Not What Bill Had in Mind

As Sam mentioned in her last post, Bill Clinton came and spoke in American University's Bender Arena last night. And he was fabulous. And knowledgeable. And wise from all of his experiences. One of his experiences involves the current obesity problem in the United States. Bill (we're on a first name basis) spent a good 15 minutes discussing the need to eliminate processed and other unhealthy foods from our diet. In fact, The Clinton Foundation has removed 88% of sugar from the drinks in school lunch rooms (or something along those lines, there was lots of clapping while he spoke. It was like the State of the Union, but Bill didn't have built in pauses for the standing ovations).

I certainly agree with basically everything that Bill said. I'm a major proponent of eating whole foods with great nutritional value, until it's dessert time. I would say my diet is very healthy until about 7 or 8pm when my sweet tooth attacks with a vengeance. I love dessert and I have no issue going over the top. Exhibit A: this cake. AKA the Chocolate Wasted Cake.



Yes, that is a chocolate layer cake covered in more chocolate. To be more specific, this cake is composed of two 9-inch chocolate cakes that are each drizzled with chocolate wine. It is iced with a chocolate buttercream. Then, chocolate chips are pressed into the sides and the cake is topped with a variety of chocolate candy bars. Then, it is finished with a chocolate ganache to drizzle over top.



Why did I make this cake? Because I've taken a liking to giving people food as a gift.

When my friend Shari's birthday party was coming up, I asked what her favorite dessert was. She responded "anything chocolate," and this cake immediately came to mind. It's an awesome cake and Shari is an awesome person, so I knew it would be a good fit.

I found the recipe one day while perusing my usual food blogs and knew I had to find a reason to make it someday. I don't like cake (I know, I'm weird) so I knew I would have to make it for someone else, and this was my chance.



I will say, I had some issues with this cake (my mom can vouch-she had to wash one of my shirts 3 times because of the damage). I took the cakes out after 30 minutes (the minimum baking time) because they were firm and the toothpick came out clean. Well, I guess this just shows my inexperience with cake because when I flipped the first cake out, it was completely uncooked in the center. I quickly flipped it back into the pan and shoved both cakes into the oven. I would have done the creative take out the uncooked center and bake a smaller cake, but because of the way this cake had to be decorated, that wasn't an option. Thus, the cake was slightly over baked around the edge, but you could hardly notice because of the amount of toppings.



Then, when making the chocolate drizzle for the top, something went horribly wrong. I used the microwave against my better judgement and paid the consequences. It came out lumpy and grainy but I put it on top anyway. My one friend told me it looked like "gerbil poop." I got to hand it to her, that was the perfect description. It still tasted awesome though.



Despite the various issues, this cake was a major hit (I mean, how could you not? It's covered in candy bars for goodness sake). Everyone loved it! Including Shari, which was the most important part. So, all in all, a success. Plus, I bet even Bill Clinton would make an exception to his health-rule for just one slice of this monstrous cake.



Warming: if you want to make this cake (which you should), be sure to dedicate a whole day to the process. Because it takes that long-at least for cake-inept people like me.

Find the recipe here: http://artofdessert.blogspot.com/2011/10/chocolate-wasted-cake.html

-Meri