Mandy's Birthday Dinner/Fall Feast; Double-Caramel Turtle Cake

This past Sunday, Mandy and her housemates hosted the most ridiculously excessive, delicious dinner party in celebration of her birthday and fall. The dinner featured a cornucopia of autumn flavors, many organically grown, hard apple cider, good friends, and a hilarious game of Taboo. I think the highlight of the evening was a banjo and spoons concert by Eric and Alex...but this is not a blog about folksy music. So. On to the food!

We had, to wit:
Appetizers: toasts with either homemade pesto (from Es's own basil plant) or blue cheese and smoked salmon

First course: Veggitastic pumpkin soup

Dinner: Roast turkey, stuffing made with corn bread, Italian bread, and saltines (some with oysters, some without--this apparently was a Paula Dean recipe, but we're going to pretend it wasn't. For so many obvious reasons...), mashed potatoes with chives, sweet spaghetti squash, roasted turnips and beets, vegan sweet potato-pear-raisin-I'm missing something salad, crustless eggplant quiche (with or without tomato), green bean casserole, wilted winter greens dressed with a balsamic reduction, and wheat rolls. I think that's all. But that was a lot of dishes to keep straight in mind head. Sorry if I missed any! There was SO much deliciousness, they made me take home 3 tupperwares of leftovers. And I didn't even make a dent!

Oh yes. There was also a pork shoulder they had been smoking since early that morning, but that was being obstinate and was not ready in time for dinner (smoker pictured here...they ended up having to finish it up in the oven). Fortunately, the pork WAS done in time for me to put together my leftovers plates, which meant that today I have a chipped pork sammie with cranberry bbq sauce and pickled red onion. BEST lonely lunch at my desk ever.

After a brief respite to make some room in our tummies, we had dessert. I made a double caramel turtle cake and Grant brought an apple/berry pie and red velvet cake. We made quick work of them all. But guys. I baked. I don't bake, but this was a special occassion. And it was really, REALLY yummy. The chocolate cake was uber rich and chocolatey and moist, and the frosting/caramel/pecan combo made it even better. I think the base chocolate cake would work in lots of forms...I'm thinking of a peanut butter variation, and maybe a peppermint one for the holidays. Because I'm an idiot, I layered the cakes wrong and ended up with a big crack in the cake, but no one seemed to mind--aesthetics don't hold a candle to yum!

And speaking of candles:

Believe me when I say I ate it all, it was famously delicious, and I was totally still full at 9:30 am the next day. And we are already in discussions for a Winter Fest. Which I suppose means I better either start cutting back on my cals now, or buy a larger pair of pants, in anticipation...

Happy Birthday Mandy!!!