Baker's Dozen!

After this week, I'll definitely be ready to match the other moms at future PTA meetings. It all started with a cake baking party early in the week with a few extra decorations to make it super fun for the Chemistry PhD birthday boy. Nothing says "YEr FUN'" better than signs made from the periodic table. Then later, so I know that I swore I'd never attend the SweetMeet again (see the swearing here) but as I sat in Institute class earlier this week, I started to feel a little bratty and sheepish for my stance. And when I heard that one of my friends wanted to go but didn't have time to make a dessert, that sealed the deal. She loves to play basketball so I went with a double layer chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream with everything from scratch.As for my cake, I went with a camping theme and made a s'mores cake. That's right, rich chocolate layers and a graham cracker/legit toasted marshmallow filling. Here's the toasted marshmallows just coming out of the oven.And here's the layers all together.
And here's the finished camping project. Then, on Friday just before the event, I heard from another one of my friends who also wanted to go but also didn't have time to make a cake. Why not! Of course! So for hers, a cherry chocolate almond cake was definitely the way to go and I love love how it turned out.As for the SweetMeet itself, I did win a $6 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins provided I agree to take a date to it (snickering and laughing, er, any bets on those coupons still being in my purse in 2013?). But just about the time I thought I might be done with baking, I remembered that I was partially in charge of a little munch and mingle for our ward after church on Sunday. Bring on the valentine's cupcakes! For these, I defaulted to a box mix because I couldn't bring myself to start from scratch again. But the frosting is real, with almond, of course. And sprinkles on top.Okay. Now I'm done baking. For a looooooonnnnnnnnnngggg time. A very long time. And I'm passing the torch on to you all. Here's a super delightful, perfect, easy chocolate cake recipe courtesy of my quasi-idol, the Martha Stewart empire. The frosting recipe below is spot on and is courtesy of my super-idol, my sister Lisa.

Chocolate Cake in scientific notation.

.75 c unsweetened cocoa powder (plus more for pan)
1.5 c all-purpose flour
1.5 c sugar
1.5 tsp. baking soda
.75 tsp. baking powder
.75 tsp. salt

2 large eggs slightly beaten
.75 c warm water
.5 c milk
.25 c sour cream
.33 c unsalted butter (melted)
.75 tsp. pure vanilla extract (or ALMOND, yum!)

Prep for some great cakes by preheating your oven to 350F. Grab a pan (I used two 8" round but a 9 x 13 works too) and butter it up. Place parchment in the bottom and butter that surface then dust the whole thing in cocoa. Then, mix all the dry stuff together and set aside. Mix all the liquid stuff together and then add in the dry stuff while mixing. Give it a good whisk at the end to make it smooth and then pour the batter into the pan(s). Bake 'em for about 30 minutes or longer until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool then invert the cake onto a rack and let cool. Head into phase two, frosting.

Frosting Heaven

.5 c butter
.125 (1/8 yeah) tsp. salt
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or ALMOND yum!!)
3 Tbsp. milk

Cream the softened butter until smooth and whipped. Add half of the sugar gradually and cream together. Add the salt, vanilla (or ALMOND yum!!), and remaining sugar, alternating with the milk.

Basically at this point, I put a thin crumb coat of frosting on the bottom layer of cake, add any fillings (cherry pie filling keeps everything delish and moist, the s'mores cake could probably use a whipped topping/pudding filling along with the graham and toasty mallow) and then place the second layer on top. Crumb coat with frosting the whole thing and pop in the freezer for a bit while you make decorations for the top, eat a snack, or check your email. Then pull the creation back out and frost the whole thing. Perfect. Thanks Lisa!!!