Happy Birthday Mom!

For my first recipe I decided to make a birthday cake for my mother whose birthday was last Monday. To challenge myself I made a double layer cake from scratch. It took a lot longer than I expected (a good chunk of my Sunday afternoon), but the result was well worth it. For the cake part, I found a recipe in the Betty Crocker New Cook Book that my mom got for a wedding gift (not so "new" anymore). For the frosting, I decided to learn how to make my great-grandmother's chocolate fudge recipe that has been passed down through the family and is a favorite. To get started I had my dad pick up some whole milk at the store. My mom says using this instead of our normal 2% milk makes it taste better. The first thing I had to do was prepare the pans so that the cake doesn’t stick to the pan. To do this I took butter and rubbed it all along the bottom and the sides. Next I cut out a circular piece of parchment paper to place in the bottom of each pan and once again covered that in butter. Next I covered it in flour and shook out the extra. This is what it should look like:

Two pans ready to go!

 

Now time to mix all the ingredients!

 

First, in a separate bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Next, in a mixer bowl beat ¾ cups of shortening on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add 1 ½ cups sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla and beat till fluffy. Add 1 cup milk and the flour mixture alternately. Beat on low after each addition. Next I learned how to beat egg whites. First you separate the yolk from the whites and collect them in a measuring cup. One tip I learned from my mom was count out the number of eggs you need and put the rest away before you crack any so you don’t lose count of how many you have put in. Beat the five egg whites until stiff peaks form which was about three to four minutes. Next you have to fold it into the batter which is very different from mixing. You scoop up from the bottom and fold over on top. Next pour the mix into the pans! I wanted the cake to be as perfect as I could make it, so I weighed both of the pans to make sure the mix was separated equally. Then I baked it at 375° for 20 minutes.

They came out perfectly!

 

 

Onto the yummiest fudge frosting you will ever taste! So I figured that since I was making a layered cake I would double the recipe. In a pan melt 1/2 cup shortening, 2/3 cup milk, 2 cup sugar, 2 square unsweetened baking chocolate, and 1 teaspoon salt. Boil for 1 minute while stirring. Remove from head and add 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Stir once every five minutes until the frosting sets up.  The frosting took about an hour to set up so I had to be very patient. Here is a video of me frosting the top of the cake. I might not have the right technique, but I still got the job done.

 

The finished cake!

 

Next week I will be making a creamy macaroni and cheese slow cooker recipe by Paula Deen! Also while I was making the cake, I was curious as to what the difference between baking soda and baking powder was. I did a quick google search and you can check out the answer at this website: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodchemistry/f/blbaking.htm 

-Sarah