Event news for THE PROPOSAL! And also my favorite chocolate cake.
Friends! I have so many fun upcoming events for The Proposal, and I hope I see a lot of you! First, I'll be at the Texas Book Festival on October 27th and 28th, with events both days: on Saturday at 11:30 am I'll be doing a panel with Cyndey Rax, Alyssa Cole, and Sophie Jordan, and on Sunday at 1:30 pm Alyssa Cole and I will be in conversation about writing romance. They'll be selling The Proposal a few days early, so I'll be signing it there on both days! From there I go to Houston, for an event at the fantastic Blue Willow Bookshop on October 29th. I'll be back at home on pub day, at East Bay Booksellers in Oakland (fyi, you can order one of my books from them at any time and I'll sign it, just let them know!). November 1st, I'll be at Books, Inc. in San Francisco (Marina location), in conversation with Daniel Ortberg. On November 3rd, I'll be at The Ripped Bodice in Culver City, in conversation with Maureen Lenker from Entertainment Weekly (and here's a handy link to order signed copies of both of my books from them). Thursday, November 8th, I'll be at Politics and Prose (Wharf location) in conversation with Petra Mayer of NPR. Saturday, November 10th, I'll be at the Oberon Theater, in conversation with Roxane Gay (that link is to buy tickets, the book is included in the ticket price). And finally, on Tuesday, November 13th, I'll be at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, New York, in conversation with Ashley Ford. I am very excited for all of these events and the great people I'm talking with and to see lots of you, and I only wish I could go to every single one of your cities to see even more of you. And fyi, my upcoming events will always be on the events page of my website!
Here's a handy graphic for you with all the details:
(I am also VERY excited to eat tacos and barbeque while I'm in Texas)
It has been a real tough week for many of us, yet again, and I hope you're all taking as many opportunities as you can to take a little break from the world. Last weekend I locked myself in my apartment to work on Book 3 almost the whole time, but took a last minute break to get drinks with some great women, and it rejuvenated me. If you like to spend your feelings, these eye masks are a lovely way to do so; they are really cheap, especially considering how many are in the container, they feel and smell great, and they force you to sit still for a while while you have them on. I often put them on before bed and fall asleep with them on; they always dry up in the middle of the night, but they're really soothing while I'm trying to fall asleep (which has been harder and harder lately).
And while you relax with your eye masks on, read Dumplin' (if you've read it already, read it again). It's a fun, heartwarming, life affirming book about a fat girl who enters a beauty pageant, her love of Dolly Parton, and a whole lot more. It's going to be a movie soon, which I'm very excited about.
Also, you should be reading and relaxing while this cake is in the oven. I gave you all the recipe for this cake in my second of these newsletters, but there were a whole lot less of you then, so I'm sending it again, because it's my favorite chocolate cake recipe and we all need chocolate cake right about now. The original recipe is here, and I've made it a bunch of times so I have many notes. The first is that while this cake says it's for two ten inch layers, it works just fine as three eight inch layers (I don't know anyone who has two ten inch cake pans, come on). The second is that I more often make 2/3 of the recipe and make two eight inch layers (use 1 2/3 cups of flour, everything else is easily divisible by three). The third is this recipe also makes excellent cupcakes -- fill the liners about 2/3 full and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes (start checking after 20 minutes). The fourth is you should start the frosting as soon as the cake goes in the oven, because it needs plenty of time to cool before you frost the cake (something that I forget almost every time I make this cake). And the fifth is I doubled the frosting recipe, because it never makes enough for me, but you can cut it in half if you aren't as into frosting. Also, I've mistreated this cake a LOT in the past -- sometimes I've broken the layers while taking them out of the pan (let them cool ALL the way), I've frosted it terribly, etc. etc. and it's always delicious.
Double Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
For cake layers
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
For ganache frosting
2 pounds semisweet chocolate
2 cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
Equipment: two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans or three 8 by 2 inch round cake pans or cupcake pans and liners
For cake layers:
Preheat oven to 300 F and grease pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Chop the chocolate (I always use a bread knife to do this) and and combine it in a bowl with hot coffee. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature. (Or, if you're doing something fancy to decorate it after, put them in the freezer: Smitten Kitchen has a lot of great tips about cake decorating here!).
For the frosting:
Finely chop chocolate. In a medium to large saucepan, bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over medium low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved (you can also do this in the microwave, just do it on 50% power, and for about 30 seconds at a time). Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth. Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable; it's much easier to do this by putting the bowl in the fridge, and taking it out to stir every 10-15 minutes until it's at the right consistency. Spread frosting between cake layers and over the top and sides. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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