The Best Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

This truly is the best chocolate cake EVER. It's topped with a silky smooth chocolate ganache frosting, and it takes just 10 minutes of hands on prep.

YIELD: 12 SERVINGS

 PREP TIME 10 MINUTES

 COOK TIME 25 MINUTES

 COOLING TIME 40 MINUTES

 TOTAL TIME 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS

CHOCOLATE CAKE

•  1 large egg
•  1 cup granulated sugar
•  6 ounces plain, vanilla, or chocolate yogurt (thicker Greek-style preferred, do not use diet, fat-free or light yogurt; sour cream may be substituted)
•  1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
•  1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•  1/2 cup brewed coffee, room temperature or warm*
•  1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
•  1 cup all-purpose flour
•  1 teaspoon baking soda
•  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

•  9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (about 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips)
•  3/4 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract**

INSTRUCTIONS

CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 9-by-9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine egg, sugar, yogurt, oil, vanilla, and whisk until smooth and combined. Add coffee, cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s), and whisk vigorously until batter is smooth and free from lumps.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and whisk vigorously until batter has just combined, about 1 minute.
4. Pour batter, which is a loose and fairly runny batter, into prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until top has set and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan completely, at least 30 minutes, before adding ganache or frosting the cake, or before slicing and serving. Unfrosted cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or store frosted cake in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1. Place chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 1 minute to soften chocolate; set aside.
2. In a small microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, heat the cream (I used half-and-half) on high power just until it begins to bubble and show signs of boiling, about 60 to 75 seconds.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let it stand about 1 minute. Whisk vigorously until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth and velvety.
4. Add vanilla or optional flavorings and stir to combine. Set bowl aside for about 10 minutes, allowing ganache to cool and thicken a bit.
5. Whisk mixture briefly before pouring all of it over the cake. Lightly smooth and spread the ganache with a spatula or offset knife.
6. Allow ganache to set up for at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving the cake; or speed this process up by placing pan in the refrigerator or freezer briefly.

5. NOTES

   
   

   *Note about coffee: The coffee does not make the cake taste like a coffee-flavored cake. Rather, it brings out and enhances the flavor of the cocoa powder and adds depth of flavor; I highly recommend coffee but use water if you must. The coffee can be any temperature other than piping hot; you don’t want to scramble the egg.

   **Or optionally use 1 to 2 tablespoons rum, bourbon, coffee-, orange-, raspberry-, chocolate-flavored liqueur.

Whales Help Explain the Evolutionary Mystery of Menopause

Like humans, female killer whales stop reproducing decades before the end of their lifespan. Grandmothers might show why.

PHOTOGRAPH: RON SANFORD/GETTY IMAGES


There's a rare human trait that doesn't often make it into debates about what makes our species unique: menopause. Humans are among just a handful of species where females stop reproducing decades before the end of their lifespan. In evolutionary terms, menopause is intriguing: how could it be advantageous for reproductive ability to end before an individual's life is over?

One possible answer: the power of the grandma's guidance and aid to her grandchildren. A paper in PNAS reports evidence that supports this explanation, showing that killer whale grandmas who have stopped reproducing do a better job of helping their grandchildren to survive than grandmothers who are still having babies of their own.
It’s Not All About the Babies

The engine of evolution is offspring. In simple terms, the more babies you have that survive, the more your genes are passed on, and the better the chance of the long-term survival of those genes.
ARS TECHNICA

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast.

But there are other ways to improve the long-term survival of your genes, and that's where evolution gets a little bit more complicated than just brute-force reproduction. If you invest in your siblings' children, or your children's children, you also improve the survival of the genes you share with them. Like every other survival problem that a species must overcome—food, safety, finding a mate—the dynamics of natural selection generate different solutions to the question of how to propagate your genes.

The "grandmother hypothesis" suggests that grandmas play a crucial role in the survival of their grandchildren, which obviously gives the grandmas' own genes a boost. But that doesn't explain why humans—along with killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, belugas, and narwhals—stop reproducing with decades left to live. Wouldn't it be better to just keep having babies of your own and help your grandchildren? Possibly not: in certain species, with certain family dynamics, evolutionary models show that it's more worthwhile for grandmas to invest all their resources in their grandchildren, rather than compete with their own daughters.

There's evidence from humans to support this: the grandchildren of post-reproductive grandmas get a survival boost. But there hasn't been any direct evidence of a post-reproductive grandma benefit in other species that have menopause—like killer whales. Similarly to humans, female killer whales stop reproducing around their late 30s or early 40s but can continue to live for decades after that point. Do killer whales also give their grandkids a boost?
Grandma Has Tricks Up Her Sleeve

Like humans, killer whales live in intensely social family groups. Also like humans, young killer whales need help finding food even after they've been weaned. This means an important role for grandmothers, who can share food with their grandchildren and also impart their decades of accumulated experience and wisdom by guiding their families to historically successful feeding spots.

To test whether post-reproductive killer whale grandmas improve the survival of their offspring, a group of researchers collected data on killer whale populations off the coast of Washington state and British Columbia. They tracked the interactions between hundreds of individual whales, recording births and deaths and controlling for the all-important environmental factor of salmon abundance.

Just like humans, whales can become grandmothers while they're still having babies themselves. Because they were interested in the effects of menopause, the researchers wanted to compare the effects of grandma whales that had stopped reproducing to those that were still having their own offspring.

The results showed that grandma whales played a significant role in the survival of their grandchildren. Survival rates dropped sharply for whales that had recently lost a grandmother—even adult whales of 15 or 20 years old. And this effect was more marked when the grandmother was no longer reproducing herself. It was also more extreme when salmon abundance was lower, suggesting that the ecological knowledge of grandmother killer whales is a crucial resource for their families.
Less Competition

This result ties in well with previous evidence on menopause in killer whales, which found that menopause meant a reduction in competition for resources between grandmas and their daughters.

Grandmothers with their own calves, the researchers suggest, might be more constrained in how much they're able to offer leadership to their family groups. And when they're lactating, they will simply need more food for themselves, reducing how much they can share with their grandchildren. Behavioral studies could help to figure out precisely how interactions change between breeding and post-reproductive grandmas.

With salmon populations declining, the researchers write, the role of grandmothers may become increasingly important in killer whale family groups. It's a neat example of a delicate ecological balance that we're only just starting to understand.

PNAS, 2018. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1903844116 (About DOIs).

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

100-Year-Old Theater Is Turned Into A Stunning Bookstore

There are some people who enjoy taking an active vacation. They may enjoy anything from snowboarding or skiing all the way to bungee jumping. It just seems as if they can’t get enough of that active lifestyle and they want to go home again as tired as possible from the trip they just took. The rest of us, however, find that a relaxing vacation is the best option available. If you are somebody who loves the thought of sitting on a beach or in a mountain resort and curling up with a cozy book, then we have something to add to your bucket list.

An Argentinian theater that is 100 years old was transformed into something that you are going to find amazing. Back in the day, it would be the host to ballet, opera, movie screenings and many other events that you would expect to find in a theater. It was even a local movie theater for some time but that all changed in the year 2000. A publishing company teamed up with an architect and they transformed it into something that is loved by people who love books.

Many of the elements that still make it feel like a theater are in place. Rather than sitting and enjoying a movie, however, you get to sit and enjoy a good book. You might even find that you are spending hours enjoying a book and you might not want to leave again.

Here is a shot of it shown on Instagram and you can see just how much it has to offer.

It is the El Ateneo Grand Splendid and truly a wonderful place to visit.

“If you love books this unique store is a must. The old theatre is for many years such an impressive bookstore that many visitors come to see the set up,” one traveler wrote.

Another also said that there were books available in English for those who were traveling.

There are options available for eating lunch while you are at the store as well. The stage is now a café, so it just adds to the charm.

Here is another view of the store.

There is nothing quite like enjoying a nice cup of coffee while catching up on the latest book.

If you are looking for the right time of year to visit Buenos Aires, try between the months of March and May or between September and November.

Here’s another option for those who love books. It is in Lisbon, Portugal and it is the Literary Man Hotel. You can stay and enjoy some of the greatest books history has to offer.

Source: Simple Most

The History of Wales

The History of Wales

Born on this day 1839 in Llangrannog,

Sarah Jane Rees, navigational and nautical trainer, a campaigner for the temperance movement, a supporter of women's rights. a poet and magazine editor.

Sarah Jane was the daughter of a sea captain and after leaving school decided to go to sea to work with her father. She also attended local navigational colleges and finished her nautical education by gaining a master's certificate in London, which enabled her to take command of sea-going vessels. Sarah Jane then returned to Wales, to establish a renowned school of navigation in Llangrannog. Among her other talents, Sarah Jane won the crown for her poetry at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod in 1865, competing under the bardic name of Cranogwen, taken from the River Crannog that runs through Llangranog. Her Eisteddfod victory brought her national fame and encouraged her to publish a book of poems entitled Caniadau Cranogwen, as well as editing the woman's journal, 'Y Frythones'.

In later life, Sarah Jane became a popular lay-preacher and established the South Wales Women’s Temperance Union in 1901, as well as founding a home for destitute girls in Tonypandy. She also remained actively involved in education by being a pioneer of the 'tonic sol-fa' method of music teaching.

Chilli, Coconut, Sweet Potato & Red Lentil Soup

This warming curry-style soup is packed with hearty goodness and velvety sweet coconut.

INGREDIENTS

• US
• METRIC

4 tbsp sunflower oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp chilli flakes, plus extra to garnish

600g sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

250g yellow split peas

1 x 400ml tin reduced fat coconut milk

1.5 litres vegetable stock, plus more if needed

METHOD

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and allow to soften over a low heat for 5 minutes. Add the ground coriander, cumin seeds and chilli flakes and fry for about 1 minute before adding the sweet potatoes and the split peas.
2. Pour over the coconut milk and stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes until tender.
3. Use a hand-held stick blender or food processor to blitz until smooth, adding more stock if needed. Garnish with a scattering of chilli flakes and serve.

The Snow Queen

She stood there dressed in cold white down
as soft winds swirled around her.
Her angelic face smiled
as she surveyed her wonderland.
Her time had come again
as it did once a year
to cleanse the world white,
making it seem bright
under the pale moon.
She surveyed her kingdom
and with the sweep of her hand,
she watched as the snowflakes fell again.
The smile on her virginal face
grew in its proportions
as the winter winds blew their deepest chill,
and then the Snow Queen knew
her season had last arrived.
The kingdom was hers again
before it came the time
when her sisters of spring, summer and autumn
would once more again
take their place on the throne.

By David Harris
Artist Alla Tsank

The Old Year

The Old Year’s gone away

To nothingness and night:
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night:
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun:
The last year he’d a neighbour’s face,
In this he’s known by none.

All nothing everywhere:
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they’re here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire,
In every cot and hall–
A guest to every heart’s desire,
And now he’s nought at all.

Old papers thrown away,
Old garments cast aside,
The talk of yesterday,
Are things identified;
But time once torn away
No voices can recall:
The eve of New Year’s Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

By John Clare.
Artist Nicholas Hely Hutchinson