Let Them Eat Cake

This is the cake that I make every summer for our family reunion for which I usually make an oblong one, so as not to have to take it out of the pan since it's rather fragile. I was happy with the way this round version turned out with no craters or breaks. Letting it cool before I took it out of the pan helped save it I'm sure.

So what kind of cake is it you wonder. The cake part is dark chocolate and the icing is also chocolate. For the family reunion, I put caramel icing on it, because this is my brother Roger's favourite. I wasn't sure if I was going to make this cake or just brownies. I'm trying to use my oven as little as possible to keep my flat as cool as possible for as long as possible. We've had a couple of mini storms this week because the atmosphere was too muggy or 'bochornoso' as we say. Of course, for both storms I was outside. Thankfully I don't think the lightning was too close, although there were quite a few strikes in the province of Madrid. I've always hated storms! 

Anyway, back to the cake. Yesterday in the afternoon, we got a nice wind from the North (no storm) and things started cooling down, so I decided yes I could turn on the oven for more than 10 minutes. My friend Chris has a meeting for lunch tomorrow and wanted a dessert. The title of my post says I'm not eating any of the cake.  I've got some leftover frosting though!

That north wind howled all night long obliging me to close the windows that look onto the street - that and a couple who were under my windows talking until the wee hours. Noise is one of the annoying things about living in a city. But when I'm in the country crickets and frogs keep me awake, and it's usually darker there too.

One of my great-nieces graduated on the 7th. Here are a couple of photos she shared on facebook. Kathy, if you're reading this, these are the ones who lost their father a few months ago in what I assume was an accident at work.

And here she is with her younger sister and mother, my niece.

I think we're going to have another cool night. Praise be! Tropical nights are no fun. Hope everyone has a good week. I suppose this will be an interesting week in Spain.