Just for Garhett...

We love to have our friend Garhett over for dinner because he always gushes over the food :o) Although, I must say that he favors Jeremy's desserts--can't blame the guy! Here are the ones he's requested....

We love you, Garhett!

Lion House Chocolate Sheet Cake

I know, it's really Texas Sheet Cake, but we got the recipe from The Lion House Cookbook, so we have to call it what they call it :o)

This is a Rich Family staple--the Rich family Jeremy grew up in. It is such a staple, in fact, that when the oven went out on the houseboat at Lake Powell, we couldn't just NOT have it for dessert--we actually fired up the BBQ grill and cooked it that way. Not my preferred choice of baking, but it worked! Love you, Riches...

Lion House Chocolate Sheet Cake

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening, softened
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk**
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
Dash salt

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons milk
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Grease and flour a 10X15-inch jelly-roll pan (we just use a large cookie sheet with high sides). Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour and sugar. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, mix together butter, shortening, cocoa, and water and bring to boil. Pour over flour and sugar mixture; mix well. Add buttermilk, soda, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, and salt; mix well. Pour into jelly-roll pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Five minutes before cake is done, prepare frosting. In a medium saucepan melt butter; add cocoa, vanilla, and milk, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and nuts. Mix well. Frost cake while hot.

**A tip on buttermilk: You don't have to buy it! Just add a tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then use the desired amount in any recipe!

Molten Lava Cakes

Jeremy has become famous for these ones in the last few months... They're "easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy", as Ethan would say, and they taste "divine", as Bennett would say. Here's the link to FoodNetwork for Paula Deen's best recipe ever, in our family's opinion!

Paula Deen's Molten Lava Cakes

• 6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
• 2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Grease 6 6-oz. custard cups (we use jumbo muffin tins instead). Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave, or in a double boiler. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes (I think Jer only cooks them for about 11-12 minutes). The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.

***Jer's note: make sure you don't cook these too long. They really should be runny in the middle--it's the lava! And they MUST be eaten with a hefty serving of vanilla ice cream on the side; they're really rich. Enjoy!