Valentine's Day with Kyle & Erin

I won't be able to do a blog post today due to kids' Valentine Parties at school. So I've asked Kyle and Erin from my debut book Road to Recovery, to come and do the post for me. I'm still not sure this will be a good idea, as you never know what will come out of Kyle's mouth, but Erin assured me that she'll make sure he behaves. Stay tuned at the end of the post for a chocolate cake recipe that I make every year on Valentine's Day.

I swear I never thought she'd leave. Alyssa seriously needs to learn to let go of some control. It would do her some good. Anyway, so today is Valentine's Day and for once, Kyle and I have a day off at the same time. That's not always the case, so when it happens it's nice. Kyle should be here shortly, but, well you see, we were making that cake that Alyssa mentioned above, and we ended up in a cake batter fight. It was all his fault of course, so I made him clean up the kitchen. Enough about that, I should get back on the topic.

This is Kyle and my first Valentine's together. Well, I have a confession. I never had a boyfriend before on this day. I always broke things off before it got too serious and one of my biggest things was absolutely no Valentine for me on this day. What the hell was I thinking having that rule?

I know I had to be like the only woman out there that thought this way. This is what so many women look forward to, seeing what their significant other will get them. Over the years, it was another day for me. I never paid attention when the day was. Well, not this year. Kyle knew all of this about me, and he wouldn't let us just have it pass as another day.

Let's just say I've had a change of heart after seeing Kyle in the kitchen with nothing on but a pair of tight fitting jeans as he cooked breakfast for us this morning. I thought that would be all he did, but no, not Mr. Arrogant Ass as I like to call him at times. He had flowers delivered and we've spent the day together turning off our cell phones and the home phone, so no one would interrupt us.

"Erin, come join me in the shower. I can help you get all the batter out of those hard to reach places."

"Behave, Kyle, we're supposed to be doing the blog post for Alyssa."

"No, you agreed to it. I never did."

"I'll be there in a minute."

I really should get moving. This cake batter is super sticky, and now my keyboard is all sticky. We can't wait for people to read our story. Alyssa will keep you posted when it's supposed to come out. Oh yeah, before I go, I have a question for everyone.

What's was your most memorable Valentine's Day and why? Share below. We really want to know, and I'm sure Alyssa will be back later to check the comments to make sure we did as we were told. She'll also be responding to comments, as it looks like I'll be pretty busy with Kyle the rest of the day, if you know what I mean.

My True Love Cake

I got this recipe from the Taste of Home magazine a few years ago. It's really good and now I make it every year for Valentine's Day.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 
  FILLING:
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling, divided

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat in water and oil until smooth.
• Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. heart-shaped baking pans. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Beat in cream and extract. Place one cake on a serving plate; spread with half of cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Top with 1 cup pie filling and second cake; spread with remaining cream cheese mixture. Make a heart-shaped indentation in center of cake; fill with remaining pie filling. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 12 servings.