Good Enough to Eat

"Like a perfect dish of macaroni and cheese — rich, warm, nuanced, and delicious." — Jen Lancaster

Stacey Ballis is fabulous. She recommends wrapping gifts in fishnet stockings, won a mixology cocktail contest with her recipe for a Mionetini, and blogs at The Polymath Chronicles. Oh! And she also writes books. Her latest novel is Good Enough to Eat, just released this month. Here's the skinny:

The last thing Melanie expected to lose when she went on a diet was her husband.

Former lawyer Melanie Hoffman lost half her body weight and opened a gourmet take-out café specializing in healthy and delicious food. Then her husband left her-for a woman twice her size. Immediately afterwards, she's blindsided by a financial crisis. Melanie reaches out to a quirky roommate with a ton of baggage and becomes involved in a budding romance with a local documentary filmmaker.

In this warm and often laugh-out-loud novel, Melanie discovers that she still has a lot to learn about her friends, her relationships with men, and herself-and that her weight loss was just the beginning of an amazing journey that will transform her life from the inside out.

Doesn't it sound fantastic?

I happen to have a copy, courtesy of the kind people at Penguin, and I'm giving it away to one lucky reader. To enter, leave a comment!

The book also has a small collection of recipes, from guilt-free to decadent. After the jump is a recipe from the book — a decadent one, because that's the way we roll at Slice of Pink.

Decadent Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

CUPCAKES:
8 T. unsalted butter, cubed
2 oz. high quality bittersweet chocolate, (Valrhona, or Callebaut) chopped
½ C Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¾ C all-purpose flour
½ t. baking soda
¾ t. baking powder
2 large eggs
¾ C sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
½ t. salt
½ c sour cream

FROSTING:
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
½ vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1 ¼ C confectioners sugar, sifted
Pinch salt
½ t. vanilla extract
1 T. heavy cream
2 T sour cream

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan with baking-cup liners.

Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla, sour cream and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice. (To frost: Mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.)

Comments

[Catheroo]

Oh, this sounds like a fantastic story and with recipes to boot? Awesome! Even if I don't win, I'm putting it on my "books to read" list so thanks for sharing it with us!

[Megan]

This sounds like a awesome book and the cupcakes sound even better!

[PomJob]

I love Stacey's books - this sounds like another winner. And who doesn't love a book with recipes?

[Miss Cupcake]

Wow sounds interesting. I hadn't heard of it before. Thanks for the cupcake recipe too!

[Leah]

awesome! I love food books :-)

[Becky Hayes]

i was looking for a good book recommendation and now i've found one! yes pls!

[momandsons]

The book and the recipe both look delicious.