Food = Love

... at least in my book. One of the biggest factors that affected my decision to enroll in culinary school was that feeding people with food I have made always makes me so incredibly happy. The best nights hanging out with my friends always begin with a homemade, potluck meal (accompanied by copious amounts of wine, of course).

It was my desire to turn my affection into something tangible, edible, that led me to the French Culinary Institute. And halfway through the program, there I was: faced with an assignment to make a special occasion cake. Any cake my little heart desired.

Okay, we were given some parameters - I had to make a chocolate cake with chocolate glaze. But as for the flavors and decorations, the decisions were left up to us. Being that this is the time of year that J. and I have decided we started dating, I decided to make a cake just for him. (Don't ask, it's a long and complicated story. Let's just say that we celebrate our anniversary somewhere between St. Patrick's Day and before March Madness is over.)


The inspiration for this cake actually stemmed from our first fight, just over three years ago. The cause is negligible; the thing that I remember from that argument was my late-night, teary phone call to my friend A. He comforted me, calmed me down, and told me to be the bigger woman and apologize for the sake of the relationship, telling me, "You guys are great - I mean, you go together like peas and carrots!"

This phrase, cliche as it is, has stuck with us for the past three years. It just feels right - comfortable, familiar, and classic. So for this cake I stuck with flavors that evoked those feelings by layering the chocolate cake with sweet and salty peanut butter buttercream, and added a spike of rum soak for the cake itself for a bit of excitement. The end result? A cake that is simple but delicious, and one that we have been nibbling steadily on for this past week. I think of it as a way of stretching out my anniversary love over more than just one day of celebration.