So I’ve developed this new bad habit of bringing my camera with me everywhere. It’s in my backpack at school, my purse when I go shopping, even my pocket when I’m going out to lunch.

Maybe it isn’t a bad habit in the way biting your nails or burping loudly is a bad habit. But like those things, it’s occasionally rude, distracting, and slightly embarrassing. I whip out my camera before the waiter even leaves the table, saying to my family, “Wait – just let me get a few shots of it first.” Yeah, it’s a little weird even for me.

Then again… When the photos look like that, who can really call it a bad thing? (:

I think I’m going to include something new once in a while on 17 and Baking and see if it’s a welcome addition. There is so much great food that I don’t make and isn’t necessarily sweet. Since I always have my camera on hand, and I already photograph pretty much everything I eat – why not blog about it? Seattle restaurants, bakeries, farmer’s markets…

Another issue is that May is approaching. I’m an IB/AP student, meaning I have some really big tests to take throughout the entire month of May. I should really be studying right now, in fact. So I don’t have as much time to bake as I’d like to for a short while… These posts about eating out can let me keep up the blog and practice my photography without taking up as much time. (In summer, though, I plan to bake like crazy!)

So let’s dig in, starting with Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, a charming little pizzeria in beautiful Columbia City, Seattle…

It seems like the birthday celebrations just never end. After Salty’s, Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake, sushi,  charades, and a handful of wonderful gifts, my grandma took my mother and I out for lunch. We ended up going to Tutta Bella in Seattle, a pizzeria my mother had been raving about for weeks.

The pizzeria is has a rustic appeal: un-lacquered wood tables, simple yet elegant hanging lights, and vintage Italian posters on the walls. Everything about it is simple and honest, but tasteful. We sat right next to a tall window and the atmosphere was really perfect, with filtered light streaming all over us and making our silverware sparkle.

There is really nothing on the menu besides pizza and salad, which was only disappointing for a second. The whole room is filled with the warm smell of dough and sweet tomatoes, and suddenly you wouldn’t even think of ordering pasta.

My grandma ordered the Mediterranea ($12), topped with extra virgin olive oil, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, marinated eggplant, roasted peppers and mushrooms, basil, and Grana Padano. That had been the pizza I was considering too, so I switched my order to the simple Regina Margherita ($11).

My mother had been there before and especially liked their pizza crust, which is as thin as light cardboard. Since she doesn’t like heavy, doughy pizzas, she asked for the kitchen to make a calzone for her. This was not on the menu, but she asked for roasted vegetables, chicken, and mozzarella inside, and the staff assured her this could be done.

Salad was the first to arrive.

Maybe we were just hungry, but we thought the salad was excellent. I usually think there is too much dressing, and that it’s too strong in the first place. Their dressing was nothing but white balsamic vinegar and olive oil, just enough to coat each leaf. The salad was colorful and shiny without being cluttered or wet. Nothing but greens, roasted bell peppers, red onions, and white beans – but we polished it off!

The pizzas were just beautiful. Even though I happen to be a deep dish sort of person, the thin crusts were both chewy and crisp. They were sprinkled with cornmeal, adding a bit of a crunch. Someone remarked on how fresh all the ingredients were – it might have been me, I don’t remember. I was eating.

Mom’s calzone was really impressive. It had puffed up as tall as our glasses and was gorgeously golden. One of her favorite things about the pizzas was the tomato sauce, which wasn’t overly salted at all. In fact, it had such a natural sweetness that we assumed it was probably homemade.

But what really sealed the deal for me was the service. Our waitress was polite and warm without being overbearing. She refilled our glasses so discreetly I thought I’d barely had any water. She was helpful, but I didn’t feel like I was being sold anything. The restaurant was extremely busy that day, so it took her longer to get to us. None of us had minded because the atmosphere was so nice, but she apologized – twice – and gave us two tiramisu, on the house.

I took one home and ate it for breakfast. It was probably the weakest part of lunch, but I’m often disappointed by tiramisu. It didn’t even matter, though. It was all about the pizza.

Everything You Need to Know:

Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria
4918 Rainier Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98118

Simple, classic thin-crust pizzas, topped with fresh ingredients and served with flavorful salads. A warm and homey environment, friendly, flexible service, and not too expensive.

When I was little, I used to remember birthdays by party themes and presents.

There was my fabulous pink themed party, with hot magenta and bubble gum pink stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling. The birthday where all the kids swung eagerly at a pinata, unable to crack it, forcing Dad to come to the rescue. And who could forget the birthday I was presented with my own Barbie bicycle, complete with sparkles on the handlebars?

But these days, I remember birthdays by the people and the food we celebrated with. The year my Pubah carried out a hamburger cake to my utter delight. Or the birthday cake decorated with plastic dancing princesses, which I still have in a box under my bed. Even the famous family mashed potatoes I’ve requested for every single birthday dinner of my life, since I can remember.

Last year, I invited two of my closest friends over and we made dinner: 3 different kinds of pasta from scratch, mixing and rolling out the dough right on the table. It was the perfect low-key sweet 16, memorable and intimate and tasty.

Turning 17 was a little different. It seemed less important, less of a “big deal,” and there were no balloons or real parties. The only celebratory thing I did was eat at Salty’s, a pricey and stunning restaurant (more on that later.) In fact, it felt like an average April day. But little things made it special… from my friends singing happy birthday at lunch to my beautiful birthday dinner, it was made even sweeter.

Click to read about dinner at Salty’s and how I assembled this showstopper chocolate cake of my dreams.

For my birthday meal, Salty’s was amazing. The restaurant is nationally acclaimed, a valet took our car, and we sat with a postcard perfect view of the waterfront and downtown Seattle, but Salty’s is unpretentious. I told them it was my birthday when I made reservations, so there were bright balloons waiting at our table.

When we arrived, the sun was just about to begin setting, and the whole skyline sparkled blue and silver. By the time we left, the sky had darkened, traces of gold were leaving the sky, and the whole city glittered.

Our appetizer, coconut tiger prawns with a spicy Thai chili sauce and a tangy citrus sauce, was probably the best thing we had. So light, it melted in our mouths… I ate every single shred of toasted coconut off my plate and refused to drink any water, savoring the flavor as long as I could.

My entree was also great. Cedar smoked wild Coho salmon with mashed potatoes, tomato beurre blanc, and spring pea greens with a bacon vinaigrette. I ended up having birthday potatoes after all! (Though I missed Dad’s.) No photo of this – it’s impossible to avoid blurriness in a restaurant, sorry.

Dessert was unforgettable too. White chocolate mousse cake that was lighter than air, their signature dessert, on the house because of my birthday. I don’t usually like restaurant desserts because I bake myself, but of course, this was so good I asked the waiter for the recipe. Ha. (He laughed a little and politely said no.)

[Update: Reader Jan let me know that the recipe is, in fact, on the Salty's website! You'd think the waiter could have filled me in! (; Thanks Jan!]

But chocolate cake is my favorite. I don’t find vanilla boring, and I do like lemon and carrot, but there’s really nothing like a classic, mile-high chocolate cake. Like this one, made just for my birthday. It’s so tall it doesn’t fit in my cake carrier. It’s incredibly moist, so intense it’s nearly black. I’ve never had such soft, rich, dark chocolate cake before. It’s rich, but the chocolate flavor isn’t overwhelming. Good thing, because it’s covered in melt-in-your-mouth ganache.

But what flavor to choose? It didn’t take long before I settled on raspberry. Fresh berries are something I rarely have with because they’re so expensive, but I made an exception for my birthday. Raspberry jam and raspberry ganache between the layers of my cake, and fresh raspberries on top. Delicious.

What a special cake. It’s super rich. Eat it in teeny tiny, dark and aromatic slices, as it’s truly death by chocolate. I’m submitting it into Poornima’s “For the Love of Chocolate” event as well as my Mini Cocoa and Banana Pavlovas.

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake
Including Sour Cream Chocolate Cake from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes
Makes a three layer 8″ cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup canola oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Raspberry Ganache (recipe follows)
2/3 cup raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8″ cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter again. [ I just buttered and dusted with cocoa. It was extremely hard to get the cakes out - don't skip the parchment paper.]

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the oil and sour cream, then gradually beat in the water. Add the vinegar and vanilla and mix to combine, and finally beat in the eggs until the batter is well combined. Divide among the three cake pans.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and peel off the parchment paper, letting the cakes cool completely. These cakes are very soft, and it helps to freeze them for 15 minutes at this point. While the cakes cool, make the Raspberry Ganache.

If the cakes are not flat, use a serrated knife to even the tops. Place one layer onto a parchment-lined cardboard cut out and spread 1/3 cup raspberry jam. Cover the jam with a thin, 1/4″ thick layer of raspberry ganache. Top with the second layer and repeat. Then invert the final layer and place on top.

To frost the cake, start with a crumb coat: barely cover the entire cake with a thin, see through layer of ganache. This is to help create a smooth finish later. Chill the cake for 10 minutes.

Frost the cake with the remaining raspberry ganache and top with fresh raspberries. I would recommend leaving the cake at room temperature to prevent the ganache from becoming too brittle.

Raspberry Ganache
Makes just enough to fill and frost a three layer 8″ cake

15 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped *
1 2/3 cups frozen raspberries
8 oz (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

Bring an inch or two of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. As the water heats, microwave the raspberries in 1 minute intervals, stirring and mashing with a fork, until they become a smooth liquid. Pour through a strainer (should yield 1/3 cup raspberry juice) and set aside to cool.

Place the chopped chocolate and the butter in a large heatproof bowl and set over the saucepan. The bowl should not touch the water or fall more than halfway into the saucepan. Stir until the chocolate and butter melt, then gradually add in the slightly warm raspberry juice, whisking to combine.

Take the ganache off the heat and let cool until spreadable, stirring once in a while.

* The ganache was almost too sweet, but I used a combination of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate. Use the bitterest, darkest chocolate possible to counteract the sweetness of the berries.

Printer Friendly Version – Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake

That triangular crack is from the beautiful candle that I pulled out of my slice. I’ll tell you when my wish comes true.

Miss 17 and Baking is 17 at last!

[An especially sweet thank you to all my friends - C, T, M, D, K, C, and J - who had a birthday dinner with me at a local sushi joint. We bought out the conveyor belt and played charades in the park. Thank you so much for the card, gift certificate, yellow striped apron & oven mitts, and the vanilla bean!]