Back to the Beginning: One Million Page Hits

 I wanted to pause today and take a moment to thank all the regular readers of Rock Recipes on the occasion of a little milestone in the life of this blog. Yesterday we reached our one millionth  page hit since the inception of the site.

Daily page hits on the site can now routinely reach into the thousands but on the first day I started the site had only 89 hits, all family and friends who I had emailed to tell that I was finally getting around to actually writing down some of the recipes they had been requesting for years. I wanted to include a photo with every recipe so the blog format seemed ideal for this purpose.

Since then, I have heard from many, many Newfoundlanders transplanted to almost every corner of the planet; from a young bride in  Texas who wanted to surprise her Newfoundland husband with a blueberry duff for a Christmas dinner far from home, to a couple in Brazil looking for a supply of  savoury to make traditional Newfoundland dressing to share part of their food culture with new friends in their adopted country.

Sometimes my busy life has left me without the time to post regularly but eventually I always get drawn back to posting new recipes that I've tried, adapted, or outright invented. In a few days I will complete a college business program that I've been enrolled in for the past 3 years and I will be transitioning into a new career and work life soon. Whatever new changes and challenges lie ahead, I will continue to contribute to this blog...I still have to eat right? I hope you all will continue to drop by and see what's cooking in my St. John's, Newfoundland kitchen.

As I did on the occasion of our 500,000th page hit I've reposted the very first recipe that ever appeared on Rock Recipes and still one of my favorite dessert inventions, Strawberry Screech Black Forest Cake.

Strawberry Screech Black Forest Cake


Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup soured milk
1 cup black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla flavouring

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Split cake into 4 layers.

Strawberry Filling

4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
¾ cup sugar

Combine in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Thicken with 1 ½ tbsp corn starch dissolved in ¼ cup cold water. Boil gently for 1 additional minute, stirring constantly. Divide in 2 portions and cool completely.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

1 1/2 pints whipping cream
6 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine and whip until soft mounds form.

Method:

Split individual layers of cake into two layers making four layers in total. Sprinkle each layer of cake with an ounce of Screech.. Spread a layer of vanilla whipped cream on the first cake layer, followed alternately with a layer of cake, a layer of strawberry filling, cake,then cream again finishing with the final layer of cake . Frost sides of cake with vanilla whipped cream and using a piping bag pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Fill the middle of the border with the remaining strawberry filling. Decorate the cake as desired with chocolate dipped strawberries and drizzle of chocolate ganache.

Ganache Glaze

1 cup chocolate chips
¼ cup whipping cream
Heat whipping cream to scalding but do not boil. Stir in chocolate chips and stir over low heat until smooth. You can dip strawberries in this glaze to garnish your cake as well as drizzling it over the cake for the final presentation. I use a piping bag with a number 3 writing tip to drizzle the ganache over the cake.

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