Thanksgiving Chocolate Decadent Birthday Cake

     Page One Hundred Sixty-Two.

Yum!

     In my extended family, there are three birthdays in late October and November. So beginning a few years back, our Thanksgiving dessert table has three birthday cakes on it in addition to the usual assortment of pies and cookies. My sister, the Official Thanksgiving Hostess, began this tradition to honor two of her children and myself. She wanted to remember our birthdays while wayward family members were in town.
      Due to the volume of desserts, we each got a very small, eight inch, single layer cake of our choice. That way, the already crowded dessert table wasn't as overwhelming. Everybody was happy with this for a few years except me. I wanted enough cake so I could bring some home afterwards and munch for a couple of days. Plus, I wanted the best in Cleveland, which everybody knows is Corbo's Bakery in Little Italy. So starting a few years ago, I began bringing my own Corbo's cake: a 1/4 sheet, 1/2 white & 1/2 chocolate with white frosting. And it always said,
                                                 "Happy Birthday Uncle Jeremy"

Mmmm. Tasty!

     Everybody acclimated well to this until last year when I bought a 1/2 sheet. I don't know why I brought something so big. It wasn't a major birthday or anything like that. I just wanted the attention I guess. And even after I cut myself a massive slice to take home, there were tons left over, some of which ended getting tossed.

     This year, my niece's birthday actually falls on Thanksgiving day which is very nice. So she's requested that I don't bring another 1/2 sheet and also that we don't make a fuss over her brother's birthday which is in October anyhow. My Nephew, Lee, and I are perfectly okay with those requests. Lee simply doesn't care about things like that in the first place. And, I have ulterior motives.

With fruit it's tasty and healthy!

     Mere days prior to starting my weight-reduction diet last July, I discovered the best cake south of Heaven. It's Chocolate Decadent Cake from Gust Galluci's Italian Grocery Store on Euclid Avenue. I purchased a couple of slices of this stuff and then promptly went on a diet. Poor timing on my part, right? I guess I figured that after eating this cake, there's no reason to eat anything else ever again. This cake is so good it really is the last thing you might want to eat before dying. By September, I'd decided that it would be this year's birthday cake.. And a whole cake is round, four layer and 12 inches so visually it shouldn't be as overwhelming as what I typically bring.    
     I told my sister my new plan and she wasn't sure how it would go over. Once I described the cake in detail to her though, she was all for it. I knew that she'd feel about this baked delight the same way I do. So, I ordered it three weeks in advance with a day prior to Thanksgiving pick-up.
     If you're going to blow your diet, make it worth it. And this crud is.