One of my best friends came over last autumn to visit NYC. The L Train was down, and the weekend activities all seemed to be a bit expensive. Therefore instead we decided it would be a great idea to bake. Baking is possibly one of the cheapest and friendliest activities in NYC. Gather some of your friends together and by the end everyone is giggling from a sugar high. Not only does it make your apartment smell delicious, but it makes you feel really comfy and at home.
I had made food from David Lebovitz’s wonderful autobiography “The Sweet Life in Paris”. The autobiography jumps between mini vignettes about his life to wonderful recipes. Therefore, I knew his recipes were reliable and delicious. I also knew whatever cake we made by him would be rich and delicious, as I believe I love chocolate as much as he does.
I decided to make the “Chocolate Idiot Cake“. If idiot is in the name, I knew I could pull it off. Unfortunately in the beginning it made me feel a bit like an idiot. The cake was more difficult than I imagined, but now that I have made it three or four times, it is the easiest sweet I can make! It is as if you are biting into the softest smoothest chocolate bar. No wonder the guy moved to Paris! Please try the cake, any idiot can make it…
I had a bit of chocolate left over, therefore I decided to throw it in the double boiler with a half a stick of butter. I also added a little bit of milk. This all made a wonderful ganache to spread on top of the chocolate cake. I even sprinkled cocoa powder on top. This gave the ganache a depth of color.
As this was not enough I had just made a wonderful Pumpkin Ice Cream. We decided to eat the cake with the ice cream. Amazing! The recipe was originally from the wonderful blog Lawfully Wedded Wife , but I did change around the quantities a bit. 
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Cup 2% milk
- 1 Can pure pumpkin purée
- 1/3 C sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Pumpkin Pie Seasoning (measure to taste)
1) Whisk all ingredients together
2) Put in ice cream machine for 20 minutes
My Last Dinner in Brooklyn 