Chocolate Harvest Cake

This elegant chocolate cake is a showstopper

wherever it goes.  It takes a few steps, but

none of the steps are hard. 

Add this to your Fall recipes.

My sister Joni at Red Couch Recipes moved from

 California years ago and was now closer to me.

While in California she and her husband lived with her

husband's uncle, Uncle Bill.  Uncle Bill and Joni would

watch the Martha Stewart Show and then they would

have "Martha Stewart Day".  They would make things

they saw on the show. 

When Joni came here, she and I started to do

"Martha Stewart Day".  This Harvest Cake was

featured in a magazine and we decided to make it.

Now we make it every year.

Joni and I got together this Fall to make one.  We

decided to post it on the same day.

Tips for a Showstopper Cake

1.  Make 3 layers (1 1/2 recipes so it is tall)

2.  Line bottom of pan only with parchment 

paper.  Don't grease sides.  This       

lets the cake rise evenly.  Run knife  

around pan edge when baked and   

cooled for 10 minutes.  Turn out on 

cooling rack.

3.  Wait until cake is cooled to frost!!!      

4.  Make sure frosting and filling are soft   

   enough to spread.  If your cake starts

      to fall apart as you spread the frosting,  

  stop and add a little more liquid, only

1/2 tablespoon at a time.

5.  Spread filling to within 1/2 inch of the

 edge, otherwise it will squeeze out.

 6.  Use 3-4 bamboo skewers to hold all 

3 layers together, cutting so that  

they don't show above the top    

layer.

7.  Cover cake with a crumb coat.      

Use a flat metal spatula.     

8.  Frost sides first, then top, place     

 a knife full of frosting about mid-

way up the side, then slide the   

frosting almost to the bottom,  

then spread frosting up and let

it extend above the top just a  

bit so when you frost the top  

 you have a lip to meet up with. 

9.  When you have covered it with   

frosting, use the back of a spoon

     to add the desired texture and swirls.

Harvest Cake Recipe

3 layers chocolate cake, using your favorite recipe

(Hint, if you have time, your cake will be more

moist if you place each cooled layer in a ziploc

bag and place in the freezer overnight.  It also

makes it easier to cover with the crumb coating.

1 recipe Chocolate Butter Cream

1 recipe Chocolate Ganache

2 -  7 oz. tubes Marzipan

(Hint, squeeze the prepared marzipan tubes

before purchasing to make sure they are

fresh and soft.)

Paste Food Coloring

Cocoa Powder

Powdered Sugar

Assembly: 

On desired cake plate, put a few tablespoons buttercream

to anchor the cake.  Lay one cake, top side down, cover

with a thick layer of buttercream, stopping 1/2 inch away

from edge.  Top with second layer, bottom side down,

cover with buttercream.  (Trim the top of this layer if

necessary to make it level.)  Top with final layer, bottom

side down.  Cover with chocolate buttercream, making it

smooth.  Frost with chocolate ganache.

Decorate with marzipan fruit and vegetables.  Dust with

powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

Chocolate Buttercream

3/4 C. softened butter

4 C. powdered sugar

1/2 C. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

3-4 T. water ( add more if necessary)

Beat all ingredients with your mixer in a large

bowl.  Add water slowly and add additional if

needed.  Frosting needs to be soft and fluffy.

Chocolate Ganache

3 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C. heavy whipping cream

Heat the cream just until bubbles form around the edge.

Place the chips in a bowl and pour the cream over the

chips.  Stir until melted.  Continue to stir until it is the

consistency of frosting.

Marzipan Pumpkins and Fruit

7 oz. tube marzipan (found in your baking aisle)

paste food coloring (found at craft stores)

Pinch off desired amount of marzipan and use the

paste coloring to color it.  It is nice to use gloves

while doing this so your hands don't get colored.

Shape the fruit and vegetables, using toothpicks to

add detail.  Curl the vines around toothpicks.

Wouldn't this be fabulous on your Thanksgiving

table?

Give this recipe a try for the Fall. 

I will be posting this on

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday

Making It With Allie

Made by You Monday

Market Yourself Monday

Tasty Tuesday

Creative Share Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Fabulous Friday Finds

Comin Homes Holiday Desserts

Feature Yourself Fridays

Mom's Crazy Cooking

Halloween Safety Warning - Especially for Witches

Just a little warning for all you witches out there,

especially flying at night.



Happy Happy Halloween

Say Goodbye Beaulah

until next year!

(Sent to me by my friend Barb.)

Come join the Tablescaper for the last of
Halloween Fun at
Halloween Sunday.

Breakfast With The Witches - Cinnamon Stuffed French Toast

Halloween fun is almost done!

Our family all hopped on our brooms and flew over to

Gardner Village to join the witches for

a fun, song and dance filled breakfast.

Now come join us while we make breakfast.

This is a family photo we took at Breakfast With The Witches.

(The witch 2nd from the right doesn't belong to us,

don't know where she came from!)

Breakfast is a big deal at Purple Chocolat Home

for weekends and holidays,

but I am not the resident chef for breakfast.

Meet our scary cook.

This spooky character is my hubby.  He

specializes in breakfast any time of year.

Stuffed French Toast is one of his specialties.

He has been either the Scout Master or the

Young Men's President in our church for

about 20 years and he loves to teach the

young men how to cook, usually breakfast

foods or dutch oven foods.

When making the sandwich for the french toast

 this time of year, just be careful nothing crawls in!

Stuffed French Toast Recipe

1 loaf good quality bread

4  eggs

1/2 C. milk

1 T. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

filling ingredients:

vanilla frosting

cinnamon

Using 2 slices of bread, make a sandwich with

the frosting and a dusting of cinnamon.

Lightly beat the eggs, add milk, sugar, vanilla and

cinnamon.  Dip the sandwich into the egg mix.

Toast on a buttered griddle until lightly brown

on both sides.  The filling should be all melted

inside.  Top with whipped cream and syrup.

"French toast, Madame?"

"Of course darling. 

Would you top it with

a little whipped cream and bananas?"

"My compliments to the chef.  Fabulous!"

Sorry, he was just a little too friendly for Halloween!

We really do get scarier every year, and bigger too.

Happy Halloween

from our family to yours.

Fly on over to Foodie Friday

for more food fun. Michael Lee West always

has lots of foodie goodies at her blog party.

Beverly at Pink Saturday  is hosting any color

post celebrate Halloween.  Fly on over there too. 

Our last flight is to The Tablescaper for

Halloween Sunday. 

Beaulah and all her witch friends want to

thank you for spending all of October with her.

Well Heeled Halloween Buffet

Halloween is

nearly here!

Purple Chocolat Home always decorates the island for

holidays.  When we entertain it is often buffet style around this

island, so it is fun to have a lush decoration and we love to keep it

that way all season.

One fun thing about having a signature color is that your loved

ones always can pick things out for you or encourage you to buy

certain things.

When Joni and I got together to have Zoulah and Beaulah

cook, we spent as much time shopping.  I came home with

more items such as these gorgeous wave edged purple plates.

While I was buying these fun boots in fabulous purple and black

My sister Jean in Texas was buying me this gorgeous

sparkling purple boot.  She filled it with lavendar and purple

Hershey's kisses.  I had to kiss her for that great gift.

You may have noticed that purple is now a popular color

for Halloween, so we are loving that.

Lay down some sheer cloth and just start gathering

your favorite items. 

I love this Halloween pedestal cake platter.  This is

another goodie I bought while visiting Joni.

This fun witch's hat is lined in purple.

Even purple spiders hanging off all kinds of accessories.

A little bling-bling on some black candles

that my niece picked out for me.

Of course, the opulent purple feathered witch hat.  I had to

buy a couple of these since Drewcilla got one and I

needed one for me.

                                                          I threw in a few ceramic spook houses

And finish it off with black spider web hung from the

chandeliers.  Just be sure the candles and spider web

don't meet!

What else would you serve with this buffet but Wicked

Witch cupcakes.

Next year everything will move around to new spots

and maybe a few new things will be added.

I can't wait to share this with

Centerpiece Wednesday

and

Tablescapes Thursday

Pumpkin Party- Disney Style

Thanks Beth for hosting this Pumpkin Party.

We love Halloween here at Purple Chocolat Home.

We have been partying this week and wanted

to share it with you.

For those of you who haven't heard - Mickey Mouse hosts

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Beaulah knows she is going to have to go

in storage in a few days so she wanted to

fly off to Florida

and be part of the big Mickey Halloween Party.

She polished her diamond tooth so she was ready to go.

Now if you haven't ever been to Mickey's Halloween

Party, which I hadn't, this is

one you might want to schedule in next year. 

The Magic Kingdom closes at

7:00 and reopens for those who have purchased

tickets to the party. (They actually let you start

coming at 4:00.)   Many come dressed in costume. Of

course I did!

Everyone, young and old is given a bag to

go trick or treating with.  We focused on the rides while

everyone else was focusing on the trick or treating.

Little did we know that they kept handing out handfuls,

yes I said handfuls, of treats at each station until

midnight so by the time we were sick of rides we

went trick or treating.  I haven't been trick or treating

since I was little and let me tell you, it was a lot of fun.

We also spent some time at Universal Studios.  Their pumpkin

displays were fantastic!  I would love to do my front gate

like this - maybe next year.

How about these trees at Universal?

Wouldn't this be fun, filling your trees with pumpkins that

all light up at night.  So many ideas, so little time!

But back to Mickey's Party...

The fireworks show and parade at the Magic Kingdom

 features the villains this time of year and all of their villainous music. 

It was really exceptional.  I wanted to share a little of it

with you.  I am just like a little kid when it comes to fireworks

and Disney really knows how to do it up right.

From before you even walk through the turnstiles,

everything is decorated.  One of the things I liked the best was

that they had enormous fog machines going by the Haunted

Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.  The air was filled with

fog which was colored by lights, it was very festive.

How eery they can make the castle!

I don't know how many times it changed colors all night

I've never been to a party like this, but I sure plan

to attend again.  You don't even have to wait for an invitation,

you can invite yourself.

Of course, we had to carve our own pumpkins at home.

Left to right - Mummy, Man in the Moon, Minnie Mouse

and Edward and Bella.

Can you guess which one I did?

No, it wasn't Minnie, but she sure is cute.

(Hint - I carved it at Twilight.)

Hope you enjoyed our Pumpkin Party. 

Hop on over to Beth's Pumpkin Party at

Food as Art.  You will find a lot of fun

ideas.