YOUR MISSION .....

should you choose to accept it, involves turning a huge pile of parts and pieces into a shoe rack.  Who knew it took 76 pieces to make a shoe rack?

It rained most all day long.  I really don't mind the rain in the desert because it makes everything smell SO good!  Since I never get to see the critters (and most I would rather NOT make contact with anyway), I put my two jackrabbits in the window for ambiance.

On the right is actually the box all the parts came in.  I don't know what happened to written instructions as none were to be found.  What I DID come up with was very sketchy PICTURES to show where those six different bags of connectors should be located.  I guess that saves time and money printing out six different languages.

I kid you not, it took me 2-1/2 hours to get this thing together.  It's certainly nothing like the shoe racks of old, but at least there's room for boots.  MY boots promptly fell over when placed in their spot.  I guess I need another pair to help them stand up.

I then spent 30 minutes polishing my boots with the most perfect of tools ... a piece of torn washcloth and Kiwi wax.  Remember that stuff?  A relic of the ages, to be sure.  I mean really, who waxes their shoes any more?

All the while, I could only think of that devil's food cake mix.  Where else but on-line did I find an amazing recipe.  Add to the recipe on the back of the box, two tablespoons of mayo (yes really), one big tablespoon of dark cocoa and two teaspoons of vanilla.  Bake at 325 (instead of the stated 350) for 20-25 minutes.

They came out fabulous!!  I did use three 6" Wilton pans in order to have a tall gorgeous cake.  Here's another tip.  Let the pans sit for ten minutes, then take out the cakes, wrap them in saran wrap and foil, then immediately place in the freezer while warm.  They will be SO much more moist when you take them out to frost, not to mention being easier to frost.  Naturally, I did not do that.

On to the frosting!!  It called for TWO cubes of butter.  I just couldn't get myself to do that, so I used 1-1/2.  Soften the butter.  So that part didn't work out so good.  In no time, all the butter was stuck to the two beaters on my mixer.  Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  That helped release it a tad.  Add one cup of cocoa.  By the way, this is TWO of those layers, each cut in half to make a four layer cake.  The third layer went in the freezer for later.

First off, you really do need to sieve the cocoa, but only if you have a sieve large enough.  Cocoa went everywhere!!  So much went on the counter that I had to get MORE.  Add in powdered sugar and milk (substituted here with cream).  Here's my suggestion .... use a REALLY BIG BOWL!!

I of course used a too-small one.  It's no big deal, at least I won't have to dye my hair any time soon, so I figure I saved $65 with this cake.  Funny, when the frosting was finally mixed up, my socks had turned brown.  

I definitely should have added more cream because by the time I began actually FROSTING the cake, it was pretty stiff, so my trick of running a knife around the edges top to bottom for decoration, didn't really work.  In the end, there was maybe two tablespoons of frosting left over.  Yup I ate it!!  Waste not, want not!

I stared at it for another hour before deciding to take a taste.  OH MY .... chocolatey goodness like you wouldn't believe.  Totally worth the hour to clean up the kitchen, dust out my hair and wash my socks.  I'm sure that clump of cocoa that dropped on Cooper will wear off in time.

With today being the only escape from rain ALL WEEK LONG, I'm headed out to the quilt store for a pattern.  When I return, I'll put the cake in the freezer for later consumption, minus one more small piece.

Happy lose-one-hour day to California.