HCB: White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache

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This past Saturday was my best friends birthday. 

“M” and I known each other for over 20-plus years - more if I really count, but then that means that I’m old, as in really old and who wants to be reminded of that?

“M” and I meet in junior high school.  It was at the bus stop and the new kid in town and she approached me and asked me what my name was, simple as that, straight to the point and fearless.  Turned out we had a lot in common.  After that we pretty much became inseparable, we lived in the same street, only 10 houses away from each other.  Summer were spent by the pool, at first splashing, and then as we got older trying to pick the cool boys up.  She has been there thru my first kiss, my first boyfriend, my first heartbreaks, my freaked outs, my many moves around the city and then out of the country.  We have lived together, we have traveled together, we have each other’s backs.  She has witness all of my failures, my success and everything in between. And she has always been there, a steady beacon to my chaotic life. I cannot image my life without her in it. It just would not make sense.

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HCB: Chocolate Bull's Eye Cake

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This is one of those recipes that just throw you.  First, it’s in the “baby cake” section of the book, so you think – oh, easy.  Then you start to read it and realized that with 4 pages of instructions and 5 different components there was no way this could fall under the easy category.

So, I put it off.

And off… I was busy: watching TV, lounging, reading, playing with presents, reading tons of blogs, getting over a MAJOR New Year’s hangover (hello 2011!), as you can see – doing anything BUT these easy cakes.

Until…yesterday.

I just could not bring myself to miss another cake, I have been so lazy lately with the HCB commitments, I’m afraid that Marie is ready to send me a stern email, telling me to get off my lazy butt, get it together and get in the kitchen and bake!

So, I put all of my ingredients out the night before, to get them to room temperature, and decided, first thing in the morning I was going to tackle this and get it over with.

I woke up to a raining day.

Which meant one thing: “STAY IN BED! STAY IN BED!”

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HCB: Financier Style Vanilla Pound Cake

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If you asked me what my preference for cake is, I would right off the bat tell you that it will be those that are rich, dense and full of fat goodness, meaning they pack a gazillion calories, because they tend to be rich in butter, eggs, sugar and flour.

It’s no wonder that when it really comes down to it, I usually prefer the simple cakes.  I admired the fancy cakes with all the cool ingredients and decorations and fillings.  But, deep inside, I tend to run for those simple, easy cakes.

For the last couple of weeks, I been craving a pound cake. So when I read that this week’s choice for the Heavenly Bakers was the Vanilla Bean Pound Cake, I was ecstatic.

This lasted until Sunday, when I actually took a look and really READ the full recipe and realized that it was NOT going to be a pound cake. 

Tsk, Tsk, Rose, you had me fooled.

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