Our theme for this week is...

I know I've been markedly absent lately, but we had a whirlwind vacation time and now I'm back.

Our theme this week (well, maybe actually for two weeks since we have so many recipes) is chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate, right? Some people even go so far as to love it. I suppose some people take this too far and become obsessed. Michelle was somewhere right between love and obsessed. Every single time I mentioned any dessert not containing chocolate in her presence, she remarked that it's not really dessert unless it has chocolate in it. Back when she and I would watch a movie every Sunday after family dinner, about halfway through she would run upstairs and return with Lindt truffles for each of us. The super dark, super rich ones, which are, of course, the best ones. When I started looking through the recipe box for chocolate recipes I was a little bit overwhelmed. There are literally dozens of recipes in there, all of which sound delicious. I decided to extend our theme over the next two weeks so that I can use all of my favorites.

This particular recipe appears in at least four separate cards, and in one of the Children's Hospital guild cookbooks (which are fantastic collections of the members' favorite recipes, including some of Michelle's best). I thought it would be the perfect (no pun intended) way to start out our chocolate half-month.

The Perfect Chocolate Cake

9 oz dark chocolate (Linzer or Hershey's Special Dark)
1 stick butter, soft
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1/2-2/3 cups chocolate chips
1 Tb Crisco
Nut halves (12-24)

Melt chocolate over very low heat, and set aside.

Beat butter until creamy. Beat in sugars, eggs (one at a time), vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat well. Stir in flour and salt. Stir in chopped nuts.

Butter and flour a 9 inch cake pan. Line with paper. Butter and flour paper. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, remove from pan and continue cooling on rack.

Melt chocolate chips with crisco (either in microwave or double boiler). Dip nut halves half-way into chocolate and let dry on greased foil. Spread remaining chocolate on top and sides of warm (not hot) cake. Arrange nuts decoratively. Cool completely and cut into 12 wedges.