Hiya cupcake!

Boxed cake mix isn't my thing. I'm never impressed. But sometimes it is what I have on hand and have time for.  A trick to improve them:  Throw in an appropriate flavored jello pudding and an extra egg. It makes the cake lighter and moister.
These are made from a french vanilla cake mix with a box of french vanilla pudding thrown in and the aforementioned extra egg.
What this project was really about today was to have something to put icing on. I  just was in the mood for frosting.  So I tried a version of a quick vanilla buttercream frosting.  It turned out great and really was super easy.

Ingredients:
 3 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup room temperature butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or another extract in a flavor you love)
1-2 Tablespoons of whipping cream

On low- mix together sugar and butter.  Once it's blended, increase the speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes.  Then add the extract and cream and beat for another minute until it's the consistency you like.
For the pink ones shown here - i added Marichino cherry juice for color.. it added a hint of flavor, but not enough to matter. A cherry liqueur would have worked better but this is what we had.

The best part = watching my kids faces when they licked the beaters or the icing off the cake. Total fun.

Ike turns 6. We get cake!

So, I have lots of wonderful things we've made in the last two weeks (fried chicken and banana bread recipes to come)... but the most intriguing for me has been today's enterprise:  Chocolate Birthday cake from an Ina Garten recipe.  Chocolate cake is not my favorite thing, in fact, I would never order it at a restaurant and I have never asked for it for my birthday, and I usually turn it down when offered it at a party. I often would rather have NO cake instead of chocolate cake.  Now a brownie-- well--- that's a whole different thing!  I think it has to do with sweetness, moistness and how disappointing most chocolate cakes are to taste compared to how they look ( just like pies from the grocery store-- usually a sorry and sad disappointment).

But when your 5 year old says that for his 6th birthday all he wants for dinner is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and all he wants with it is chocolate cake (can you say- "all sugar meal") ... well...  you make the damn cake!

Anyhow I chose this recipe out of the gazillion I found because it got such rave reviews.  I'll post later what our reviews are (since it isn't time to cut it yet... not till Scott gets home). But this is what it looks like

From the smidgeon of cake I broke off and the testing of the icing both Isaac and I did before putting on the sprinkles- I think we may have made the first chocolate cake I've ever really liked.  but I'll let you know when I come down off of the sugar high tomorrow!
Here's the recipe in case you can't wait for the review and want to just go ahead and bake some cake.

The Recipe is a Barefoot Contessa Recipe called Beatty's Chocolate Cake, and I just have to say, I really like her recipes, cooking and her style...

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting:

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.