I Want Cake

I want chocolate cake. Rich, moist, decadant chocolate cake layered with smooth rich chocolate cream, covered with dark chocolate ganache and decorated with chocolate shavings and curls.


Unfortunately the last piece of chocolate cake I ate caused an obstruction. 12 hours of agonising pain overnight, followed by 3 days of moderate pain and a good week of all the usual symptoms of a flare. The offending cake was a chocolate mint mud cake that I bought for the weekend following my birthday. It was delicious. Thick, dense texture, moist and rich with a subtle minty flavour.

This is not the first time store bought cakes have interacted negatively with my temperamental digestive system. There was my friends chocolate wedding cake with the thick sugar laced marzipan and almond icing. That was some nice dessert. There was the oversized triple chocolate orange muffin with chocolate chips and topped with smooth ganache. That actually made my knees week. Some time ago I partook (is that a word?) of a layered piece of heaven. six layers of light chocolate cake, smooth chocolate cream, black cherries, pure chocolate icing, topped with buttery profiteroles filled with chocolate custard.

woah, I'm feeling a little light-headed...

I believe it's the use of fats and oils that causes all the grief. Store bought low fat cakes are often poor imitations of their delectable cousins. It's almost as though bakers have decided that removing the fats/oils also means removing the taste and quality. We can't have that. So I've experimented at home with low fat cakes and muffins with quite good results, in that they taste delicious and they don't cause my Crohn's to throw a tantrum.

The drawback here is, It means of course, that if I want chocolate cake (which I think we've already established that I do) I have to make it myself.

Sigh. I guess I'll be in the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon...