From Lowes to a Chocolate Cake

Now how in the world do you go from Lowes  Home Improvement Center to buy paint stain, to a chocolate cake?   It was Eldon's fault I started this cooking challenge.   We were checking out and lo and behold there was a magazine with the most wonderful cake on the cover.   I had to have the magazine  and make the cake.


Getting the ingredients, which I  am known for substituting everything, was an adventure in its self.   I need bittersweet chocolate not more than 61% cacao.   All I could find is 100%, not much difference.  Right?  Did I ever find out, there is a difference, I had to put a million cups of sugar to make that stuff so it wouldn't turn your mouth inside out.    Peppermint schnapps, easy enough.   Went to a store to get it and all they had were giant bottles of it, I didn't want to open a bar, all I needed was 1 tablespoon.   They have what they call the strip here so off we went to find peppermint schnapps---small size.   

It took me all day from about 10 am to 4 pm to make it and I swore  I would never make it again.  That was before we tasted it.   It had three layers of peppermint meringue, two layers of chocolate cake and a wonderful peppermint syrup and then buttercream frosting.   Next time I make it and I do say next time I believe I will make the cake thicker, nothing else Texas size and the meringue thicker and the frosting less .  Gotta keep the peppermint syrup the same, basically simple syrup with some schnapps in it.   Nothing wrong with that in the cooking world. 

What really made my day is when I took some to the neighbors and the little girls saw it and said------Mom it's  Mrs. Graves and she cooked!!!!!   What better response could you ask for.