Birthday Revisited...

Isn't it great to have good friends? I sure do appreciate mine.

With all the travel I've been doing the last few months, I haven't been in Madison much. Since long before Christmas, I've been averaging just two days a week in my Madison home. I've been in Chicago a lot, and then there's the conference in Cancun, etc. There are a few friends I've really missed. One couple lives down the street from us. Pete and Jill are such fun folks that years ago we took up having dinner together almost every Sunday evening. We've missed a lot of Sundays lately. We also get together with them on holidays. This year we were separated on Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Year's! This year just hasn't been the same.

When we finally got a chance to get together for dinner, we had to resort to a Monday night since no weekends are available for the foreseeable future. It's our fault; not theirs. I was really looking forward to dinner but knew I'd be blowing in from Chicago with almost no time to prepare dinner. What we settled on was a sort of pot luck. They were to be in charge of appetizer and salad and I'd do dinner and dessert. By the time the night arrived, the guest list had grown. (There are other friends we've missed too, and they found out about the dinner so I included them. Why not? The more the merrier.)

Well, my day sort of fell apart. Like fifteen percent of the population, I get migraines on occasion. I have been getting fewer of them so, when they do come, they can really hit me. I have my "magic pills" to keep me on my feet, but the pain can still bring down my spirits and, if I'm not careful, can bring up dinner if I get nauseated. I had been sitting in my doctor's office waiting. She was behind because so many folks have the flu. I was just in for a follow-up visit. I was fine--until the fluorescent lights kicked off the migraine. Bummer.

This meant I had even less energy to decide what to eat, buy groceries and flowers, set the table, arrange flowers, and prep food. I had to do it all in less than two hours.

Here's what I did. I made spaghetti with meatballs. I'm not going to give you the recipe here because it's so ridiculously simple you'll laugh. If you really do want it, and enough of you write me to ask for it, I'll pass it along in a column coming soon. The only special part of the spaghetti, to me, was that I used bucatini for the noodles. I love bucatini and, from what I hear, it's Mario Batalli's favorite noodle too. Have you heard of Mario? He's on the Food Network a lot. Bucatini, for those of you not familiar with it, is really FAT spaghetti and it's also hollow in the middle. It just has a different feeling in your mouth when you eat it--and for those living a low-carb lifestyle, it feels like you need very little pasta to get your white-flour pasta "fix."

My dessert was what I thought I'd pass along to you. Since I was meeting up with these friends after so long, they wanted to celebrate my birthday--a little late, but much better late than never! I had to whip up a FAST cake. I told you before that chocolate is my favorite, but I thought I'd try a new twist. This recipe is much like my "miracle" cake recipe for those that have visited my web site, but it's a variation. I changed some of the ingredient portions and added the new ingredient--Bailey's Irish Cream. Since I'm Irish, it seemed like a good idea. I hope you think so too.

Enjoy!

Bailey's Chocolate Cream Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box (3/4 oz.) instant chocolate pudding
3/4 cup sour cream (lite is fine, or regular)
1/3 cup canola or corn oil
3/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream (or other cream liqueur) (If you do not bake with liquor, I'm sorry, but I do not know a substitute for this one.)
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute

Mix all ingredients in your mixer. Start on Medium speed and when all is combined, turn the mixer up to High for 2 full minutes. Grease and flour an angel tube pan. Pour the batter in the pan. It will be rather thick and fluffy. Don't be alarmed by the color. It's sort of an odd color when it's unbaked, but it will look like a lovely chocolate color when it's done.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see that it's done. If no crumbs stick, you are set. Let the cake cool on your counter for 15 minutes. While it's cooling you can make the frosting. It's a simple ganache glaze. At the 15-minute point, turn your cake out onto a serving plate.

Ganache Glaze

4 oz. whipping cream
8 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate

Finely chop your chocolate. The better the chocolate, the richer the frosting; and the finer the chop, the faster it will melt. When chopped, put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the 4 oz. of cream in a small sauce pan on Medium. When it's just starting to boil, take it off the heat and immediately pour it on your chopped chocolate. Stir with a whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. Your glaze will be a smooth, dark chocolate "syrup." While the cake and the ganache glaze are both still warm, drizzle the ganache over the top of the cake and let it slide down the sides of the cake. As the glaze cools it will firm up.

If you serve the cake within 2 hours, it should still be a bit warm and taste dreamy. It's also good when cool.