Mocha Cupcakes with Kahlua Cream Cheese Frosting

A few weeks back, I got the chance to make my Chocolate Stout Cake all over again.  I was super excited for this, as I absolutely loved the cake the first time I made it, and I was ready for any excuse to make it again. The cake was just so good that it definitely deserved the chance to be made once more, and I was thrilled when I got a legitimate excuse to do so.  A close friend of the family was graduating from Cooper Union, and I was placed in charge of bringing a chocolate cake for dessert for his graduation party.  Naturally, I went with the chocolate stout cake, knowing that it would be a success, and it definitely was!  

The cake needed to be large enough to feed 40 people, which meant doubling the original recipe.  You'd think that it would be obvious that if I was to double the amount of cake that I was making that I would also double the amount of ganache that I needed to make as well.  It seems obvious, but for some reason...I didn't do that. I ended up making way more ganache than I needed, more than double, because I was afraid that it just wouldn't be enough.  I obviously ended up with a ridiculous amount of ganache left over when I was finished covering the cake, and I didn't want to just throw it all away.  I ended up just putting all the ganache into a plastic bag and throwing it into my fridge, saving it for some future baking project.

Cappuccino Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I know I've written before that I really dislike drinking coffee but I think things are changing.  Seriously.  It's too early to really tell, but I don't know...it just might be possible.  I've always had this, tendency, we'll call it, of falling asleep in class...yes, I know, that's a bad habit.  I really just can't help it though.  It's been happening for years, ever since like...high school or something.  I've actually pretty much mastered the art of sleeping in class without getting caught.  There have only been a few instances where a professor has noticed.  There was one time in an art history class that I was taking where the professor saw me and kind of pointed the laser pointer thing in my direction, which forced me to wake up.  Everyone was obviously staring at me.  It was kind of awkward.  There was also this one time during OSHA training this summer that I kind of dozed off in the middle of the first 5-hour class and the instructor called me out on it.  That was kind of awkward too.  Other than that though, no one seems to notice.  Or that's what I tell myself at least.  It makes me feel better about my "habit."

However, I decided to change this semester.  I am actually going to stay awake in EVERY class. My plan is to drink coffee.  Brilliant idea, right?  The funny thing is...it's actually been working, and I'm slowly, VERY slowly beginning to tolerate drinking it.  I'm sure it'll be a very long time before I ever agree to any sort of "coffee-date" or decide to have coffee on a more regular basis, but I don't care.  I can stay awake in class now, and that's all I really care about.