Cake Recipes!

Well, I spent all day cleaning today. Didn't exercise or anything. Still in my exercise clothes. (Here's hoping!) Anywho, to reward myself I decided to make a Lemon Layer cake. YAY!! Henrie only likes being in the swing and I didn't want to stick him right back into the swing all day so I tried something new. I let him sit in the Bumbo chair. He didn't like it until he was on the counter and eye-level with me and could watch me cook. But, the poor little guy fell asleep in his chair. I guess I need to be a more engaging "Food Network" personality for him. ;-)

In the spirit of cake making, I thought I would post the recipe I used for Lily's Cake and icing.

I have to admit, don't think I'm being conceited ... it tasted REALLY good!

I used a box chocolate cake. I think the flavor was fudge. I think any chocolate box cake would work.

Box cake modifications:

• Extra flour about a 1/3 cup (only do this at high elevation)
• I substituted 1/2 cup butter for the oil
• I substituted water (1 1/2 cup) with sour cream and curdled milk (curdled milk: 1 Tb of lemon juice in 1 cup milk and stand for 10 minutes .. This was a substitute for buttermilk which I did not have on hand).
• Whip the cake batter until it is fluffy.
• I followed the tip from a cake decorator and wrapped the cakes in saran wrap and froze them until I was ready to decorate. This traps in the moisture.

Filling:

• Pudding - I just opened to pudding snacks that I had on hand.

Whipped chocolate Ganache Frosting:

16 oz semi sweet chocolate (I just used a bag of semi-sweet morsels)

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Melt the chocolate. I usually do this in the microwave on a low setting and stir often.

In a sauce pan heat butter until melted. Add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4 to 5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of standing mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.

Place the mixer bowl over an ice bath and stir continuously with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against the sides of the bowl, 1 to 2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1 to 2 mintues. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth.

I'll post the Lemon Layer cake recipe later. I have to see if it turns out first!