Tips & Treats: Strengthening the Core & A Seriously Delicious (Almost Vegan) Chocolate Cake!

Tip: Core Strength

A friend of mine requested that I write about core strengthening exercises. So, here you go, Meryl.

The front "core" muscles

A strong core is probably the most thing you can give yourself in fitness. A strong core means a strong back. It also means strong sides, abs, chest and butt. Your core extends from the top of your chest (pectoral muscles) to top are your thighs (hip flexors). It includes all of the muscles on your backside, too.

Most people forget their back and rump are part of their core. I get it, you think "core" you think tight abs all ripped and usually glistening with sweat. That's what I think, anyway. I rarely think of my own midsection.

I bet these guys can plank all night long. . .

Anyone with lower back pain should be doing core exercises. Anyone who wants to maintain great posture all their lives need to do core exercises. Your trunk is the heaviest part of your body. It does so much work that everyone should be maintaining a strong core whether you are a pro athlete or lead a sedentary lifestyle. By the way, being thin has nothing to do with a strong core.

These are some of my favorite core strengthening exercises. They are mostly isometric in nature. All of them can be modified to be more challenging as you get stronger. Here are my favorite basics.

• Plank - All the rage about two years ago for YOLO enthusiasts. For fitness enthusiasts, it's a fundamental exercise for core strength. To do this lay down on the ground then support your body (from your shoulders to your ankles) with your toes and either with your arms straight or on your forearms. Keep your back as straight as possible by pulling your belly button into your spine and squeezing your butt cheeks together.
• Side Planks - Thoroughly a yoga move, but thoroughly ass kicking for your whole body, focusing on the obliques. To do this, all you do is a set up for a regular plank and then rotate your body so you are staring at the wall. Raise the arm that isn't on the ground up to the sky, palm open.
• Hip Raises - Similar to side plank. Begin by laying on your side with your forearm supporting your upper body and your feet stacked. Then, all you do, is lift your hip up as high as you can toward the ceiling. Don't let your butt stick out. Do as many lifts as you can on each side without your body touching the ground.
• Boat Position - This a yoga move. Sit on your butt. Then lift your legs (no bending if you can manage it!) to a 45 degree angle. Straighten your arms and have them be parallel to your legs, hands pointed. Keep your back straight, pull in your stomach and hold it as long as you can.
• Bow and "Super Man" - These two are variations of each other. Do do "Super Man" as Tony Horton likes to call it in P90X, you lay on your stomach and then raise your chest and legs off the ground. Your are arms are extended forward, hence "Super Man." With bow you start out the same as "Super Man," but you add to it by grabbing your your ankles with your hands. This will give you a good stretch too. Remember to use your thigh muscles to push your legs closer to your head. 
•  Yoga and Pilates - If you want to get in great core shape, these are your programs. Just remember to breath "right" (your instructor will tell you when to inhale and exhale) and keep your muscles in your midsection constricted as much as possible.

Tip: Chocolate Cake

Oh, chocolate cake, you are everyone's favorite it seems. If I bake a cake in my house it's chocolate. It's James' favorite. Personally, I like spice cake best, but I am alone in that flavor goodness.

As Mad as a "Batter". . . get it?

Last September, I had the privilege of baking the wedding cake of my dear friends Blaire and Kc. Their cake baker dropped out last second and I took on the challenge. I was nervous, but I knew I could do it. I love to bake and am surprising good at it. I usually use box cake mix. As long as you follow the directions and don't over bake it, it turns out fantastic. However, for this cake, I wanted something from scratch. Something Martha Stewart would be proud of.

A co-worker gave me the recipe I share with you today. I was talking about the wedding and my baking gig, when she told me that she had a recipe that was A-MAZING! It was so good, it was featured on a talk show. The recipe is from the Sweet Dreams Bakery in Memphis, TN.

This cake is truly delicious. The cake is super dense and super moist. It's so dense that you won't even need a cake leveler to make a flat top to the cake if you are stacking. As it cools it literally falls flat (in the best possible way). This fantastic density is caused from the lack of eggs in the batter. Yes, that is right, a no egg cake. I know! I didn't think it there was such a thing! Flourless cake, yes, but egg-less? That is what makes this cake vegan.

Verified Awesome Nikki Made Wedding Cake

You can leave it like this if you want. I am sure it will be amazing if you made it completely vegan. However, I told you that this is an "almost" vegan chocolate cake. What makes it "almost" is: chocolate chips. Now, I am sure there is vegan chocolate chips out there, but I haven't tried to find them as I am not vegan. I am a proud omnivore. If someone knows of some good vegan chips, knock yourself out. I just used good ol' Target band chips and they are lovely.

I did do one modification to this recipe that I want to point out. The original recipe calls for "semi-sweet" chips. I used milk chocolate chips. I never use semi-sweet because the name is a bold face LIE! They taste bitter and make any chipped goodie less awesome. And, for the record, I only do completely awesome.

Cook time will depend on what kind of pan you use. The recipe wants you to decide the batter in half and put it in two 9-inch cake pans.  It says 25 minutes at 350F. That should work fine. I poured all of it in my 9-inch pan because I wanted a super thick layer. When I cooked it in my gas oven, the cake took over twice as long. If I recall correctly, I took me 1 hour and 25 minutes. All I can suggest to you lovely people is to keep checking it and when your fork comes out with only a super little bit of cake, it's done. 

Old-Fashion Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Frosting

Cake:

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 cups of cold water
• 1 cup of corn oil
• 1 tbs of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips - YOU DECIDE!

Frosting:

•  1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 cups of powder sugar*
• 8 (ish) tbs of whole milk*
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tbs of unsweetened cocoa powder

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour** three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Add first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Mix water, oil and vanilla in large bowl. Whisk in dry ingredients. Divide batter among pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup chocolate chips over batter in each pan.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 15 minutes. Cut around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out; cool completely.

Make frosting:

Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy (slowly and at a low speed). Gradually beat in 3 cups sugar. Beat in 6 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Add cocoa and remaining 2 cups sugar; beat until blended, thinning with more milk if necessary. 

Place 1 cake layer, chocolate-chips side up, on platter. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over. Top with second cake layer, chocolate-chips side up. Spread 2/3 cup frosting over. Top with remaining cake layer, chocolate-chips side down. Spread frosting over sides and top of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; let stand at room temperature.)

* You may not use all 5 cups. You will need to eyeball the texture/firmness of the frosting that works for you. You may use more than 8 table spoons. Use as much as you need by the tablespoon to thin out the frosting. It gets thick quick.

**I cut rounds out of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans so the cake comes out completely clean. Don't forget to run a knife along the cake edge in the pan before flipping it over and out.

Recipe Online Courtesy of Epicurious.com  

A Not So Heathly Start: Day 1

My plan was to start P90X3 on 2/1/14 - the day I got back from my indulgent Hawaiian vacation.

Yeah. . .not the most flattering comment.

That was the plan. Unfortunately, my body had a different plan for me and I woke up Saturday with a terrible cold. Monday, 2/3/14, I went back to work and was pretty much immediately told by a a co-worker that I looked like Bella when she died giving birth (Twilight - Third Movie). Yet, even though I am not at 100% of my physical and sarcastic strength, I made myself start the workout two days behind schedule because I am as stubborn as a mule! Decreased lung capacity be damned!

I decided to do the "Lean" version of the program and James is opting for the "Classic" version. My goal is to tone and lose my excess weight. James' goal is to get fit and not be "fat" anymore. Basically, we want to be the prettiest people in the room - any room - even our rooms at home. Even our cats are currently leaner and healthier than us! We both are also pushing 30 (gah!) and realize that we ain't getting any younger and being trim and good working order physically isn't going to get any easier. Eh, cliche, but completely true!

We did our "Fit Test" on 1/20/13, before our week long vacation. I was pretty proud of my results overall. James, not so much. I work out pretty regularly, so I knew my results would be solid. I did not however realize that I CANNOT DO A PULL UP!!! The test required a wide, palms-away-from-you position and I couldn't do it. Not even a quarter of one! There I am at an elementary school playground and I am kicking the air and yelling profanities at arms that will not lift! It was embarrassing to say the least. Bottom line: We were shamed by monkey bars.

Our results were more or less in line with what they should have been. Neither of us "passed" them all. I feel confident that I will do well. I have already tried out the Yoga, Pilates and the CVX routines prior to starting the program.

Today, Day 1, I did Accerlator. I had a little trouble with it due to me being only at 85% of my usual level of awesome. Overall, it was a fast-paced cardio video. I should have used a folded yoga mat due to the amount of planks and moves that put stress on my wrists.

James did Total Synergistics. The work out looked pretty fun. . .to me. To James, well, let's just say that he was doing some physical movements that weren't part of the video at Tony Horton.

Below you will see our "Before" pictures. I will provide new pictures every 30 days. Be prepared for some awesome improvements!