A Chocolate Sort of Day

Have you ever had one of those days where is just feels like your world is just completely crashing down on you? Well of course you have! Everyone has. I'm not trying to sound like i'm special and other people don't have crappy times, but life really sucks right now. Like seriously, i'm talking a sweat pants, ponytail, not talk to anyone (that is really saying something  for me) sort of a day.

You can probably tell from the theme of my blog that baking is well... what i do. So obviously, when i'm so stressed/confused i simply HAVE to turn to cake. duh, cake cures everything right? So during all of my classes today i have been fantasizing about what i am going to do because when your in a mood like this you cant make and just any run of the mill sheet cake. i'm talking a GOOD cake. A eat one piece and feel morbidly obese cake. A triple layered chocolate oreo cake.

I started with the chocolate cake that i talked about in my last post. I really was dead serious when i said I loved it, plus i had my heart set on a good cake and I knew that this would give me a good result. However, i did realize that i need to get a little bit more recipe experience so i can have options for different ingredients, textures, or flavors, so next time I will have a different recipe. I promise!

I made the cakes into three layers, wow, just like the previous post! man i need to mix it up a little! I just really love the appearance of a triple layer chocolate cake ok? judge me if you want to. But besides the cake and amount of layers the cakes the two cakes are complete opposites! I felt like being a little whimsical and didn't want to be constrained to a recipe so i just kind of winged most of the rest. I already had a cup of whipping cream (why? i'm not really sure...) but i made some whipped cream and folded half of a box of chopped up walmart brand oreos, which by the way taste the EXACT same (oh the things you find out as a poor college student)  and let it refrigerate for about a half hour so the cookies got a little soggy and delicious and easy to spread.

I didn't have the patience to freeze the cakes completely before filling and frosting them so a crumb coat was really important to make sure the plethora of crumbs this cake supplied were tightly sealed into the frosting. Because, quite frankly there are few things that bug me more about a cake then having chocolate cake show through the frosting.

the cake after filling it. gosh dangit someday i will make the sides of a cake even!

after the crumbcoating. no crumbs are escaping that=)

After the crumb coat was completely chilled I frosted in completely with vanilla frosting (which is the only thing wrong with this cake in my opinion) Now it was time for decorating.  Usually i pipe my decorations, but today i just couldn't do it, i needed to change things around a little. After thinking about what i had in my pantry and coming to copes that i had NOTHING i realized i had a half a package of cookies right in front of me! I turned my creativity on, crushed them and pressed them on the side of the cake, which also kind of hid my crooked sides. kind of... 

I really enjoyed how the crumbs turned out, i think it looks good in a "i didn't really put that much effort into making it look good, but it still looks good" sort of a way. Although, next time i might try legitimate crumbs instead of the chunks i used. 

For the top, i copy catted a cake i saw on pinterest... once again, judge me if you want to. 

the inside looked pretty good too i guess =) 

All in all the cake was just what i wanted, meaning it made me feel super fat after one bite and it got my mind off my bad day but i would suggest some frosting changes if any of you want to make it for yourself. The vanilla frosting recipe i used, however great it is just didn't really blend very well and kind of took away from the cookies and cream theme i wanted it to have.  But don't get me wrong, it tasted good, just not how i planned on it tasting. I will find a whipped cream frosting to pair with this cake that will make it the ultimate cake within the next week and post it up for ya!

Unfortunately I dont really have any recipes to post up with this cake, for the chocolate cake recipe reference my last post and the filling was simply a cup of whipped cream, a splash of vanilla and a spoonful of sugar whipped until really stiff with oreos folded in. I'll give ya the vanilla frosting recipe with a cake that it tastes better with.

Shannon Ruth=)

Lets Get This Started...

Alright, so this weekend was family weekend here at Utah State, and boy was it just great! We finally won a freaking football game, got to see my parents and i finally got around to starting this blog! Well I bet you can tell with the beginning of this that my post that my parents came down, and most people in my circumstance wouldn't be that excited about this considering that i only live like an hour away from my hometown and my parents have found excuses to come up here almost every week so it's not like i miss them or anything but i just love introducing my parents to all my great friends up here and showing them that I actually can manage myself a little ya know? 

So, I was thinking about something nice to do for them while they were here and suddenly it hit me! My mom's birthday is in two days and i almost forgot to make her a cake! alright, now it's time for a background story, there is nothing better in life then a homemade cake, let alone a homemade BIRTHDAY cake. There is just something so comforting knowing that someone loved you enough to spend hours making a cake to celebrate your entrance into this world and i like giving people that feeling a whole lot. Especially my motha. So i made her her favorite, a German Chocolate Cake, only a little different to make it a little more fun for me =) 

I started with my FAVORITE chocolate cake recipe. seriously i have yet to find a better one. I use the Hersheys "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake Recipe, seriously. its fabulous. I know what your thinking, Shannon, the German in german chocolate cake comes from the cake! i know, but this is one of those little alterations i made to make it more fun. Plus, i have never met a single person who likes german chocolate cake better then a real chocolate cake. the difference is just not comparable. Well, i made the cake into my 8 inch circle  cakes that i found in the DI last week  

I know, they look disgusting (every time my roommate sees them she is repulsed)  but i promise they are clean! plus the set was only a dollar! and they have that magnificent tab that swipes around the pan and gets your cakes out beautifully! they are pretty high on the list of my favorite things in my kitchen. 

Next I searched through my favorite blogs/websites for a coconut-pecan frosting that sounded good, because  i have never made anything close to that sort of thing and i found one i'm pretty sure i trusted from Joyofbaking.com and set to work! and can i say delicious. i could have eaten the whole pan-full in one sitting.  

To assemble the cake I leveled layers and froze them like any other cake, used the nutty-frosting as a filling between the layers and frosted the top with it. and this is where my other german chocolate curve ball comes in. I frosted the sides of it with a cooked fudge frosting. I wasn't really sure if it was going to be to much, but every time i eat this kind of cake i always find myself wishing for a little bit of traditional cake, and boy. that risk payed off! 

I'm still working on getting the sides and borders to my cakes strait, but hey, I think it turned out pretty well. 

Especially When you cut into it!!! look at how beautiful those layers are! and nobody can even imagine how much that super this layer of frosting on the side helped. 

I think it's fair to say she was pleased with her present=) love ya motha!

Recipes I Used 

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe (strait from the hershey website)

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. 

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. (it took about 32 minutes in my 8 inch pans)

Cococut Pecan Frosting  (from Joyofbaking.com)

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) pecans

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

1 cup (240 ml) evaporated milk(can also use light or heavy cream)

3 large (60 grams) egg yolks, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (150 grams) sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350degreesF (177 degrees C). Place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from oven, let cool, and then coarsely chop.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, egg yolks, butter, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, and when the mixture begins to boil and thicken, remove from heat. Stir in the chopped pecans, coconut, and vanilla extract. Let cool until spreadable.

Cooked Fudge Frosting  (from ME)

1 cup frosting

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup evaporated milk

t tbs corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

mix everything in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, let boil for about 6-8 minutes. (i know this sounds crazy, but trust me, it's the only way to do it) cool completely and add powdered sugar until desired consistency. 

enjoy!

Shannon Ruth=)