Are You Trifling With Me?

We're having another homeschooling family join us for a New Year's Borscht Bash, wherein the gentlemen make wine, the children trade Chaotic cards and build a bonfire, and I get to try some new joint-decompaction and cranio-sacral techniques on my friend, who's a very long-suffering and patient guinea-pig.

In amongst all this hands-on activity there'll be a fair bit of eating in the form of beet borscht, chicken Caesar salad, and trifle.

I found the neatest tip for building chocolate cake when I was researching how exactly one does make a trifle. Unfortunately I can't remember where I found it, so I can't give credit where it's due, but I do want you to know this is someone else's trick. When you grease and flour the pan for chocolate cake, mix the flour with some cocoa, and then you don't get that white, patchy look when it comes out of the pan.

I know this is probably old news for the culinary genii, but it sure impressed me. It would have impressed me even more if I'd remembered to mix the cocoa and the rice flour before I dumped it in the pan, rather than after. Oh well. Hopefully my memory will kick in sooner next time.