Kitty jail and chocolate cake

Sweet Pea is already a criminal.  Mark said he would be proud if it weren’t for that girl that she mauled.

Wait, let me back up.  We took her to our vet yesterday for a wellness checkup, spay confirmation, and rabies vaccine.  I picked the absolute worst appointment time, as we happened to be there when Angry Cat’s cousin was in an exam room, and another client was leaving with a fairly unhappy cat.  So even though Sweet Pea should have been primed for the Worst Vet Visit Ever, she was pretty compliant when it was her turn.  She got some blood drawn and received an x-ray of her hips because she limps slightly (turns out she is missing the ball and socket connection in her right hip and the associated femur is shortened!  Could be from surgery or a birth abnormality).

Before administering the rabies and distemper vaccines, the vet attempted to shave a small spot on Sweet Pea’s belly so she could find the spay scar to be sure.  Unfortunately the clippers turned our sweet little kitty into a tornado of teeth, and the vet tech was on the business end.  Since the rabies vaccine was still in the syringe and we have no prior vaccination paperwork for the cat, the vet is legally required to hold her for ten days for observation. *facepalm*

We left the vet’s office somewhat in shock, without our shiny new cat.  So I did the only thing I could under the circumstances — I baked a cake.

This is adapted from Warren Brown’s chocolate pound cake from his CakeLove book.

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (as always, I used Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa)
• 2 tbsp turbinado sugar
• 1 tsp potato starch
• 1/4 tsp vanilla powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp espresso powder (just a hint of coffee flavor can ruin a dessert for me; you will not taste coffee in this cake)

Liquid ingredients:

• 4 oz sour cream
• 3/4 cup + 4 tbsp whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Creaming ingredients:

• 8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tbsp heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350F, with the rack in the middle.  Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the liquid ingredients in another.  In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs (individually, fully incorporating each one) and the cream at low speed.

Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, add the dry and liquid ingredients alternately in 3-5 additions each.  Work quickly and don’t wait for everything to be fully mixed between additions.  Stop the mixer and make sure everything on the sides and in the bottom is churned up, then mix at medium speed for about 20 seconds so the batter becomes uniform.

Pour into a greased 12-cup Bundt pan, level with a spatula, and bake for 50-60 minutes until the center no longer jiggles and a toothpick or skewer comes out cleanish.  (When the cake cools, it will have the typical poundcake crust on the outside, and the inside will be super-dense and moist.)

What’s a cake without frosting?  So I made some cream cheese frosting and served it on the side.  (I actually bought the cream cheese and mascarpone when we went to Whole Foods a few days ago for chorizo and had to occupy ourselves while they made a batch for us.  Nice strategy, Whole Foods — we bought a LOT more than chorizo!)  This recipe comes from Joy of Baking:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Combine the cheeses until smooth.  Add the vanilla and powdered sugar, mix until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  Gently add the whipped cream to the cheese blend in several additions, then refrigerate for an hour or two if it needs to set up.

The verdict?  Overwhelming approval.  Duh.  This should last us a few more days, and then I will bake something else to distract us from the remaining six days of the kitty-shaped hole in our life.