root beer bundt cake + blog award

So, I’ve decided that for some of my Friday posts—since they’re usually the ones that are random and/or have very little depth—I’m going to list recipes that I’ve used during the week that I think you might enjoy. If you aren’t interested in awesome baking splendor, there is a blog award after the recipe.

Yesterday, we ate dinner at a friend’s house, and I—as is usually the case—was in charge of dessert. I made this little beauty.

ROOT BEER BUNDT CAKE

Active: 45 min | Total: 2 hr | Serves: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

Cake

1       stick unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

2       cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2       cups root beer

1       cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2       ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1       cup granulated sugar

½      cup packed dark brown sugar

1 ¼   teaspoons baking soda

½      teaspoon ground allspice (or equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg)

1       teaspoon salt

3       large eggs, beaten

¼      cup root beer

Icing

2 ½   cups confectioners’ sugar

1       teaspoon vanilla extract

¼      cup root beer

¼      teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325^o. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan; tap out the excess flour. I sprayed the pan with cooking spray instead, because buttering a Bundt cake pan is not all that easy. The butter/spray and flour is to help keep the cake from sticking.

Heat 2 cups root beer, the cocoa powder, chocolate, and 1 stick butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the granulated and brown sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool. I used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate cocoa powder, and TownHouse Dark Chocolate morsels.

Combine 2 cups flour, the baking soda, allspice—or equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg, like I used—and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. When the root beer and chocolate mixture has cooled, whisk the eggs into the mixture, then gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through. I didn’t rotate it, but that’s because I forgot I was baking. If you have a foil lined electric oven, like I have, it may only take 45 minutes. When the cake has finished baking, poke the cake all over with a skewer and pour ¼ cup root beer over the cake. Let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert the cake onto a serving plate and let cool completely. We never manage to let desserts cool. We like ours hot and piping!
While the cake cools, make the glaze: Whisk the remaining ¼ cup root beer, ¼ teaspoon salt, and the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Drizzle over the cake.

And enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - -

Yesterday, Angela Brown shared a blog award with me. She is a steady commenter here, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and she has her own blog as well. Thank you Angela for making my blogging experience feel worthwhile, and for sharing this award.

Gifted with the Versatile Blogger award, here are the rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominates you.
2. Share seven random facts about you
3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it.

So, since the thanking has already taken place, seven random facts about me:

I’m deathly afraid of dinosaurs. No really. I still have nightmares about T-Rexes and Velocirapters eating my face, or hunting me down through dystopian tropical cities. Jurassic Park ruined me.

I once won a large amount of money (for a 14 year old) from a bag of purple M&Ms. I think it was like $450 or something like that. Big money.

I'm a chocolate addict. Like, when I start eating chocolate, I can't stop. I go on a chocolate eating frenzy, and before my husband knows it, I'm baking brownies, cakes, and cookies every night of the week.

My favorite Disney movies are Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

When I was a kid, my favorite toys were Legos and Hot Wheels. Barbies were for explosives and hair-cutting experiments.

I'm slightly less mature than my husband, who has the inner mentality of a fourteen year old boy. I'm somewhere around twelve. I like dirty, elementary humor: farts, boogers, burping, etc. 

I have several impressive scars from very stupid accidents, one involving catching my shoelace in between the bricks of a six-foot wall while jumping down it and slicing my leg open. I didn't notice until halfway through basketball practice, when my coach observed that my sock was soaked in blood.

The final rule is the one I always have the most trouble with since I generally don’t go out looking for new blogs to follow. In fact, I only follow 25 blogs, and a good portion of them update very rarely. The others happen to be popular blogs that most people know about. So rather than share the award, I’ll list blogs that I think you should follow because I follow them, and they’re awesome:

Books of Adam - an illustrated blog full of bearded awesome, and seriously funny
Hyperbole and a Half - another illustrated blog, equally funny
Hyaline Prosaic - a blog mostly about sewing and historical fashion, as well as a bit of writing
Jami Gold, Paranormal Author - for a blog about writing and stubborn muses
Obscurity and a Competence - another illustrated blog, run by my friend Justin; he doesn't update often, but when he does, he shares his awkward childhood stories
Specnology - for science and superheroes
Terribleminds - a blog about writing and the occasional baby post, weaved with the most creative profanity your ears will ever hear