The Chocolate Cake Attempt

My mom's birthday is tomorrow, so staying in line with my resolution to bake more and because I am a kind and generous daughter, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try baking a chocolate cake from scratch. Chocolate cake is hands-down one of my favorite desserts -- preferably chocolate cake with chocolate frosting: super fudgy and super delicious -- but the only time I have made cake, it's been from a box (thank you, Betty Crocker). Needless to say, I was nervous about tackling this dessert because of the high stakes: favorite dessert, mom's birthday, unsupervised baking... However, no risks mean no rewards.

I found a simple recipe online for both the chocolate cake AND vanilla buttercream frosting. Yes, if I was going to bake the cake from scratch, I couldn't possibly use store-bought frosting as well. All of that effort to bake a cake without the help of Duncan Hines or Betty, and I'd just be using their frosting? No way. I would brave the unknown and attempt my own frosting. As back-up though, I thought it would be best to grab some frosting because if I successfully made the cake and unsuccessfully made the frosting, well...Who would want to eat that?

To prepare for my cake-baking adventure, I double-checked that I had all of the ingredients that I would need already on hand, and those I didn't have, I marked down and then went to the grocery store to retrieve.

Necessities for the birthday bonanza

Both the cake recipe and the frosting recipe required the use of a mixer. Unfortunately, my mom's very handy KitchenAid stand-up mixer was broken, so I had to revert to using an old hand-mixer. At one point while mixing, I thought something smelled funny, and wondered if I had added too much of one ingredient, but then I just realized it was the mixer, probably not used to working this hard.

I realized that using a hand mixer from the Middle Ages wasn't too difficult, except that I probably should've worn an apron because at times, I accidentally would splatter myself with whatever was in the bowl. Mixing up the chocolate cake batter was great through -- so much cocoa power! All I could smell was chocolate and it motivated me to go on!

The chocolatey goodness prepared for baking

Once I got the batter finished and the two pans in the oven, I was moving on to more unfamiliar territory: homemade frosting. The recipe called for whipping cream and I realized: I would have to make that too. I made it once and it didn't seem to come out like I thought whipping cream should come out. It was too liquidy and not fluffy, as the "whipped" part of the name would imply. So I tried it again, and this time, it still wasn't very fluffy. I figured that would have to do and hoped for the best.

Now I had to actually make the frosting. It was easier than I had thought -- minus the whole whipped cream confusion. However, the hand-mixer and I did not get along for this part of the baking process. I may have accidentally got some of the frosting on the wall, but, as you can see, the majority of the frosting stayed in the bowl. I also accidentally added too much vanilla to the frosting, which, I realize later, may have been the reason the frosting tasted a little too salty or vanilla-ish (go figure). I went to add just a teensy bit of vanilla and ended up pouring more than anticipated. Despite my mistakes, the frosting wasn't half bad. I made sure to have my dad taste it prior to frosting the cake so that I didn't ruin the entire birthday cake and, in turn, ruin the entire birthday (a birthday's success can hinge on its baked goods).

Side note: I managed to burn myself while taking the cakes out of the oven.
Battle wounds of birthday cake baking.

Once the cakes were cooled and the frosting was finished, I then had to frost the cake. This part is where my chocolate cake went downhill. Maybe it was adding the food coloring to the frosting and turning it into a strange pink color or maybe it was my shoddy frosting job or the fact that there wasn't really enough frosting... But once the frosting was on the cake, it kind of looked disgusting. Don't get me wrong, it smelled fantastic. However, there was disconnect between my aesthetic vision and its sweet chocolate and buttercream aroma.

Despite all of this, my parents both "oohed" and "aahed" at my completed cake as kind parents would. My dad assured my mom that the frosting tasted delicious and my mom even had to stick her finger in the cake to have a sample. She also seemed to be impressed with the frosting. However, the true cake test will be when we eat it tomorrow night for my mom's birthday -- if the delicious taste will surpass the childlike frosting job.

Maybe I should just pretend that my dog frosted the cake, then it would seem impressive.