Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I asked my middle what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted “chocolate.  With pink frosting.”  This was only a week or two after our neighbors’ granddaughter turned 9 and they invited us for cake–a chocolate cake from Sam’s, I think, resplendent with pink frosting and an impressive fondant bow.  She would have been thrilled if I had gone out and bought her the same cake; unfortunately for her young soul, this mommy likes to bake from scratch.  (I have no issue with buying a cake if baking from scratch is not your thing–certainly I buy things instead of sewing them ALL THE TIME–but it is my thing, at least enough for me to refuse to buy cakes for my family’s birthdays.)  I did want to make her what she wanted, however, and so I scrolled through my Pinterest cake recipes and came up with this Cocoa Cake, which called for whipped cream as frosting.  I thought–hey!  The cake looked rich enough to be tasty–I believe I’ve mentioned my preference for rich cakes, rather than basic cakes with rich frosting–and I love whipped cream.  (Not so much whipped topping, and woe betide the server at a restaurant who thinks the two terms are interchangeable.)  I even have a newly purchased (on a whim!) set of neon food coloring, which comes with an actual pink instead of just red.  (Although the practical difference between the two was negligible.)

So onward I forged with the Cocoa Cake, and I have to say–it was tasty.  (She was thrilled that it was “chocolate with pink frosting–just like I asked for!”)  All of the problems I had were execution problems, and they can be easily avoided if you

1)  Scrape the bowl well before adding the sour cream and vanilla, so the mixing process is truly successful

2)  Sift when it says to sift (although the weird tiny bits that seemed like miniature chocolate chips didn’t bother me)

3) Cover the two rounds well as soon as they are cool (although I was dealing with a giggling-induced accident of the wet variety; sometimes        circumstances are beyond your control)

I do regret just following the directions on the whipped cream; I should have done what I normally do, which is to add sugar and vanilla to taste.  (It didn’t call for vanilla, so I forgot, and I missed that.)  Other than that, it was lovely and rich and delicious; just make sure there’s room in your fridge to store the leftovers.

If there are any.