Hoppy Beerthday!



Pinspiration #1





Pinspiration #2

Birthday Time is here. A friend of mine was celebrating his 36th Birthday (Ew! Old!) and I wanted to get him something that he would like for his birthday, but he's the type to just buy whatever he wants whenever he wants, leaving zero to actually get him when his birthday comes along. I was pretty sure a hand-made change purse was not the kind of present he would use...So I had to come up with another idea. Of course, beer is a gift he ALWAYS welcomes, but who wants to show up with an unwrapped 24 in hand. Not overly personal, right? Then I remembered a pin that I had seen...PERFECTO! A welcome gift given in a creative way...can't go wrong, right? RIGHT!

I checked out the pin's blog and they were using this wonderful beer cake as a centerpiece, using cake boards to stack the cans on top of each other. This would be great if my friend was having his party at my house, but that wasn't the case. I had to transport that heavy and enormous sucker in my car from my place to his, without dropping them or rolling them around getting shaken can syndrome. Sure, I could've assembled it at the party, but then it would've lost the element of surprise...

So, I modified (me? modify? never!) the idea a little bit. Luckily I had three different sized spring-form pans in my cantina (that's another word for "cold room" for you mangia cakes out there) that were perfect for the task. I wrapped each of the pans in some red wrapping paper and put a little bow on each "layer", then stuffed as many cans as I could in each tin. Et voila! Portable beer cake!

YAY ME! I hope he liked it!

I also promised to make him a cake so I thought that this would be a great time to try out a new recipe that had piqued my interest... I have a serious problem when it comes to scratch cakes. I'm VERY particular. They have to be super moist and fluffy...I feel like I've said this before. It literally is my mission to find the perfect chocolate cake and the perfect vanilla cake. After that I can fiddle around with each recipe and try out different flavours. Until then I will try anything and everything out there until I get it JUST RIGHT.

Well, guess what? I FOUND THE CHOCOLATE ONE! Call off the hounds! Yes, ladies and gents!!! This recipe is THE PERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE (for recipe click HERE) I followed the directions exactly and out came the most wonderfully moist chocolate cake ever.

Don't get me wrong,  I was initially VERY apprehensive, of course, because anything I try is too dry. I don't know why it's always dry, but it is. And if it's not dry, it's not chocolatey enough. All I could do was cross my fingers and HOPE that this would work.

The recipe also called for extra strong coffee. What???? Yes, coffee. EXTRA STRONG COFFEE.

I HATE COFFEE. I love the smell of it...but I HATE, HATE, HATE the coffee. Even a hint of mocha totally sets me off.

So, I was truly, madly and deeply concerned that this cake was going to be a bust.

NOPE. Not a chance. It was delish.

The blog was right, though; the cake batter was definitely thin. And there was a LOT of it. Enough for me to make two layers and 12 cupcakes, which was great, because the birthday party had adults AND kids, so I knew the cupcakes would be a hit for the little ones. Cupcakes also gave me the opportunity to test it out before I served it to everyone.

Now, I didn't use the recipe for the ganache on the blog. I just thought the ganache wasn't the look I wanted for a birthday cake. AND, I need all the practice I can get on my buttercream icing piping skills (you'll understand why shortly when you see my finished product...)

So, I turned to my next favourite website: allrecipes.com, of course, to get my "go-to" buttercream icing recipe (click here for THAT recipe). Now, this recipe, I modify (surprise, surprise!). I don't use shortening, but rather replace that with butter (so, I use one full cup of butter). I also use three times as much vanilla. AND...I only use three cups of icing sugar (so basically I just made up my own recipe, right?)...but this was a good base to start.  I made two batches of this icing. One vanilla (as directed above) and one chocolate (I used the vanilla as directed above and then added 1/2 cup of cocoa). I put the chocolate icing in between my two layers of cake, and then iced the outside with the vanilla. Then I made half the cupcakes with chocolate icing and the other half vanilla (and let the kids pick their fave). I didn't get one complaint about the cake and I'm going to eat another piece tonight as I watch The Bachelorette finale! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for JEF! Love him!)

Here's what my cake/cupcakes looked like (again...I am NOT an expert cake decorator, but take every opportunity I can to practice, so don't judge!)



If you're looking for the perfect scratch chocolate cake, I really do recommend this one. I wouldn't steer you wrong! This is the cake for you. It tastes like Duncan Hines (if you added dry pudding mix and sour cream to it). It's truly what Pinterest advertised: THE MOST AMAZING BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER!

Shout Outs:

For other cute ideas, (just like the beer cake), check out: Sweet 'N Treat's blog. But don't compare my decorating to theirs...they ARE professionals...

For crafts, tutorials and The most AMAZING buttermilk chocolate cake EVER recipe, check out: Paperseed!

For all sorts of delicious recipes, always search: Allrecipes! They have everything (and it's all rated!)