I’m going to be blunt: I really despise winter. My favorite produce is unavailable at the farmer’s market, the sky is a constant shade of city-sewer-gray, I have to wear two sweaters at a time to keep warm, I can’t eat ice cream outside, and that run from the warm shower back to my room is that much more excruciatingly icy. And now, on top of all of that, I’m finding more and more hair in the drain of said warm shower. Gross, I know. In a panic fueled by the thought of going bald, I did the only thing an irrational, twenty-one year old hypochrondriac would do: I WebMD’d my symptoms.

The digital doctor told me that my hair loss could be A) because the air is so dry in the winter, causing hair to become brittle and break more easily, or B) because I’m lacking protein in my diet. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a nice piece of meat from time to time; take me out on a date of surf-and-turf and I’ll hang ten with the best of them. However, preparing meat for myself in my own kitchen has always been elusive to me. I mean, I’ve burnt fully-cooked hot dogs before, for goodness’ sake. And while there are many meat-free options I could have tried my hand at (like quinoa and lentils), I was just too depressed.

I had just about given up all hope, trading in my hairdo dreams of Disney Princess for Dolly Parton, when I ran into this recipe from the Williams-Sonoma’s Food Made Fast: Baking book. At first glance, it may just seem like your average chocolate cake. Go ahead, keep scrolling down that list of ingredients… you see it? SIX EGGS. This bad boy holds a total of 36 grams of protein in its deceptively decadent form. So throw caution (and probably some Lenten promises) to the wind, take Marie Antoinette’s advice, and let yourself eat cake. I mean, have you seen the hair she has?

Johanna Caruthers is a senior English major at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. She likes unicorns, baking, poetry, and roller skating.

**Recipe**

Six Egg Chocolate Cake
Serves 8
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma’s Food Made Fast: Baking

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ounce baking chocolate, chopped
6 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons rum
6 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350℉. Lightly grease a 9-inch round metal pan and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and the semi-sweet and baking chocolates, stirring to blend. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the eggs with the salt until thick and pale in color. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar and brown sugar until the mixture is light and doubled in volume, about five minutes. Beat in the rum. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the melted chocolate mixture and then the flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.

Let cool for about 10 minutes. Cut cake into wedges and serve.