My head is spinning after today

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MAy 5th, 2011 – Oof-da!  What a day I had in the kitchen.  I played with chocolate, I wore chocolate, I licked chocolate, I wiped it off the floor, the cell phone, the wall….you name it… all day long!  I started the day started off knowing that I had a simple task at hand.  I just needed to complete my Raw Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake that I was making for a friend’s dinner party tonight.  I made the cheesecake last night and today I just had to decorate it.  It sounds so simple…that simple project took 5 hours!  Oof-da mira!

I went through 4 batches of chocolate TRYING to get it right.  All’s I had to do was make the chocolate art forms, allow them to harden and then decorate the cake.

Batch #1 – looked gorgeous but it didn’t harden.   That chocolate went into a bowl and out of vision.  I would deal with that later.  Batch #2 – Oooooh fiddlesticks, I didn’t have enough for batch #2.  After several stores later I found some Raw Cacao Butter.  Ok back to Batch #2 – Instantly it gelled up and then separated.  *throws hands up in the air*  “What in tarnation, I say, What in Tarnation!”  That went into the bowl, I would deal with that later as well.  Batch #3 – new recipe, looked beautiful, I was feeling good about this batch.  I made my forms on the pan and popped them in the freezer.

After my 3rd batch of dishwashing, I pulled my chocolate art out of the freezer.  Looking good, it’s firm…I think we have a winner here!  I started placing them.  I needed 12 of them, 1 broke but that’s ok…I made a few extra.  Another broke, still ok, another broke *beads of chocolate are starting to form on my forehead*  ANOTHER broke, now I am in trouble.  I have to make another batch now.  I am not sure what was more disheartening, the fact that I had to use MORE ingredients or the fact that I that I was going to have to do dishes AGAIN.

Batch #4 – Same recipe, different technique… You don’t mind if I take a quick side note, do you?  Great, thanks.  A few years ago my husband and I took a chocolatier course.  It was hard work and I learned to have a great deal of respect for those in that industry.  It is a true art form.  What I am coming to learn now is that the same goes for raw chocolate.  It’s a true art form and takes time and patience to learn it.  The bad part was that I was running short on time and running short on patience.

As I was buzzing around the kitchen, watching the time slip by, I knew I had to really pick up my pace.  That is when I accidentally hit the edge of the measuring cup holding the Agave syrup.

Oh, you know what is coming now don’t you?!  It was in slow motion as I watched the golden amber colored, silky, shiny, threads of sticky gooeyness, sail through the air.  I saw every bounce that the sturdy plastic measuring cup made on the floor.

One bounce – it sprayed the oven, second bounce – it splattered the fridge.  Bounce #3-5 peppered the floor with such force that it decorated the cabinets, my left shoe and left a Cindy Crawford amber colored mole on my left cheek.  Yep, that is JUST what I needed to deal with. lol

So Batch #4 – (after the kitchen hose down) started out beautifully,  it was blending, forming, holding shape…it quickly went into the freezer.  I still had some chocolate left in my piping bag so I tilted my head back and squeezed every last drop into my mouth…NOT, was tempting but I held onto my willpower!  It was starting to thicken, time was my enemy…”What to do, what to do with it?”  Chocolate Chips!  Look at my army of yumminess!

I did dishes AGAIN and then took my chocolate art forms out of the freezer.  They looked perfect!  I was so relieved.  I brought the cheesecake back out to complete the job.  I had made six forms.  The first one went on perfect.  The second one broke…gulp.  The last two went on just right.  Shew,  I let out a huge sigh of relief.  I needed a drink!  I walked across the floor (each step made that “sticky theater floor” sound)  I didn’t care, I was done!  I sipped my tea and ate my little bowl of chlorella nuts for a snack.  (you’ll see why I shared that with you soon enough)  I wiped my brow and smiled….so glad that was o….v….e…..rrrrr.

My thoughts fell off the radar as I looked at the cheesecake, ooh no…what was happening??  The first chocolate forms that I had made are falling over as they warmed to room temperature.  Say it isn’t so!!  I didn’t have any extra forms… My heart was crushed.   The more I tried to save them, the more they gave up the ghost.  I looked at the clock, I didn’t have enough time to make Batch #5.  What was I to do?  I was forced to shift gears.  I gently removed all the chocolate and put it in a bowl. lol My collection of chocolate globs was growing but I set it aside, I didn’t have time to deal with it just yet.

I loaded the top of the cake with strawberries.  I had dipped 3 strawberries in chocolate, back when I “thought” I had some extra chocolate to have as a snack a bit later.  No snack for you!  They saved my biscuits and became the center stage of the decor.

Raw Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake

It’s a far cry from what it was supposed to look like, but sometimes things just HAPPEN!

By the time I was done, my feet were sore, my hands were dried out and pruned up from washing so many darn dishes all day and my brain was numb.  I walked past the mirror, stopped to brush the hair out of my eyes and guess what was looking back at me?  A face with that Cindy Crawford golden agave mole on my cheek, a smear of chocolate on my forehead,  3 chocolate dots that splattered me at some point, a dab of chocolate on my chin and a ring of green all my lips from chewing up those chlorella nuts. lol  I was a site for sore eyes.  I almost took a self-portrait picture for you of it but I didn’t have the energy.

I apologize for having such a winded post here, it appears I had a lot to say about my adventure today and needed to vent it out.  Before I hit the send button, some of you may be asking what I did I do with all that chocolate that went south on me.  Well, this is what I did.  Back in March, I had made some Chocolate Banana Wraps.  I had them sealed up really well and they are still wonderful tasting to this very day.  So I look the wrap and laid it out.

I then took all the chocolate and placed it in the food processor.  I added raw oats, 1 tsp salt and about 1 cup of raw almond butter.  Oh yum!  I then took the batter and spread it out on the chocolate wrap. Then proceeded to roll it up. I wrapped it in plastic and chilled it in the fridge. When chilled and firm,  I sliced them into pinwheels.  You can decorate these however you wish.  They are soooo yummy!

So once again, no ingredients went into the compost pile!  I love raw foods!  You can have your “cake and eat too!” when you incorporate healthy desserts into your raw food diet.

So, that was my day…. have you ever had a day like this?