T Stands For Guilt

Last Tuesday was Valentine's Day. I placed a maple bacon pork loin in the slow cooker quite pleased with myself that we'd have a very nice, Valentine's dinner. I'm happily reading and commenting on the T Stands For posts. I'm salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs as I view cakes with gorgeous, piped frosting roses, strawberries glistening like heart-shaped, rubies, a berry bejeweled cake, and assorted other goodies and then it hits me. Guilt.

While I had a nice dinner prepared and an afternoon mostly to myself, I never got beyond thinking about dessert. Oh No! By now, it was rather late in the afternoon to start baking an elaborate dessert. Pawing through the pantry, I found a boxed, chocolate cake mix. What could I do to make it not look and taste like a boxed, chocolate cake mix?

Help, me, Betty (Crocker)
Help, help me Betty (sung to the tune of the Beach Boy's Help Me Rhonda)

While there were some delicious recipes to transform a boxed cake mix into extraordinary, I didn't have any of the necessary ingredients on hand, and I was running out of time. All I had as an extra was a bag of mint chocolate chips.

I baked the cake with the addition of a teaspoon of vanilla extract according to package directions in a bundt cake pan. When it was cooled, I melted the mint chocolate chips with a couple of tablespoons of butter to make a half-assed ganache. A few candy sprinkles and voilà, a not so ordinary chocolate cake.

Now, truth be told, the feelings of guilt were wholly on me. Himself or the girlies would never complain if there wasn't a fancy dessert or no dessert at all. (Well, there might be a few good-natured grumblings if there were no cookies in the cheap hotel) But after seeing all the cakes and goodies online, I felt they deserved a blue plate special dessert. I treated myself to cake and a cup of Bigelow's English Teatime from the blue and white mug Ma gave to me. A friend of hers had given her four blue and white mugs. Two with flowers and two with butterflies. When I first got married and was setting up house, she gave me the mugs knowing that blue is my color and also that she would have a pretty mug for tea or coffee when she came to visit.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang are up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.