I forgot to halve the amount of salt when mixing things up (I have a long and storied history of messing up with the salt in baking... it's my nemesis). When I tasted the frosting, I was all, HOLY SALT LICK, BATMAN! I do love salted chocolate, but this was a little too much. The recipe in this post will have the halved amounts for the frosting, so you don't end up with my salty frosting fate! You're welcome. :D

So, here's how it went:

First, spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour (or grease it with butter and then coat it with flour). Then, gather together the ingredients. To start, you'll need Dr. Pepper, butter, and cocoa powder.

Measure them out and put them into a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter melts. 

(It looked kind of awesome when I poured the fizzy soda over the cocoa powder. ;P It reminded me of, like, lava or something).

Next, you'll need some brown sugar and granulated sugar. The recipe I used called for dark brown sugar, but I only had light brown sugar. So that's what I used!

Once the butter has melted in the Dr. Pepper mixture, remove it from the heat. Stir in the sugars till they dissolve, and then let it all cool for a little while. I poured it all into a large bowl at this point.

For your dry ingredients, you'll need flour, salt, and baking soda. Get them all mixed together. If I were you, I'd sift them together. I wish I had!!

Add two eggs to your cooled Dr. Pepper chocolate syrup of deliciousness, and mix well. 

Then gently fold the dry mixture into the wet ingredients. If I were to do this again, I'd try sifting it into the wet mixture. You don't want to over mix the batter, but I ended up with tons of large lumps that never mixed in completely. :( Pour your batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

(My batter was sadly, extremely lumpy. Don't let this happen to you!! :O )

Bake the cake in your 325 F oven for 35-40 minutes. Turn the pan halfway through baking time so it cooks evenly. My cake needed a few extra minutes to bake, so be sure to test it with a toothpick before taking it out of the oven- the toothpick should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a baking rack. Once cool, loosen the sides and turn the cake out onto your storage surface. 

Next: FROSTING! Gather thine ingredients:

I halved the recipe (but not the salt, much to my despair! Pay closer attention than I did!). First, melt the butter (the recipe said to soften it but I just melted it). The chocolate needs to be melted, too. I melted the butter most of the way, then added in the chocolate chips and melted it all down. That saved a bowl and the effort of scraping out melted chocolate. Add all of the frosting ingredients to a food processor (or a stand mixer; that's what I used. Or just dump it all into a bowl and use a hand mixer, or just a whisk! Whatever you have to get the job done). Mix everything until it turns into frosting, basically. :)

Frost the cake once it's completely cooled. The blog post/recipe I followed then topped the cake with round white sprinkles. It looked so cute. It made me think of the bubbles in soda. So I did the same thing. (The sprinkles didn't stick easily, though; a good number of them just rolled off and hit the floor. Grr.)

That's about all there is to it!

(My lumpy batter translated into white lumps in the cake. Sift, my friends, sift!!!)

This is a pretty tasty cake. It's extremely rich; you need to be a fan of dark chocolate or you may not like this much! Also, it doesn't taste anything like Dr. Pepper. Just to fully disclose everything :P. Whatever the case, with all the mess-ups, this cake did not turn out to be one of my best creations. It wasn't BAD.... in fact, both of my boys loved it and raved about it while eating. They're picky eaters, so I'll take the praise from them! I liked the piece I had too. The frosting was pretty salty (but eaten with the cake, it was a little better! A scoop of ice cream might help even more), and the lumps of flour and such looked bad but didn't affect the taste too badly. The cake was a little dryer and tougher than I'd like, but that might be because of overmixing (the batter really was absurdly lumpy, as I mentioned above!), and I made the cake the day before I made the frosting. If I'd frosted the cake earlier it may have sealed in more of the moisture. I was going to share some of this with neighbors, but I think now I won't. I don't want to share anything I'm not completely satisfied with!

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turned out! Let me know if sifting helped! :) And finally: beware of salt. That is all.

--Taylee

Here is the blog post and recipe I followed: 

http://lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/2009/06/calling-all-chocoholics.html

THE RECIPE (WITH HALVED FROSTING INGREDIENT AMOUNTS):

Dr. Pepper Bundt Cake (adapted from Lick The Bowl Good)

• 2 cups Dr. Pepper (not diet!)
• 1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, cut into small pieces)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 cups flour (all-purpose)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour (or grease it with butter and dust with flour).

Add the Dr. Pepper, cocoa powder, and butter chunks to a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until the butter has melted. Whisk in the sugars until dissolved. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and let cool.

In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs slightly. Mix them into the cooled chocolate mixture. Sift and fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Be careful not to over mix the batter! Pour the batter into the greased Bundt pan and bake at 325 F for 35-40 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Put the pan onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely.

Dr. Pepper Frosting:

• 1 oz. dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 cup Dr. Pepper
• 1/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Mix all the ingredients until blended. Frost the cooled cake. Top with sprinkles, if desired.

Keep cake tightly covered!