“Is that … chocolate cake?”- “I thought you might need some.” - “Need, not want?”A ghost of a smile was on her lips, and he almost sagged in relief as he said, “For you, I’d say that chocolate cake is most definitely a need.”
- Crown of Midnight; Sarah J Maas
The scene that the above quote comes from is when Dorian sees Celaene carrying a whole chocolate cake to her rooms. There are times in our lives when chocolate cake is much more a need than a want. After reading this in Crown of Midnight I couldn't get chocolate cake out of my head. I bought all the ingredients and was determined to make it...
... a whole week later. Having been out of the baking game for a while I had forgotten the time and mindset that is required for baking layered cakes. They aren't difficult but they do require a certain amount of patience as you have to wait for them to cool completely before icing and so on. I started my cake so late at night and was exhausted with the clean up that I wasn't exactly in the mood for a slice until the following day. And let me tell you that this cake was worth the effort and the wait.
The recipes calls for:
cake: 275g dark chocolate, 275g unsalted butter, 1 tbsp instant coffee, 250g plain flour, 40g cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp bicarb, 250g caster sugar, 250g light brown sugar, 5 eggs, 100ml buttermilk
Frosting: 250g unsalted butter, 500g icing sugar, 50g cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 5 tbsp of evaporated milk (give or take depending on constancy)
Decorations: chocolate chips or curls or whatever you want
{full recipe in *Jane's Patisserie cookbook by Jane Dunn available now}
There have been many dry and crumbly chocolate cakes in my past, but this one was neither of those things. It's probably one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had or made! This recipe alone makes it worth picking up a copy of the cookbook!
Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J Maas
mini review
It was never my intention to read a single Sarah J Maas book. Having seen them all over social media I never expected them to live up to the hype. So, after some persuading by my book buddy reader Charlee I picked up a box set of A Court of Thorns and Roses - after literally devouring them and Charlee gifting me a copy of House of Earth and Blood a Crescent City novel I have finally admitted that I am a fan.
It was only time before I read the Throne of Glass series - it is her first series having written Throne of Glass as a teenager. There are some benefits from having read the above series first as in that it was easy to pick up these books and already understand some of the world and familiarity to how Sarah J Maas writes characters. Which I personally think is something she is particularly good at and why I come back to her books.
Crown of Midnight is the second book in the series which picks up pretty much where the first one left off Celaena has just been bestowed with the title of King's Assassin and we see her take on this role struggling with playing the game by the kings rules. Given the task of killing a suspected leader of a rebel group working against the king Celaena takes her time trailing them and trying to figure out what they know because she suspects there is more that is going on.
It's been a pleasure seeing the character growth for all the characters as they start to become more three dimensional. Celaena's love for chocolate cake is one I can get behind and the only reason this post has been written. It's also been great trying to pick up the threads of what might be in the following books. When you are reading a highly popular series that is also old it's hard not to see spoilers so out of my deductions from living on bookstagram I have made a few predictions but time will tell as I continue the series with Heir of Fire.
It's not normal for me to write a book review and I don't think this can even be called one?
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