CHOCOLATE B-day Cake :-)

    Aka: "Ummmmm this is G-O-O-D!!!" chocolate cake ;-)

    Byron thinks it's great that the exact same day his mom (me) asked if she could make the birthday cakes for his daughter's first birthday party, his wife asked him if he thought his mom would be willing to make the cake. We agree with him!  :-)
    "My" Kate agreed to take me out shopping to pick out 'girlie' cup cake liners. When we got to Michael's we learned that the reason they mainly only had empty cupcake papers displays, was because they were in the middle of inventory. Grumble. Was I up to trampling through another store? yes. But I wanted that store to be Value land! So we picked these out of what they did have available, figuring that while they weren't all 'girlie', they were definitely cute and partyish.

      (The small/'mini' ones had elephants on the bottom, my Brian collects elephants ...)
      What I hadn't figured in, was how the darkness of the chocolate cake inside them would pretty much cancel out what color and patterns they were.  :-(  Live and learn.

     Besides making them for Analyse's first birthday party, I had also said I would make some of the 'mini' sized ones for a couple different graduation open houses. I figure that while I'm baking, I might as well keep multiplying the recipe and keep going. So I baked up and frosted LOTS of the 'minis'

    and LOTS of the regular sized

     see, there is a difference in the two sizes

 

    and then made white butter-cream frosting and added polka dots to ALL of them (actually, all except the four dozen 'mins' headed to the graduation open houses. Those I just sprinkled with yellow sugar).

     then added food coloring and strawberry flavoring to the white frosting and added pink flowers to ALL of them ....

   
    Wa-La, all done -

     Or so I thought. I put the birthday girl's cake in the fridge to set up. After all, we would be traveling many miles with it. Twenty minutes later I opened the fridge to fix myself a glass of Pepsi, only to find that the package of ham slices had fallen over onto the cake and split it!!! Grumble, grumble, fight tears .... there was no fixing it. Sigh. Bake another one. But instead of making more white frosting, I went with this design instead.

    About the train on top, Grandpa Brian also loves trains. And Analyse likes to watch the trains that pass behind the houses across the street, and grandma had this candle holder stashed away in a drawer which Kate found when I asked her to get a candle out for me ;-) "I love it when a plan comes together!" ;-p

      Nestle Chocolate Layer Cake
        from Nestle's Toll House Heritage Cookbook
      1 1/2 cups sugar
      1/2 cup butter, softened
      1 teaspoon vanilla extract
      2 envelopes (2 oz.) Nestle Coco-bake
         (yellow box in your baking aisle by chunked chocolate)
      2 eggs
      2 1/4 cups flour
      1 1/2 teasp. baking soda
      1 teaspoon salt
      1 1/2 cups ice water

     In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract (I use a wooden spoon); beat until creamy. Blend in Nestle Coco-bake and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in flour, soda and salt alternately with ice water. Pour into two greased and floured 8 or 9 inch cake pans. (I have found that lining the bottoms of the sprayed pans with a cut to size piece of parchment paper works wondrously!!!)
    (this recipe can also be made into one 9 x 13 pan).
    Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 min. (test with toothpick)
    Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool completely on wire racks. Frost.

    Chocolate Butter(+)cream Frosting
        made up years ago by Cheryl B. (me)
    6 Tablespoons butter, room temp.
    3 Tablespoons cream cheese, room temp.
        (I will admit here that sometimes I cheat and add as much of the cream cheese as I do the butter .... I did for my grand daughter's birthday o;-) )
    3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
    2 2/3 cups Confectioner's sugar
    1/3 cup canned milk
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

     With a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and cream cheese; add cocoa. Alternately add conf. sugar and milk. Beat, mixing well. Blend in vanilla. Mix again. Do a taste test and lick your fingers o;-p  Ummmm ......

    Analyse being fed a 'mini' (bake them for 15 minutes) -

 

           (look at those eyes, she was so-o-o ready for a nap!)

    I just love how Benson captured 3 year old Benjamin's thrilledness over his mini cupcake :-)   (Benjamin is the son of one of their friends)

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P.S.'s :
- a big THANK-YOU to Kate - she had not only taken me shopping, but she also came over on Memorial Day and helped me bake everything up. All of that twisting and turning getting things in and out of the oven ... she did it for me :-D Thanks Kate!!!

- just in case it will help you too - Four (4) timesing (x's) the recipe equals (=) one hundred (100) regular sized cupcakes.

- we did six times the recipe and got a combined mini and regular sized cupcake total of one hundred and eighty eight (188) PLUS the two nine inch cake layers.


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I 'plan' on linking this particular posting to:

~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)' (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven' (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace' (http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com).
~ "Tuesdays at the Table", are hosted by Cole, at 'All The Small Stuff' (http://allthesmallstuff-cole.blogspot.com/).
~ "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes' (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).