Dark Chocolate Stout Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream. If this sounds even the least bit appealing read on.

It all started with a trip to the Enoch Pratt Library, Central Branch location of course. After checking out my usual 5 to 6 cookbooks I arrived home, poured myself a glass of lemonade and marched upstairs to my bedroom. After a few snuggle moments with my dog I was ready to tackle the big decision… which book to read first. I rarely take out dessert cookbooks. Everyone has to eat dinner so I can justify the time spent on a new savory recipe but dessert seems like a luxury.  But there at the top of my pile was a particular cookbook that made my heart all a flutter.  On the front cover was a picture of a rich, almost black in color cake enrobed in a beautiful white frosting. I had to make this cake and I knew I would be obsessing over it until I did. Not surprisingly, this chocolate indulgence was going to require a whole bunch of hard to find (and costly) ingredients not to mention many spare hours. Yes a great weekend project unless of course you are obsessed. I thought to myself, tomorrow I will need to leave work early (emergency at home of course) explain to the dog he was going to get a short walk (bribe him with a pigs ear) and make dinner reservations instead of preparations. At this point let us fast forward to the “first Bite”.  It was like a dream come true. Finally after many attempts of trying to make the perfect chocolate cake I won the battle. I felt like singing the Rocky song while running up a huge set of stairs. To think I almost missed out on this masterpiece. Had I used sensible thinking I would not have left work early, I certainly would not have spent the money on an experiment, or worst of all recognized that the last thing my husband and I needed to be doing was devouring a large chocolate cake between the two of us.  Today I am grateful for the simple joys in life and am reminded of the importance of taking a chance in life. I look forward to my next new adventure!