The Last Christmas Party

My friend Linda has a party on Epiphany every year and calls it the Last Christmas Party.  Our little town has quite an active social scene during the holidays, and there are parties before, on, and after Christmas, but Linda's party is on Ephiphany, so it is indeed the last of the season.  It's a dirty Santa party, ladies only, and everyone is supposed to wear a Christmas sweater.  There is lots of food, and wine, and I make a dessert, and we all have a big, silly time before returning to houses stripped of all the greenery and looking like the bleak "real world" of January is upon us.

Last year I made a vanilla bean cheesecake with kumquat syrup and candied kumquats, and it was beautiful.  It also took about 6 hours and drove me insane.  So this year I took an easier route and made my chocolate pound cake with a ripple of cream cheese.  I say "my" - I mean "Southern Living's."  I found the recipe in an old issue of Christmas with Southern Living and made it when I was living in California, and it was divine.  But when I mentioned it to my family, they'd inevitably say, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, "Oh yes, I remember that, it was ok" - even though I was pretty sure I'd never made it for them.

This year, however, I needed a dessert for the party, I was craving chocolate, I had all of the ingredients, so I made the cake again.  And it was . . divine!  My memory proved correct, and my sisters and mother and the partygoers liked it, so all was right with the world.  Cake-wise, anyway.  And here it is in, in the pan:

The most divine-smelling steam is rising from this gorgeous cracked surface . . .

And here it is, tipped out of the pan.  That yellow bit you see in the center is some of the cream cheese ripple.  And finally, of course I had to cut it before I took it to the party:

Yes, that's a sad streak on top, but if you decide to make this cake, don't consider that streak to be a sign of failure.  It is a sign of deliciousness.  I'll include a link to the recipe, which also includes a fudge frosting that I do recommend.  But in order to taste the cake immediately, I had to slice it all for serving at the party instead of taking it over whole, and I thought the fudge would make the slices too messy to pick up.  Those with more control over desires for immediate gratification may have better luck with said frosting.  http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000521903

And now to the party, which was the reason for the cake in the first place.  It was fun, not as silly this year because not as many people wore those sweaters and not as many people brought funny gifts (last year someone brought a new and beautifully wrapped seat for a commode), but fun all the same and with a bonus this year of a tour of the in-progress addition to Linda's house.  Linda lives in an old house, as I do, built I think in the late 1800s, and is adding a bathroom upstairs.  It looks very nice - gleaming and spacious, and soon to include the clawfoot bathtub that's been in her backyard for 30 years.  But it's the downstairs that I'm going to show you.  Linda has many artists friends and quite a collection of paintings and other art pieces, and sofas (thirteen at last count).  Here's one of them:

And here's her dining room, laden with food for the party, and some of her paintings (the large one she painted herself):

And, finally, her tree.  We raised our glasses to it, and toasted it and the new year, and all went away feeling warm and merry.

And I got home and remembered that although I did have to take the decorations down the next day, since I live close to Mobile and New Orleans, the "real world" of winter means. . . Carnival!  So Bonne Annee, and Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!