chocolate silk cake

• 1 box chocolate silk cake
• whip cream (dream whip is the favorite in our house)
• cocoa powder

Prepare cake according to instructions on the box. We used a Duncan Hines dessert selects cake, but any will work. Arrange slice of cake on plate and top with whip cream and garnish with cocoa powder.

The dish: I'm sure if you were to consult with any of my old teachers they would verify this, but I do not follow directions well at all. I am unable to prepare any instant dessert because I always feel that "maybe it could just use a pinch more of something". That attitude may fly in cooking, but it's a recipe for disaster in baking. If you're new to the party, then you should know that there are two absolutes here: 1. dessert tastes best when instant and 2. Kim is pretty much awesome (and not just for her taste in husbands). She can scratch bake like no one's business, but she can also make instant anything and achieve great results, something I am truly envious of. Along the same lines she also has an aptitude at assembling furniture from Ikea. If you've never had the pleasure of the Swedish furniture giant, you have no idea what you're missing out on. We bought a new 6 drawer dresser this week and it fit comfortably in the trunk of our car in a box that's smaller than what most people deem to be carry on luggage. When you get it home the instructions have no words at all on them and there are many more pieces than you would expect a dresser to have. Needless to say, Kim can navigate through that mess and within just a little while we have a dresser that's a much more solid piece of furniture than you would expect it to be. So I guess the moral is that whether it's furniture or cake, Kim can bring great things out of boxes.

brownie with mango compote

• 2 fresh mangoes
• vanilla
• boxed brownies
• whip cream (we love dream whip)
• cocoa powder

Cut mangoes into bite sized cubes, drizzle with vanilla and set aside for 1-5 hours. Prepare brownies according to package. Top warm brownie with mango compote and whip cream, garnish with sprinkles of cocoa powder.

The dish: The red room has followed in the footsteps of corporate America: we've outsourced our brownie manufacturing and only do final assembly on site. Brownies are a peculiar thing in that the boxed version is far superior to anything homemade. Instant has that gooey texture that just screams "brownie", while the from scratch variety always is a little too much like cake. As you can clearly see in the above photo, Kim is great at presenting a dessert and the final mix of flavors tasted even better than it looked.