I made a Mississippi Mud cake today to celebrate my birthday on Sunday. I took pictures of the cake batter and of the two gorgeous layers I made. However in the process of looking at these pics I realized my oven is filthy. I had no idea I had ever cooked such splattery stuff, but there it was all over the place. But believe me when I say that the batter was silken. It looked a lot like chocolate mousse to be honest and if anyone ever wondered what silk might be if it was edible, this batter was it. Super easy recipe from Cooking Light a few years back. I took two liberties with the recipe: I made two layers instead of one and I used sour cream instead of the called-for buttermilk. For years I had always added vinegar to reg. milk for the old "oops this called for buttermilk" solution. Since I always have sour cream this worked out great. I put marshmallows between the layers and then made the yummy icing. I vaguely remember my mom letting me make this cake for my aunt & uncle when they came to visit us when I was in 7th grade. I think I ended up eating half the icing I made and felt extremely ill afterward. Well when something consists of powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa and butter I guess I deserved to feel ill!

We got a big box of Halloween goodies from my mom today. I hung up the spooky hand towels and set a scary cat version of a Russian stacking doll. I am waiting to see how long it will take Martin to notice. Mom also sent Henry some adorable things, including a green knitted frog hat. The hat made Henry's casual Friday attire go from ho-hum to Rib-bit!