What to Eat Wednesday- Chocolate Malt Cake

Chocolate Malt Cake
*edit at the bottom of the page after the recipe*

I had pinned this last spring only for how it looked. The image was so enticing I didn't even think about the fact that I didn't love malt balls. When it got closer to my birthday I quickly put the idea away as I looked at the recipe. Not only was I clueless on how to follow the recipe, I was reminded again that I don't love malt flavoring. I changed the pin to something I could try for Jay's birthday.

Well September came and I started to try and find a recipe that would work for me to bake for Jay's cake. I asked if I could just surprise him with a birthday treat. Good thing he said yes. I found "the" cake recipe.  I wished I would have found it for my birthday. I could go on and on with words trying to describe the cake and it's chocolate malt goodness but it is no use. You just have to taste it. My only improvement would be to add more malt (I know! I said I don't even like malt) which I have noted in the recipe.

 

 

Chocolate Malt Cake

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder (slightly more)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Malt Frosting
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder (for sure add more- I think at least a cup)
5 cups confectioners' sugar
Garnish: malted milk balls 

(A very large bag is needed to cover the entire cake. Think Sam's Club/Costco sized bag)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) cake pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixture, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add milk mixture, oil, and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating just until combined. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

To make the frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with malted milk balls.

adapted from Paula Deen's Holiday Baking, 2007 & found on the blog  Budding Baketress- 

The recipe called for less malt and 3- 9 inch cake pans. I found it completely acceptable to just do 2 - 8 inch pans and add more malt.

*edit* Yes it was interesting to cut. We put pans underneath to catch all the stray malt balls then had them sitting in a bowl. The kids ate them up quick. Once we started cutting the cake started to loose its shape causing some of the malt balls to shift sideways. Some fell, but most stayed on.
The decorating part took about as long as it would to decorate any other kind of cake. It was a lot of fun to make!

first day of seminary

And they are off!
Savanna and Jay started their 2nd year of Early morning Seminary on August 27th and today marked their 3rd week completed. This is Savanna's 2nd year attending and Jay's 2nd year teaching. Every morning they rouse around 5ish and get ready for their day. Piano practice, showers, smoothies then off to the church building by 6 to meet with the class.

Last year they studied the Old Testament and this year they are studying the New Testament. I am proud of them both for going. To get up, to be ready and not complain (for the most part.)

I am thankful for the time they put into it. Both as student and teacher. The early mornings have been a hard thing to get used to. But I honestly think that this year is easier than last year.  Oh the appreciation we have for sleep though! Getting to bed earlier than we would like and enjoying the treat of sleeping in on a day off or weekend.

Goin' Courtin'

Today Jay took me courtn'.

He had a date set in court in another city so we made a date out of it.

We had been pulled over on Labor Day in a small town an hour or so away.

It was one of those just barely going over kind of things. The going over part was not our problem. An expired license was! The officer was as nice as could be and stunned us into nervous laughter when he asked if we knew that Jay's license was expired. No! It was expired by less than a week. We were so surprised. We were even more surprised when he said it was an arrestable offense!
The officer looked around the car at all of our stunned children and asked Jay and I to trade places while he went to write the ticket.

He came back with a ticket written for driving with an expired license with a hefty fine attached. We were thankful to have only have a ticket instead of an arrest. The officer told us we could pay the ticket or appear in court.
We opted to appear in court ... so glad we did! Not only did we get the charge drastically reduced, but we had an amusing afternoon.

It was a very small town courthouse/multipurpose community center.

I so wanted to take photos of the Halloween decor all over the room. But it did not seem appropriate at the time.

I did snap this one on the door.

Picture decor like this all over the cafeteria like room and hanging above the judge.

But don't let the happy holiday decor fool you. It was completely serious business. A guy's cell phone went off and he was taken out by the officers. He came back in looking a little stunned.

As soon as we were finished we got out fast.
We had to chuckle at the old jail outside the building.

It was a great date. Courtin' is fun. But I think I will stick the our traditional dating thank-you-very-much.

Tuckers first day to work-

Friday was a big day for Tuck. It was his turn to go to work with Dad.

He has been asking over and over, "Do I get to go to work with you today?"

Jay has taken the kids each for their own special day- but planned to take Tucker for half a day. The later half. But Tucker was so excited. He remembered first thing and hurriedly got into his closet, got his clothes out and got dressed. Then we heard his feet rushing down the stairs as he called, "Okay, Dad, I am ready to go." Jay paused for a moment and said- "I'll just take him now."

I grabbed Tuck to go smooth down his bed head and started for the stairs when he directed me to the downstairs bathroom. He told me, " We need to go downstairs to fix my hair. That is where the "hair jello" is."

Tucker was so excited and oh-so-cute. But don't let the cute looks fool you.
He has a little feisty side in him- that is coming out more and more.

I managed to capture a moment. Right before he popped Jay in the nose with his gun. Nice.

Jay brought Tucker home after a few hours- and Tuck was so proud. He didn't seem bothered that he was not staying for the whole day. I think the rather large ice cream cone he came home with kept him from thinking too much about it.

Three cheers for Jay-for taking the kids to work. Especially a 3 1/2 year old with a pistol.

15 years

Jay,

There is nobody else I would rather share a spoon and a pint of ice cream with.
A toast: To many more years of sharing this.

Truly yours,
Alisa

Playlist of my life

I am listening to ...

Ice Cream- Sarah McLachlan

and I am ...

With Jay visiting Oklahoma during the summer, after just celebrating our 1 year anniversary. I was sitting in my Mom's kitchen and Jay was sculpting ... me. We packed up the unfinished sculpture, and took it on the plane back to Utah. It was all smooshed when we landed.

date

3/7/09

Dear Jay

I am sorry.

All my love,

Alisa

I would give up chocolate but I am not a quitter

Great read for a monday morning! Who knew that it could actually be so great for us!
(saw it from Stacy Julian!)
It gave me a chuckle and think of someone very dear who once complained when I suggested we cut back on our milk consumption "don't take away one of my only joy's in life!"
Only he likes his milk better with chocolate in it!
Sounds like a great excuse to pick up another gallon, and a new container of Quick- I will ask Tucker to help me remember to get it the next time we go to the store.

Happy Birthday & SPT

Happy Birthday-Jay!
Thank you for making me laugh.
Thank you for taking a bothersome situation and turning it into something memorable.
Thank you for seeing the lighter side of life.


After a wonderful lunch/ bookstore date Jay's car was having trouble. I was taking photos- of myself in the side mirror and of the poor car.



Our second car was having issues.


Jay cracked me up by jumping on top of the car and started posing.

It made the whole car situation funny.


And turned a could be cranky moment into something to laugh at.

Thank you for always finding the humor in the current situation.
You gave the gifts today. Happy Birthday.

as you wish

retweet @jayspear can someone please make me some lemon bars? please ......

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

We knew that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was coming. We did not purchase tickets.

One must understand that our "normal" meetings when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings, (during our bi annual church wide general conference) are not filled with applause, or shouts of praise. But quite reverence. We don't stand up and sway to the music. Our hands don't clap at the end of a song. It's not a perfomance. It's praise and song to combine a feeling, a prayer turning our thoughts to the Savior. So while my experience with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has been enjoyable and spiritual, I would not put it into the category of entertainment.

I had spent the weekend away scrapbooking with my friend Kristie. I mentioned that Jay was going to go usher for the choir that night. She asked why I was not going, and don't you think you want to go? I gave an answer of sort of- but I hear them often and its alright. A while later I got a call from Kim saying she had extra tickets, would I like to go. Then again later on I got another call this time from Julie offering another couple of tickets. I took the opportunity and started making the calls to co-ordinate my mom to watch the boys, and arranging with Jay & my friends about transportation Between the 2 of them we took 3 tickets so that Jay and I would be able to sit together and Savanna could go too.

I was excited to go. I figured it would be a pleasant evening filled with song, and I would come home glad I had gone. The evening far exceeded my thoughts of what I would experience.
I had no idea that the orchestra would be accompanying them. I had no idea how awe-inspiring it would be to hear them in person.

To try and write what I felt- seems hard to re-create. I felt the music. Normally we watch/hear the choir 2-4 times a year. Over satellite broadcast, over the internet, and we listen to their music countless times. But nothing can compare with sitting in front of them live. The choir combined with the orchestra moved my body and my spirit together into one fantastic movement.

The music was broken down into 8 sections-

Hymns of Praise: Alleluia fanfare and Praise to the Lord the Almighty
Morning Has Broken
Hymn of Praise

Music of the Masters: Gloria in excelsis, from Mass in C Minor, KV 427
O Lord God, op. 15, no.11
Cum Sanco Spiritu

Music of the World: Ah, el novio no quere dinero!
Danny Boy
Betelehemu

Two American Fold Hymns: Amazing Grace
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

intermission

From the American Songbook

Songs of the Land: Saints Bound for Heaven
Homeward Bound
Cindy

Songs of Faith and Hope: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
Organ solo: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Rock-a-My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham

Songs of Inspirations from the American Theater: Come to My Garden
You'll Never Walk Alone
God Bless America

Music and the Spoken Word (celebrating 80 years of broadcasting): Come, Come, Ye Saints
Battle Hymn of the Republic

with an encore of This Land is Your Land (conducted by "guest" director)
and God Be with You till We Meet Again

I was moved and astounded from the beginning and had several favorites and discoverd a favorite song of Jay's. I Loved hearing the section Songs of Faith and Hope. Reminded me of my Nana- and it brought happy loving memories. (especially the organ solo Swing Low, Sweet Chariot) Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing was a favorite before, and remains still.
We clapped and shouted after the song Betelehemu- and wanted to get up and move during many.

But one moment will stand out- that was totally unplaned, but a reminder and a blessing to me. Down on the floor a young girl twirled and spun and danced gracefully arms outstretched, uncarring of what anyone else around her thought. Her movements were so unhibited, reminding me of a little girl I used to know, who will be turning 12 this next week. Her dance along with the music gave me a fresh perspective into the changes and stages we experience with our children. How fleeting really, the time is. How unknowingly we wish the time away. How we need to enjoy each stage, find the good in each one. They will end. Sometimes quicker than we would like.


We tweeted a bit during the event:
(jay)At the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Lloyd Noble Center ~ woot

(alisa)In norman listening to mormon tab choir and orchestra. No one said anything about needing to bring tissues. So moving.

(jay) The motab is getting it's groove on #tribal Betelehemu

(jay) The choir was amazing. The little girl dancing off to the side of the stage on the floor in her party dress was unforgettable. Ahh youth !

(alisa) after the MOTAB concert Savanna and both exclaimed at the same time "wasn't that amazing?"

(savanna) MOTAB concert last night was amazing!! Makes me wish I could be up there on the risers singing with the choir!

I am extremely happy that we went. I am thankful for the shared tickets from friends. I am thankful that my mom watched the boys. I am thankful that Savanna got to go. I am just thankful. And to those who may have wondered why I did not offer to get them tickets. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I sat through the evening in awe and more than once I felt remiss at not purchasing a ticket for every single person that I knew.

daddy, dad, dada, papa

Thank you for being the Dad-
Thanks for listening to your kids.
Thanks for your extreme patience.
Thank you for being a teacher.
Thanks for taking time.
Thanks for recognizing their individual needs.
Thank you for being physically and emotionally available for each one.
Happy Fathers Day.

proof

I said I was jealous when I twittered that Jay met her- and I posted that it was a favorite part of my weekend-
but here is proof ...
Jay and the Pioneer Woman-

Jay had the shaky camera that day, and the photo came out ... can you guess? Shaky!
So glad to have this one!

All is well

He did it.

He fixed the camera!

I am amazed. .

But then again I am not.

I always just count on him fixing my problems.

But this one I was kind of thinking that it was, well, unfixable.

So now I am trying to think of some kind of lanyard that I can just wear this tiny camera around my neck. 

I will not be placing it in the windowsill above the kitchen sink. I will just wear it around my neck. Like a tourist in my home.

Terry left an amazing idea in the comments on my last post- seriously- go check it out. It might save your pocket electronics sometime!

Will share more of why I love this camera tomorrow-

allergies are attacking, must go sleep it off.

All is well, all is well.

Learning HTML

I know how to do this now. Jay taught did it for me.

Stones

garden stones
stones throw
landscape stones
natural stones
sticks and stones
stoned
kidney stones
the rolling stones
Mr. Stone
gem stones
stone cold
stone washed
Of these stones, which do you think we have been dealing with since Monday morning around
1 A.M.?

Happy 27th Birthday

Since you had such a marvelous birthday weekend, and now are suffering from post holiday letdown, I thought I would relive the memories for you-

Sleeping in on a Saturday morning and having a pancake breakfast.

Getting sonic drinks for the both of us, (but none for the kids) just because.


Having a constant shadow of the name Tucker for the weekend.

Getting McDonalds fries and ketchup and nothing else, just because you wanted french fries.

Sharing them with your shadow.



A long nap on Sunday even after your shadow woke up. Heaven!

Monday morning yummy french toast made with real french bread for breakfast.


Delicious Italian lunch and dessert. Alone. With me. No shadow along. Heaven.


Brownies at work to share. They are too good not to share.

Dinner at home.

Your shadow announcing "Dad" whenever he sees the apple logo.

Your request of brownies, ice cream and hot fudge sauce. (no pie?!)




Dad,
I love that you are always willing to help me. You take time and you don't get frustrated when you are explaining things. And when I finally get what you are trying to explain, you congratulate me.
My wish for you is that we will be able to go on more walks together.
Love,
Savanna

Dad,
I like that you pretend a lot. I like that you do fake things a lot, like imitating mom, and its really funny.
My wish for you is that you stay the same.
Love,
Jack

Dad,
I love that you chase me.
I wish that you will have lots and lots of love, and that you will take me to lots of restaurants even macaroni grill.
Love,
Luke

Dad,
I love your apples.
I love being your shadow.
I wish that you will have many drinks to share, and lots of apples.
Love,
Tucker

Jay,
You need to know,
I love how you make everything fun.
I love how you can find the humor in any situation.
I love your testimony.
I love how you fix things. And that you are willing to.
I love your art. I love it when you create.
I love your mind, and how it works.
I love seeing you with the kids, and how you are so silly with them.
I love having this family with you.
My wish for you is many more alone lunch dates this next year.
And many more birthdays in your twenty's!
Love,
Alisa

anybody else care to leave a birthday message, and/or wish?

He needs to know

I had a funny moment today during this

(this spelling was pretty funny-its supposed to be "Fast and Testimony")

I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and it startled me.
And then in the exact same moment it was comforting.

It was Jay.
He usually does not attend church with us or he just comes late, because he is helping in another ward. But today we all drove in 1 car to church.
And we got to sit together. Close enough that he could touch me.
Funny that I would think that a blessing.
But I do.
Funny that his hand on my shoulder would startle me.
It just felt so different than a child's would.

He needs to know how nice it was to have him there.
He needs to know how grateful I am that he serves without complaining.
He needs to know how handsome I think he is. (especially in a blue suit, ahhh sigh.)
He needs to know how wonderful it was to have him take Tucker.
He needs to know how thankful I am when he comes to church with us, even though he has already been "churching" for many hours.
He needs to know how I love to hear him sing Hymns of praise.
He needs to know that I am so grateful he is friendly.
He needs to know that I am the lucky one.

the bartender

Ok- my Iphoto is back up and running thanks to none other than my own personal, in house, mac genius.

I now can return to my regular blogging. Remember this?- I need my photos!

I can get so frustrated with technology and my inability to understand it all, or how to make it work.
But thankfully my mac genius can get things worked out- and he even has mad teaching skills so I can learn how to do it myself.
But most of the time, I just let him do it.

Over the last week he has been doing who knows what to the computer, and now it seems all is back in order with I photo library. Its better than before. Its organized!
There are photos and video we did not even know we had! Fun to look at.
(all but that 1 mysterious week those photos are just gone-to who knows where- my mom thinks that they are going to just show up on somebody's computer somewhere!)



Who needs apple and their genius bar when I have my own bartender here?