Chocolate cake with mocha cream filling.

This was my first attempt at making cake from scratch and boy with all the steps it was a bit scary.  It was very time consuming as each part of the cake had to sit for a day. Overall we had to wait until the third day to finally dig in.  The cake was very rich, but delicious.  My only complaint is that I didn't pick up on any of the "mocha" flavor.  I adapted the recipe just slightly, replacing the rum with coffee which I thought would give it more of the mocha flavor.

Recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mocha-Layer-Cake-with-Chocolate-Rum-Cream-Filling-106023

French onion soup

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It amazes me that something so simple can taste so delicious. I've only ever had restaurant quality onion soup and to be honest I've found them all to be a bit on the salty side.  Made with lots of fresh thyme, swiss gruyere and white wine this came out amazing. Every ingredient really did their part.  The thyme and wine added another dimension to the soup that I am otherwise not familiar with, while the bread and cheese pulled the entire dish together.

Recipe from epicurious.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Onion-Soup-with-Loads-of-Thyme-and-Giant-Gruyere-Crostini-351769.