happy birthday to you

This Happy Birthday Cake Pan might be the coolest thing to hit confection in years. Okay, so it's a little pricey at $39.50, but I might have to overlook that fact, and scoop one up from Delight.com today. I have a special someone who is having a birthday very soon, and this silicon cake mold will make a great presentation.

Who needs frosting, when you can say it with giant block letters made of cake?

Now all I need are some cake recipes! Here is an interesting one below: spicy and chocolately!


Boca Negra Chocolate Chipotle Cake

yield: makes 8 servings
active time: 2 hrs
total time: 3 1/4 hr

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing ramekins
• 1 cup sugar plus additional for dusting
• 6 medium dried chipotle chiles (1 ounce)
• 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 10 oz Valrhona semisweet chocolate (56%) or fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Butter ramekins and dust with sugar, knocking out excess.

Toast chiles in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs, then soak chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Purée chiles in a mini food processor or a blender, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid as needed to form a paste. Force paste through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Set aside 1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste and freeze remainder for another use.

Bring juice and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over chocolate in a large bowl, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter and stir until melted.

Add eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition, then stir in chile paste, flour, and salt. Divide among ramekins [or add to your new Happy Birthday Mold] and bake in hot water bath, uncovered, until just firm and top is starting to crust, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer ramekins [or Happy Birthday Mold] with tongs to a work surface and let stand 2 minutes.

Unmold warm cakes directly onto dessert plates (they will be difficult to move once they adhere). [But not so with your Happy Birthday Mold! Because it's silicon. Yay.]