Why RocM you say?

I know. It's confusing. And probably a bit bizarre. But here was the exact train of thought that lead to Rococoa Miss:

I love all things Rococo (think: Marie Antoinette, fluffy, frilly, gold, pistachio macaroons) and I love all things food. So I thought why not Rococoa, which lead me to Rococoa Miss, like Swiss Miss! Tar-aa!

Ok in the interest of full disclosure... the fist part was totally ripped off of one of Nigella Lawson's chocolate cake names (see: 'Rococoa Cake', Feast, pp. 291), otherwise known as her Venetian Chocolate Cake (even better). So in honor of her... I dedicate my first official entry to making her fabulous fabulous cake! Nigella please don't sue me.

Now since I can't publish the full recipe, I can at least walk you through it, at least until someone comments that I legally can't do that either. Basically it is a chocolate-coffee sponge cake, sliced up and layered with a rich egg-mascarpone cream ('zabaglione' to us foodies), then topped off with a chocolate-espresso glaze. So we're talking about three steps here: 1. make chocolate cake, 2. make cream, and 3. slice, layer, chill and glaze (yes that's one step kiddo). But the best part comes at the end when you decorate with sliced pistachios and gold dragees. On top of the dark chocolate, they look gorgeous! And the messier it is the better, more 'rustic' looking it comes out :) Actually it just occured to me, it's exactly like tiramisu except with cake layers instead of lady fingers, which makes it richer and denser.

Ok again full disclosure I have to tell you: I used a cake mix.

WAIT before you round yourselves up into an angry mob (of 3) and send me mass hate mail, please remember I have a day job and an online store, a pile of laundry, a gym membership, and required tv watching time (because I am a lazy bum). So all that added up equals to quick-fix cake-mix. But for the record, let it be known I made the zabaglione from scratch (thank you very much).


So one day and a stack of washing-up later, the fruit of my labour...

By the way, if you ever do come across Nigella's Feast, flip right to the end, there's a part where she talks about final meals- I have no idea how she comes across this, but she looks up a prison's website where they have the inmates' final meal requests listed (again no idea). It's macabre but actually quite fascinating. Some people chose something sentimental, some just went for full-on indulgent feast. Me, I think I would probably ask for macaroni & cheese, the way I used to have it as a kid. Not that it's my favourite, I actually make it quite often now, but just for the sake of it. And maybe a pistachio macaroon on the side. I hardly ever read anything in cookbooks besides the recipes (I don't care how many times you've made this one, or if I can substitute the almonds), but Nigella's books are interesting, she really is a food writer. (Like I said, please don't sue me).


Well folks, this brings us to the end of this post. Nigella, I believe I have paid my dues. Much appreciated, thank you.


Ps. As you can see, I'm having way too much fun with the text formatting. Bear with me :)