Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cake with White Chocolate Candy Cane Ganache

Crushed candy canes give this rich chocolate devil’s food cake a seasonal flavor. This intense chocolate cake has deep chocolate flavor with a moist fine textured crumb. Omit some candy canes in some of the frosting for a smooth white finish on the outside.

Lately Far East Movement’s songs have been everywhere. For some, it may seem like they were an overnight success. Not so. In fact, Far East Movement has been around for eight years…during which one of its members went to law school. Yeap, law school.

I’ve known James [Prohgress] since I took piano lessons from his mother in elementary school. My parents let me quit once they realized I had no musical bone in my body. I thought that James might have suffered from the same musical disability since I never once saw him play piano or do anything musical until we were at UCLA and he was performing. But really, I should have known better – his parents are both in music. Some things are just in your blood...

James explains his path from law to music in the Q&A below. 

This was a special one...! This bridal shower was in honor of one of my closest girlfriends, Emily. Generally bridal showers are pretty easy to shop for...lingerie, aprons, crystal vases, silver frames. Done, simple. I personally don't think that a girl can have enough of any of those gifts, but I wanted to do something special, unique and different for my dear friend. So, I came up with this dessert bar. 

A few days ago, I was standing in line waiting for my morning coffee at a local coffee shop. It was bright and airy, one of those wonderful breezy California summer mornings that never fails to make me smile.

As I stood there blissed out, I could hear two girls talking. My ears grew itchier as I started to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation. The two girls looked to be in college, trendy and from what I could hear, very opinionated. They were murmuring between themselves, but loud enough for me to hear that the topic of their discussion was…me. They had seen me on MasterChef, and were talking about how they thought it was dumb how a lawyer could quit her job to pursue food. “So stupid, who would do that…who does she think she is?”

with Tracy, Alejandra & Adrien at LA Street Food Fest

Following our Whitney catfish elimination challenge, came the third team challenge. We packed ourselves into vans and headed out. As usual, all of us in the van yelled guesses at where our challenge would take us...Disneyland, Griffith Park, Hollywood Bowl. However, I am proud to say I was the first person who yelled out the right guess: The London, West Hollywood. Well, actually I didn’t really guess it right but really saw the golden sign first and yelled out “We are going to The London, The London I say” the loudest. =)