on a rainy day in may.

i just wish the weather would make up it's mind. first a tornado from hell, followed quickly by 75 and sunny, and today it was 50 degrees and rainy. when you live in a place like texas, (more specifically waco), you have to just learn to roll with the punches. and on rainy days like this, i try and keep myself somewhat occupied. today, it was with eclair cake.

my mom has been making this "cake" for as long as i can remember (note: it's not really a cake...) and i loved it so much that i decided to make it today for my end-of-the-semester studio party. it's kind of rustic and ugly, but deceptively delicious and more importantly, really simple to make.

ingredients:

3 boxes of instant french vanilla pudding
1 box of graham crackers
1 8 oz. tub of cool whip (or make your own whipping cream)
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons of butter
3 cups of milk, then 3 more tablespoons for chocolate topping
1/2 cup of light cairo syrup
3/4 cup of confectioners sugar

FIRST
mix up the french vanilla pudding with 3 cups of milk (don't worry--it's supposed to be really thick) and let it set in the fridge for about 2 minutes.

THEN
add in 8 oz. of cool whip and fold together.

NEXT
heat (over medium-low heat in a small pot) the chocolate chips, butter, 3 tablespoons of milk, sugar, and cairo syrup until it has all melted together and has a thin-ganache-y consistency. don't worry, it's supposed to be really thin. you can sweeten to taste, but don't make it too sweet, the rest of the cake is sweet enough.

FINALLY
layer the "cake" thusly in a 9'' by 13'' glass or metal pan: graham cracker layer, 1/2 of pudding mixture, graham cracker layer, other 1/2 of pudding mixture, and a final graham cracker layer before topping it all off with a thin layer of the chocolate yumminess.

refrigerate until it's time to eat! it can be served immediately, but i prefer my graham crackers a little on the soft side.

like i said, rustic, but one of my all-time favorite desserts. *secret tip* in order to keep the bottom layer of graham crackers from flopping around in the bottom of the pan when you are trying to layer the pudding on top, try putting a little whipped cream or pudding mixture on the very bottom before you put in your first layer of crackers. it will keep them in place, as i learned today from a bit of trial and error.

if you're lucky, you get to share this eclair cake with some fun people like i got to this evening at the studio party. when we all get together, it is chaotic to say the least, but we always have a lot of fun.

kaylie and edgar. 

om nom and lonnie.

lauren and richard. she was extra ridiculous tonight.
but that's the way we like her. :)

umstead NEVER likes being in pictures. we talked him
into this one. this is just all of us in our element. 

so, this rainy day wasn't so bad after all. i'll let you know if texas ever settles on a weather choice...it will probably be sometime in july when it hits 100+ and won't let off until late september. ahhh...waco...

yours,

m. wilson