El Día de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, is an ancient holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans that honors those who have died.

The holiday is usually celebrated over two days, November 1st and 2nd, and it’s believed that over these two days it’s easier for the souls of the dead to communicate with those still living. A common symbol of the holiday is the skull, and celebrants use sugar and chocolate skulls to give as gifts to both the living and the dead, usually inscribed with the name of a deceased loved one on the …read more

It is once again German Chocolate Cake Day! German chocolate cake is traditionally a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a gooey coconut-pecan frosting.

Oddly enough, the cake didn’t originate in Germany. The name actually comes from Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate, the brand used by a Texas homemaker in 1957 who used the chocolate to make her “German’s Chocolate Cake.”
The possessive “s” was dropped by General Foods, who subsequently distributed the recipe, and became the German Chocolate Cake we all know and love today.
Check out David Lebovitz’s amazing German Chocolate Cake Recipe, where the flickr picture up top …read more

One of the things that remind me of summer like nothing else is a cone of rocky road ice cream.

I had my first taste of it as a kid when my family went on a road trip to Indiana to visit relatives for the summer. It was the most amazing thing ever – chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, chunks of fudge, and nuts. From then on, whenever we had the opportunity to order our own flavor of ice cream, that was my first choice.
According to Wikipedia, the flavor was created in March 1929 in California by William Dreyer:
“…when he …read more

After a round of voting, Dum-Dums, the perfectly portioned little suckers, have announced two new sucker flavors for the coming year: Strawberry Shortcake and Banana Split.
The new flavors are pretty self-explanatory, and I have to admit I was pulling for the Strawberry Shortcake and Chocolate Caramel, so I’m glad at least one of them made it.
The Dum-Dums site has a neat little history page about the suckers, including a bunch of fun little facts. Now, I found this very amusing (it goes without saying that I’m easily amused):
Chocolate was the tenth sucker flavor added in 1955, but it was …read more

It’s National White Chocolate Day! Though I’ve mentioned many times that I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate, I do accept that it has its good points – where would tuxedo strawberries be without it? It also contains no theobromine, so it’s acceptable to eat by those with medical or religious restrictions.
White chocolate actually didn’t hit the candy scene until the 1950’s when it was introduced to the US by Mars, who originally saw it made in Europe in 1954. It was then popularized by Nestlé in their Alpine White Chocolate bar, which contained white chocolate and chopped almonds. …read more

With the discovery of radium by Marie Curie in 1898, many people began to tout it as a revolutionary health find. It was used by health spas in baths, treatments and procedures, and people were using it in everything from water jugs to toothpastes to suppositories! (I think that right there deserves an “OMG!,” how about you?)
As the video above illustrates, people of the early 20th century were quite taken with the supposed benefits of this pretty much unkown element and until people became severely ill (and of course, died) it was used indiscriminately.
It’s not surprising then that it …read more

It’s National Donut Day! As Sandy points out, National Doughnut Day was established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to help raise funds during the Depression and to honor the Salvation Army workers who prepared doughnuts for thousands of soldiers during World War I. It’s always the first Friday of June each year.
Image details: Health Food Junk Food served by picapp.com
Did you know that? I didn’t!
Following is a recipe that I’ve used several times. Keep in mind, this is in no way any kind of gourmet doughnut. Don’t look at the can of biscuits and go “pshaw!” because …read more

Today is National Devil’s Food Cake Day! Yeah, I don’t know who comes up with these but I’m not going to complain!
Devil’s Food Cake is traditionally a rich chocolate layer cake paired with chocolate frosting and is thought of as the counterpart to Angel Food Cake. Makes sense, right?
The first known recipe for Devil’s Food Cake in the U.S. dates back to 1905, and it’s called Devil’s Food Cake not only because of the inclusion of real chocolate in the recipe, but because the baking soda causes the cocoa to redden when baked!
Devil’s Food Cake
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 …read more

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!
NCCD always falls on May 15th and is intended to celebrate the wonderfulness that is chocolate chips and their popularity in our cooking and baking. While there is no congressional record or proclamation that today is officially a “national” anything, it’s still a valid holiday in my book! And of course, there are ecards.
The above video gives you some great tips on how chocolate chips should be added to baked goods. I’ve always kept my chocolate chips in the freezer by default (they get too melty in the cupboard), so I was glad to see …read more

Arguably one of those most popular comedy bits of all time, the 39th episode of “I Love Lucy” featured Lucy and Ethel working at a chocolate factory, wrapping chocolates as they came down a conveyor belt. The episode is technically titled “Job Switching” but is better known as “Candy Factory.”
It was filmed May 30, 1952 and entails Ricky and Fred thinking that housework is much easier than earning money. Lucy and Ethel feel the opposite so the boys try doing the housework while the girls attempt to hold down a job at a candy factory.
[info via Lucy Library]