Love (by chocolate)

We love, love, love Tim and Amy Hedden and their seven kids.

Two nights ago, we said goodbye to them.  They left this morning for the States, for their son Luke's wedding, and the Rupps will not be living in this city when they return.  It breaks all of our hearts.

You know those people in your life with whom you share the same values?  Who don't mind your quirks because they have many of the same?  Who hang with you for 5 hours and everyone agrees it seems like just a few minutes have passed?  Who help themselves to whatever is in your fridge and who's visits you don't tidy your house for?  You know how much it STINKS to say goodbye to them?  It stinks like the fermented tofu that our neighbors fry twice a week.  It stinks like the skunks that used to roam our old Kentucky home. 

I've smelled it before and I'll smell it again.  It is the price of love.

So, we squeezed into our dining area and stuffed ourselves with meat and potatoes, and then Amy and Miriam and Laura and I squeezed into my tiny kitchen and baked Love By Chocolate Cake, which we were leery about.  A tablespoon of curry and absolutely no flour?  I had clipped it from a recent copy of Midwest Living, and I don't often get an excuse to use an entire box of American baking chocolate.  I'll tell you what, though, no matter how much fun we had stirring it up, nothing compares to how much fun we had eating it.  Oh my word.  There truly are no words to describe this cake.

LOVE BY CHOCOLATE CAKE
2 sticks butter, cut up
1 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 C sugar
1 C cocoa
1 T curry powder
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup shredded coconut
9 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 C heavy cream

Butter a 10" springform pan. Line the bottom of pan with wax paper.
Melt butter and chocolate chips in medium saucepan over low heat.
Mix sugar, cocoa, and curry powder in a large bowl; add eggs and whisk until well blended. Whisk in chocolate/butter mixture. Stir in coconut. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool on rack. Remove from pan. While cake cools, prepare ganache by placing bittersweet chocolate in medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil, and pour over chocolate. Stir until shiny. Top cake with ganache.

I will make this cake again, many, many times, and every time, I will close my eyes and remember the last supper we had in our shared city, the Heddens and the Rupps.  Love, love, love (by chocolate).

Top left: Andrew, Luke, Amy, Laura, Tim, Miriam, Isaac, Natalie (missing: Jake with wife, Rachel; Luke's fiance, Rachel)