Father's Day- Chocolate Stout Cake

For Father's Day, my family met up at my aunt's house for a BBQ. It was a perfect day to eat outside on the deck with loved ones. Everyone was asked to bring something, and I was assigned to make dessert. I found this recipe off a blog I enjoy reading called The Bitten Word. Zach and Clay share their cooking and baking adventures by using recipes from their collection of food magazines.

I figured everyone loves chocolate and dads love beer, so a Chocolate Stout cake would be perfect! Listed below is the full recipe, but I cut it in half since I read all of the reviews and The Bitten Word's post, and it was just going to be too much cake if I followed the original recipe.

Chocolate Stout Cake
Bon Appétit (September 2002)

Servings: Makes 12 servings.

Ingredients
Cake
2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing
2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preparation

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For icing:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.

The cake was really good, rich, and dense. It wasn't overly sweet, and even though I made it the night before, it was still good the next day. I didn't have round pans, so I poured the batter (1/2 this recipe) into a 13X9 pan. Once it cooled, I cut it in half width-wise and stacked it on top of one another to get two tiers. It worked out just fine, thankfully =)

I love eating with my family. We always have really good food, and its relaxing to hang out with one another since daily life can be so hectic. We had guacamole, roast beef, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese, deviled eggs, Greek salad, kim bap, and and Irish cheese.

Hope all the dads out there had a good day of pampering and being well-fed! 4th of July is this weekend, and I'll be making something new for that BBQ, so I'll definitely post that soon.

La Tasca- Rockville, MD

Hi everyone, another Iphone post! For my bf's birthday he wanted to try Paella since he's seen and heard so much about it on the Travel Channel and Food Network. We decided to go to La Tasca in Rockville to try it out because of their paella and sangria selections.  

It is located in Rockville Town Square underneath the public library and across from Five Guys. There is free garage parking and random street parking. However it can be limited, so there are some parking lots near the movie theater that cost $1 to park in. The closest metro stop would be Rockville on the Red Line.

Sorry I don't have a pic of the outside! I think we were running late and trying to make our reservation. The story of my life, haha.

The interior features Spanish decor from the chandeliers, wooden beams, iron rails, and hand-painted tiles. There are a good number of tables in this restaurant as well as seating outdoors.

I've been to this restaurant before and was in love with their sangria menu. They offer 11 different types of sangria by either the glass ($6-7.50) or pitcher ($22-28). We ordered 4 different glasses throughout our meal to taste different ones.

Cadillac White Sangria- This top-shelf sangria has the same character as our “Blanca” but is made with premium Sangre De Toro white wine ($7.50). This was a bit strong, but the bf liked it.

Cava Sangria- The clear staff favorite: a bubbly sangria made with sparkling wine,
triple sec, and brandy -- blended with grape juice and blueberries ($6). This was my favorite! It's very fruity and sweet.

Agua de Sevilla- Another sparkling wine sangria, this concoction is unique
because it is prepared with pineapple juice and whipped cream ($6). This was a bit strange, but better once you mix in the whipped cream.

Sangria Blanca- A refreshing blend of peaches, white wine, triple sec, brandy and
cinnamon sticks ($6). The peaches were really strong, but also good.

We placed our Paella order 1st, since it takes around 35 minutes to make. We then decided to order some tapas. We ordered the 'Empanadas de Carne- beef empanadas' for $6. They are really good and flavorful. The pair came with a spicy mayo-type sauce.

We also ordered the 'Croquetas de Pollo- A classic Spanish dish of pureed chicken and potatoes, lightly battered and then deep fried' for $6.50. It's such a tapas staple that I like ordering it when I'm eating Spanish food. It was delicious and came with a more mild-green mayo-type sauce.

Oddly we received bread and olive oil after all of our tapas because we noticed other tables had bread, but we did not. They gave it to us when we asked, but of course it was 2 minutes before our paella arrived.

We decided to try the 'Paella Valenciana- The traditional Valencian paella with grilled chicken and mixed seafood' for $38. It had squid, mussels, chicken and vegetables in the rice. It was tasty, however we were so full we took most of it home. It does have a very "seafoody" taste, which I love, but the bf wasn't too keen on it. We'll probably try the 'Paella de Carne- A meat paella of chicken and Spanish sausage' next time. It's a huge portion that is made to be shared between 2-3 people.

I thought our meal was good, but nothing special.  We ordered very popular tapas, so they turned out well. I have eaten there before and ordered some tapas that weren't as good. Sorry I forgot which ones! The paella was huge, so it was nice to have food for the next day. It does reheat well in the microwave too, haha.
Our server was nice. I'm not sure why we didn't get bread, but I guess that's ok since we were already full.
The outdoor seating looked nice and the sangria selections are awesome. Tapas in general are expensive. You pay between $6-12 and they're small plates. It can add up especially with the drinks. They do have a large variety of meats, seafood and vegetable options.
They offer a live band on Saturday nights from 10pm-12am, so it's a nice place to come with friends to try lots of different dishes and drink.

141 Gibbs Street #305
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 279-7011
Website

Brunch: Saturday & Sunday: 10:00am - 3:00pm
Lunch: Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Dinner: Monday - Friday: 5:00pm - 12:00am, Saturday: 3:00pm - 12:00am, Sunday: 3:00pm - 10:00pm