Chocolate Fig Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Fig fig fig. What a fun word. Oh what, you don't like it? Fig off then!

If dried figs are new to you, I can tell you that they are sweet and very seedy. They aren't my favorite dried fruit, but I have a Costco-sized bag of them that need to get used, so. I decided they would go fantastic with chocolate, because, well, everything goes with chocolate! I found a recipe here that looked really great, and with a few minor adjustments they turned out lovely.

One warning though, this cake is a million times better the next day. The flavors get a chance to meld together and the cake gets really fudgey.

Chocolate Fig Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
10 dried figs (finely chopped)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans. 
2. Finely chop your figs and pour 1 cup of boiling water over them. Let them sit for 30 minutes. I mashed mine a bit with a fork. You could probably even puree them to make sure they are lump free.
3. Next, sift your dry ingredients together. Then mix in your wet, followed by the figs and water mixture. Pour into your cake pans and pop into oven for about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine

1. Microwave chocolate chips and margarine together and stir until smooth.
2. When your cakes are cooled, top with chocolate glaze. You can stack them or keep as individual cakes.

Lisa's Cat in the Hat Baby Shower

My lovely little Big Sister Lisa is having a baby boy sometime between now and the middle of September. I personally have bets on the following dates: Sept 6, 7, 8 and 9. Us Littles are always early so I'm pretty certain the prize money is mine. I've already spent it, so I sure hope so.

Last weekend we threw Lisa (and La Babe) a Cat in the Hat themed baby shower. I designed and printed Dr Seuss themed shower invites with the help of my mommy. We went party supply hunting and hit the jackpot at Michael's with some Cat in the Hat paraphernalia such as a 6 foot tall Cat in the Hat poster and party hats (which nobody ended up wearing - boo).

The girls and I spent too many hours the day before baking up a storm. Brownies, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting dyed blue to resemble Thing 1 and Thing 2, and sugar cookies iced in red white and blue. That's three batches of baking and three sets of frosting, which is a whole lot of dirty bowls and counter tops. Don't worry, Amanda made sure it was all clean long before we were done :) such a good housewife that girl is!

Lisa's best friend made 3 super amazing banners in Cat in the Hat style which we strung up around the living room - I can't even describe how pretty they were. Amanda ordered a Cat in the Hat themed cake which was mind bogglingly awesome. I peed my pants a little when i saw it. The cake sported a quote that said "A person's a person no matter how small.". cute, right?

I came out in costume when we were playing games and we all had a good laugh. The kids were mostly just scared of me. Hmmm... perhaps I will wear that costume all the time as a child-deterrent. uhmm just kidding, I'm not that evil.

I'd like to say I met some cool new people, but I spent most of my time in front of the oven watching things bake and then taste testing them. I then had to sneak out early to drive Jwolfs to the ferry, which means I missed the embarrassing party hat made of of bows and ribbons. It also means I missed the cleaning up- darn, my favorite part!

Overall great party. Super excited for the baby to come. Super excited to see him in all his new outfits and to NOT change diapers. Here's some photos. Get ready to be jealous: