Mommy suddenly decided to tell me on the 23rd of September to just bake a cake for Jarell’s birthday so she doesn’t have to buy one. I quickly said yes, assuming that this will turn out well, and happily it did. I quickly looked for a recipe since mom was asking what ingredients she has to buy for me. And it seems we are fully stocked (we are that stocked). So I just decided on choosing which recipe would appeal to the kids. Something with lots of sugar and chocolate. And also tons of icing.
I decided on this recipe posted by Kubiertos. It seemed easy enough, and it promised a moist cake. Realizing I only have one chance in making a good enough cake, this has to turn out well.
It was a dump and mix batter, and I doubled the recipe to make a big two layer cake. It was chocolate, and I’m sure it was bound to be a hit with the kids. Two pans were in the oven as soon as I finished dinner. I had to cool it before I got to ice it, which gave me a couple of hours to kill in front of the television.
I decided already before hand that the icing I should be using is one that doesn’t melt. A couple of years ago, I discovered a non-melting chocolate icing that uses cornstarch as its base. It was yummy and fudgy as other icings, but this one is melt-proof! I have lost my original recipe and had to resort to another help from google and found this which was as good as the initial one I made. It is mostly advertised as vegan frosting (sans the butter) or just looking for chocolate icing with cornstarch will yield good enough results.
I started assembling the cake which I really learned more from watching TV than anything else. I plopped one cake on it’s top side which was supposed to ensure the top was flat. I put a layer of the icing on top, then covered it with the other cake. I also trimmed down the sides (as mentioned on TV also) since it would make an even side and it would be easier to ice. Fret not, the trimmings were consumed with gusto by my officemates when layered with more of the icing.
It was after finishing the cake that I realized I won’t allow it to be this plain. It looked so sad! No 5 year old would be happy with a cake with no design! So, at 12 midnight, I decided another icing was needed to decorate this cake.
And this is what I decided to write on the cake with. It was thick sugar syrup with some egg whites. 🙂
PS. I slept at 1.30 and was up by 4.30 to finish the cake. 🙂 Labor of love.
Domestic Urbanite 