Tuesdays with Dorie: Tiramisu Cake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. It's a simple two-layer vanilla cake that's moistened with espresso syrup, iced with espresso-spiked mascarpone whipped cream, filled with dark chocolate chips, sprinkled with cocoa powder, and decorated with chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Once again, I'm getting this posted near the last minute....but it's not for a lack of trying. I actually baked the cakes last night, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge. And I had every intention of icing them as soon as I got home. BUT...when I got home from work today, my kitchen was overrun with ants!

It's happens every year about this time...especially if we've had a lot of rain. The first time it happened was several years ago. It was Memorial Day weekend, and I was having a bunch of people over for Sunday brunch. I spent the entire day on Saturday getting ready, including baking scones from scratch. I stacked them neatly in a domed, glass cake stand and set them on the buffet in the dining room.

The next morning, I woke up to find the cake plate--inside & out--covered in tiny ants! I was devastated and grossed out all at once! Afterward, I tried everything to get rid of the ants...everything, that is, besides spraying poison all over my house and yard. I tried leaving out corn meal for them to eat (supposedly, they will take it back to the nest, eat it, then died because it expands in their stomach). I tried putting baby powder around the window sills and other places they might be getting in (they weren't supposed to like walking through it). I tried organic ants traps and sprays. Nothing worked.

Eventually, I broke down and called an exterminator to spray outside around the house only. And, that did it. So, every year, when I start to see ants roaming around the kitchen, I call for the guy to come spray. They were scheduled to come last week, but apparently there was too much rain. I called them again tonight.

Still, I was hesitant to put the cake together tonight and create an ant's sugar paradise. I mean, you drop one little speck of sugar and they are ALL over it.

Nevertheless, I got it done tonight, then promptly stuck the cake in the fridge & bleached the countertops.