I made this chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream, chopped toffee, and sea salt…. and then I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn’t very good…. a personal shame that I’m willing to share with you. I actually think that making a bad chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream is a crime in some states.
I should have just eaten the toffee and skipped the cake. I did, of course, eat all of the toffee off the top of this cake before placing it in the refrigerator to forget about until late next week. I’m sorry. I’m a work in progress.
I hope this finds you enjoying an extra mellow Sunday morning with perhaps more coffee than usual. I curated some of the Internet for you. It goes a little something like this:
• Was this August really the worst month ever? Social media studies can give us the answer. The answer: kinda yeah.
• This week I listened to a Fresh Air Podcast from earlier this summer: Kidnapping Is a Lucrative Business for Al-Qaida, Documents Show with host Terry Gross and journalist Rukmini Callimachi. It’s a testament to how important and how dangerous foreign reporting can be. Really interesting.
• Jon Stewart is back and THANK YOU!
• Have Twitter and YouTube become the editors of the information we receive? The New Editors of the Internet.
• The Emmys were last week which means red carpet madness, juice cleanses, designer dresses, jewels for days and… what on earth is a mani-cam? Why we should ask women about more than their dang dresses! What are we even doing…. for real.
• Louisiana… we’re Losing Ground and that’s a fact.
• Southern cuisine has its nuance and you best get it right. I’m learning day by day. The Real Reason Sugar Has No Place In Cornbread
• What would James Bond drink in New Orleans, from writer Sarah Baird and bartender Abigail Gullo.
• I’m starting the book & Sons next week. I’ve read as much as I could in the Amazon preview and I want more. Classy, right?
• From Grad School to Jail. Too real? Too real.
• On a scale of 1 to totally weird, where are we on this Crystal Skull Shotglass ?
• These Super Power Vegan Collard Wraps looks healthful and super delicious! I definitely want to make my own version. They’re the opposite of doughnuts and I love it.
• Favorite recent podcast discovery: Slate’s The Gist. Informative and funny smart-talk.
Get all up in this day!
xo Joy
ajmilad
Joy, thank you for not just being a kick-ass baker, and hilarious podcast-maker, but also a woman with conviction who isn’t afraid to share information on these mega important issues in the world. As a woman who both loves the kitchen and is a super NPR nerd/political junkie, I saute you!
joythebaker
hahahha! i see what you did there… (and i love it!)
The Queen of Dreaming
Lovely post as always, totally agree with the terrible august!
http://justsem.wordpress.com/
Karleen Armstrong Lewis
I fell in love with your blog many, many years ago because of my obsession with baking, but I’m loving it even more lately because of posts like these. You’re sneak-peek at what you’re reading and listening to show what an intelligent and conscious brain you have!
Suzonne Stirling
I think cornbread is a lot like gumbo – you like whatever your grandma made and that’s just how it is (except that I argue with my grandmother over gumbo, so perhaps I’m just contrary by nature). But I love a little sweetness to my cornbread. In fact, I recently had cornbread made with Steen’s at Toups Meatery in mid-city and now I have a new perspective – why use sugar when you can have cane syrup?!
A Toast to the Good Life
YUM. I LOVE this idea. Beautiful, inspiring photos. Looks delicious!
franceskrussell
Thanks for being so honest! I really appreciate when bloggers let you know what doesn’t work as well as what does. Anyway, I’ve seen a lot of other beautiful recipes on this website that I’ve been meaning to try :)
Emily @ Life on Food
Happy Monday!! So sad about the cake. Sometimes when I don’t have a winner I chop it up and make an ice cream sundae.
Sally
Diverse round up of thoughts as ever Joy – lot’s of good reading and food for thought. Have a great week.
Ella
I second what Cait said! I think it’s really cool of you to expand your thinking and therefore writing beyond food because it IS real. Love you!
http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
Kim S
Crazy Cake (a super dense, moist, chocolate cake) with peanut butter frosting is a birthday party staple in my family. Super Awesome! I could give you some pointers if you’d like ;) (I kid, I kid!! I’m a super novice baker!! :) )
Paulette
Make another cake, do a vanilla butter cream then in the center filling place chopped miniature peanut butter cups ice rest of cake using chopped heath bars on top. Now I am hungry. Paulette
Zulejka
Looking at your links I can’t help but think – you’ve become a lot more serious since moving – or were you like that but I just haven’t noticed? I like it, though!
joythebaker
i think i’m just sharing more of that side on my blog lately. real life is hard to ignore.
Amy
Sometimes a ‘meh’ cake is okay when you just need a chocolate and sugar hit. Sometimes it is a disaster. Like my less than stellar, and then crumbled on the floor, bundt cake last week. These things happen.
Also, I am an Amazon preview reader too. I love knowing what I am getting myself into before I add it to the basket.
Hope your Sunday was lovely, from the future here in Australia Monday is pretty good too :)
Natalie - Paper and Birch
well the cake definitely looks yummy! I’m super excited about Jon Stewart too – love him!
Kelci
This is a brilliantly curated list. Thank you so much!