I was feeling mighty sorry for myself yesterday after a much anticipated trip to my old home turf, Michigan, fell victim to the astronomical gas prices.  After moping around I decided to do something constructive and distract myself.  Did I do what a self-respecting hausfrau should?  Did I clean the cupboards, scrub the floors, or even *gasp* fold the laundry that has been in baskets for more time than is decent?  Oh, heck no!  I decided to make a beautiful cake.

I had seen a zebra cake on RealEpicurean.com earlier in the day and it seemed the perfect candidate to take my mind off my top-of-the-mitt, Mackinac bridge, pine tree and sand loving troubles.  It was a gorgeous, stripey cake that, if Scott was being truthful, was as easy to make as it was stunning. 

My disappointment over the almost-trip was acute so I decided to up the ante a little and make it more complicated.  I had some leftover vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis from my bannock dessert (post and ingredients found here!) late last week.  What to do?  What to do?  I confabbed over the phone with my stepmom, Valerie.  I told her I was going to stuff the cake with ice cream and drizzle the coulis over it.  She said, “I’d do that and take it one step further.  Hot fudge sauce!”  She’s a genius, that Val!

Thankfully, I had Val’s killer hot fudge sauce recipe handy and even more thankfully, I had all the necessary ingredients on hand.  (It’s not easy to make last minute store runs when the trek to the nearest store is 5 miles round trip.) 

Here’s how it goes down! [Read more...]