Uh, Yum, and Uh Oh.

Two things: Last weekend I made The Hubs his birfday dinner: this herb-crusted rack of lamb (yes, I know the recipe is herb-crusted pork loin, which is also good, but we prefer it on rack of lamb). It's the one recipe I go to when I need to make a dinner to impress, with roasted potatoes and our current favorite salad: arugula with strawberries, goat cheese, onion straws and a champagne vinaigrette. I also made the Biggest Damn Birthday Cake EVER. It's a Chocolate Stout Cake made with Guinness, recipe courtesy of a lovely MBB reader - thank you Shannon!, and a chocolate fudge frosting courtesy of Google. The original recipe calls for a chocolate ganache, but I wanted something more fudgey frosting-y. Made the cake the day before and left in the fridge, and it was a dense, fudge cake. SOOOO good.

The only thing I did wrong with the frosting, when making it, was this. I didn't make enough the first time, and had enough to frost the layers and sides of the cake. When I realized I needed another batch, I put the milk and powdered sugar in a bowl without mixing, and immediately added my melted chocolate and butter. Big. Mistake. It was completely grainy and not at all smooth like the frosting on the sides. Note to self - MIX THE DAMN MILK AND POWDERED SUGAR FIRST. Ah well, I pulled out the mixer and mixed the hell out of it and it smoothed out enough to at least spread a little better, but it still wasn't as smooth and shiny as I would've liked.

Nevertheless, it tasted amazing. I think my favorite cake to make is still Big Bews McTata's Orange and Raspberry cake (made with a white cake mix, I KNOW, I KNOW), but that damn mascarpone and raspberry frosting is seriously the best thing ever.

The cake would be lovely with some of this ice cream I came across on Pinterest this weekend, made only with frozen bananas, cocoa and peanut butter. Seriously - frozen bananas, cocoa and peanut butter in the food processor? Genius.

What is also genius? Pinterest. I KNOW I'm tardy to the party with Pinterest, but now that I've found it, I. Am. OBSESSED. I cannot get enough of the damn thing. If you haven't been on it yet, take my advice - DON'T. Or do. Whatever. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Happy Monday, yo!

Merci!
Shan