by Pat Amsden
Turn batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
When done a toothpick can be inserted about 1 1/2 inches from the edge and emerge almost clean.
Cool cake on rack. It will fall slightly when it cools.
Remove from pan. You can put it on a cardboard circle of the same size.
The cake can now be wrapped and stored in the refrigerator for 3 days or freezer for up to three months. Bring to room temperature to decorate or serve
Glazing the Torte
Melt the chocolate, corn syrup and butter together. Cool glaze.
Put a quarter of the glaze in a separate bowl. Take the torte and level the top with cake knife. Cover with glaze in a thin layer and fill any cracks. Refrigerate for about ten minutes.
Rewarm the remaining glaze while melting the white chocolate and milk chocolate in separate bowl.
Glaze should be 90 degrees approx. or 32 degrees C
Put cake on turntable. You can use the turntable from your microwave for this. I do.
Pour glaze in center of torte and then spread as you rotate the turntable with spatula. It should pretty well cover the cake without much effort on your part. There will be over-flow though so scoop up excess from edges and put in center of torte. You can use extra to cover any cracks as well.
Drizzle white and milk chocolate randomly over top of cake and drag stick, toothpick, skewer or whatever you have on hand that will work to create marbled pattern.
Press toasted almonds against glazed sides before glaze dries.
Store and serve at room temperature
This one does take some time and effort but the dessert is worth it
Triple Chocolate Muffins
3 cups flour
3 TBSPS cocoa
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup each, white, dark and milk chocolate chips
11/2 cup brown sugar packed lightly
11/4 cup milk
2 eggs
12 cup melted butter
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together.
Mix chips and brown sugar together.
Add to dry ingredients.
Mix milk, eggs and melted butter together.
Make a well in center of dry ingredients and add the wet.
Mix dry and wet ingredients together well.
Fill muffins 3/4 cup full in muffin pan with baking cups in them. There will be 15 – 18 good size muffins.
Cook for 12 - 18 minutes.
This would be a good breakfast muffin served with fresh fruit and an omelette. I wouldn't frost them as they are quite rich.
Chocolate Truffles
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dark, semi-sweet, milk or white chocolate
Flavoring to taste
Truffle shells if available
Melt chocolate and whisk in heavy cream (whipping cream). It should be a pudding consistency when finished.
I currently am finding the truffle shells I get from my local chocolate supplies shop are unusable because part of the shell is paper thin and can't be removed from packaging without breaking but there's no question that if you can get them it's the easiest way of doing truffles. Just put the truffle mixture in a frosting sleeve with a plain tip and fill the truffles. The truffle mixture should be luke-warm to cool when you do so.
Then melt some chocolate and cool to luke-warm. Using a chocolate loop gently roll filled truffles in chocolate covering then put on foil lined plate and refrigerate.
If this is not an option cool truffle mixture until solid. Roll into balls and roll truffle ball in cocoa mix or coconuts, crushed nuts or whatever your heart desires.
It may take a little practice but I haven’t met a person yet who doesn't love truffles.
If you enjoyed this book and would like to write a review please go to www.amazon.com
For more information about the author go to www.patamsden.com
Book Crazy Reviews said
A great read, I was hooked from the start.
Liz Terlac said
Lost In Vegas is a charming book. There are plenty of twists & turns for fans of novels with a romantic flair. The author does a great job of keeping the plot moving & keeping the readers' attention. Well done.
Excerpt from "Lost In Vegas":
Lips, lips pressing down on hers. Kate's eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking into soft, brown eyes that were liquid pools of concern. Kind eyes. Without thinking her arms went up around his and she found herself responding to him. Applause burst out from the bystanders around her.
"Stop!" she cried. At least she tried to stop him but she couldn't get the words out as his mouth descended upon hers. She pushed him away opening her eyes once more. "Just, just," she struggled to say something and burst into tears...
"It's OK," her rescuer said reassuringly putting a strong arm around her. "You're going to be fine. An ambulance is on the way."
"No," she shook her head desperately. "That's the last thing I want."
"Really, it's all right," her tormenter said.
"But I don't want to be saved!"
"You're upset. That's understandable," her rescuer/tormenter said comfortingly. "You never expected to be hurt, to fall."
"Yes, yes I did," she said. "You weren't supposed to save me!"
The man frowned at her, lines creasing a smooth forehead. He looked like a grown up version of Ken come to life. Only Ken had brown hair and this guy had dirty blonde.
Oh lord, no wonder her life was such a mess. Here she was trying to kill herself and she was thinking about how her rescuer looked. She tried to stand up.
"I'm fine. You can all leave now." It might have been more convincing if her voice didn't wobble slightly. Throwing herself off Vegas's version of Venice's famous Rialto Bridge had seemed a good way to end it all. At three AM even the Venetian hotels' version of the famous bridge and square was decidedly deserted. Her actions, however, had drawn a surprising number of people out of thin air.
She looked at the assembled crowd in despair. It was a disparate group of late night revelers drawn together by tragedy averted, in this ersatz version of Venice. They wore everything from jeans and shorts to evening gowns and loads of bling. Vegas, at the best of times, was not a place that thrived on reality. And this was far from the best of times.
In fact it could safely be said to be the worst of times for her. And it was steadily getting worse. Although, how it could when you were trying to kill yourself in the first place was debatable. How pathetic that she couldn't even manage to do that properly?
The crowd shifted, murmuring amongst each other. Clearly they wanted to stay and see what unfolded. She felt tears coming to her eyes.
"Alright, the ambulance is on the way now. Everything's under control.
If you'd like to move along..." Look alike Ken spoke calmly, a voice of authority and listening to him the crowd exchanged glances, murmured to each other and began to disperse. She supposed she should be grateful. She wasn't.
Now that she looked more closely she could see her rescuer was not just a Good Samaritan come to her rescue, he wore a security guard uniform. "Let me get you a blanket."
"You don't have to."
He pulled a blanket out from a bag of supplies that had miraculously appeared on the ground before her. "I want to."
"I guess this type of thing happens all the time?"
"Not really," he said easily.
She felt herself start to shiver even as she protested that she really didn't need a blanket, didn't need any help.
"Of course not," he said lightly. "I can see everything is going perfectly for you."
She groaned. "You don't understand. I've messed up. I, everything I've ever done."
"So"
His calm, cool acceptance infuriated her. "I just thought it would be easier to end it. To – to…" Her legs wobbled like spaghetti. She started to shake even as
he put the towel around her, drew her to his chest warming her, comforting her. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I just… " she broke down crying uncontrollably.
***
JT held her close, feeling unaccountably protective of her. Oh, not just in the line of duty protectiveness, not just bird with a broken wing protective. There was something about those big, moss-green eyes when she'd looked up at him, at the lost loneliness he saw in them. "It'll be alright," he murmured pulling her closer. "You'll see. Lots of people lose money in Vegas."
"It's not that," she protested. "I …" once again she broke down into tears.
"The ambulance will be here any minute."
"No, no. You have to stop the ambulance," she said wildly.
"It's just a precaution," he said. "Routine."
"I can't afford it!"
"Your insurance will cover it."
"I don't have any," she said brokenly.
He shrugged. "A family member then."
She shivered. "There's no one else."
He looked at her more closely. True she was waterlogged and shivering but she didn't look like your average street person. Five foot nothing, with mahogany brown hair and feather light, even with clothes weighted down with water, she looked – like heaven to JT. Which he had to tell himself, was distinctly unprofessional. And he was a professional.
"I don't believe you," he said easily. "Besides it's nothing to worry about tonight. You'll see. In the morning everything will look better."
She looked at him doubtfully. "I suppose," she said sighing. "You must think I`m an idiot."
"Not at all," he said gallantly.
"So can you call off that ambulance?"
"Just give me a number I can call."
"Why," she said, looking up at him with the biggest moss-green eyes he`d ever seen. Momentarily he felt his heart jump in his chest and snuggled her closer.
"I need to make sure youre OK…Its my job."
***
"Oh."
Now what? She'd checked out of her hotel room. Her boyfriend had already abandoned her. She had no money. She tried batting her eyes at him. "You can trust me."
He shook his head. "I need more than that sugar."
She lost it then, crying uncontrollably. "OK, OK, I dont have anywhere to go but running up a big hospital bill isnt going to help anything. It`s just going to make everything worse. Ohhh…"
***
Which was when an ambulance crew arrived. JT knew if he had an ounce of sense in his body he'd turn her over to them and be on his way. But for whatever reason he felt responsible for her. He turned towards the approaching paramedics now. "She's a bit shaken up but otherwise fine."
"You sure about that?" asked Dan.
"Sure as you ever can be," he said easily.
The paramedic shrugged. "OK, you want to sign off on it she`s all yours."
He signed quickly and watched as they left.
A shiver of relief went through her. "You won't regret this.
"I'm not so sure of that," he said sighing and pulled out his cell phone. "I need to make a few phone calls. The hotel will comp you a room for the night."
"Thank you," she said brokenly.
"You'll see," he said smiling at her. "Everything's going to look better in the morning."
Uh-huh. Still she had a feeling he wasn't going to let her go unless she agreed. She nodded. "I' sure you're right."
"I know I am," he said easily, opening the door to the security cart they used to patrol the ‘streets' inside the Venetian. "Jump in. I'll give you a ride."
***
Silently she began making up a list of alternative places to end it all. The Eiffel tower would be tragically ironic. And who was to say if it was accident or design if she threw herself off the ride at the Stratosphere. It always looked as if someone was going to fall from it anyway. There was the volcano at the Mirage. She was starting to feel better already.
Before she knew it she was back in a room at the Venetian. This one wasn't as grand as the one she'd checked into a day ago with her boyfriend. Instead of overlooking the ‘streets' of Venice it overlooked a grey wall. What had possessed her? She was not the type of person to consider suicide. Normally. But life had been anything but normal lately.
"I'll be up to check on you tomorrow."
"Afraid I'll skip without paying my bill?"
"It`s on the house, remember? I just want to make sure you're alright?"
"Bet you were a boy scout growing up," she said, irritated.
"Sea Cadet," he said neutrally.
"In Vegas?"
He laughed. "Nobody grows up in Vegas."
"Guess not," she said ruefully. "So you're from the east coast? Or the West?"
He shrugged. "Stick around and I'll tell you over coffee tomorrow."
"What time?"
"How's 10:00 sound?"
"I'll see you then," she said smiling. "And I am grateful."
Just not so grateful she wanted to stick around and hear Boy Scout's life story.