On September 4th my sweet boy started Preschool. Sigh. How the hell did that happen? I'm pretty sure he was just wearing a "Mommy's new man" onesie a few weeks ago...but back to reality, Briton is growing up. It's such a fun journey to be a part of, I love seeing things thru his eyes and learning life all over again with him as my guide. So far, he can remember one of his classmates names, Henry, but not his best friend Henry, a different one. I take this as a victory, that he's slowly climbing out of his shell that goes up when Mommy and Daddy (or Grandma) aren't around. He's learned the cutest prayer ever (that maybe I have him recite for EVERYONE like it's some kind of parlor trick) and he's finally figured out how to hold a pencil, 2 more victories.
Also this month is my moms birthday and because she is AWESOME my mom celebrates her birthday on the first day of Fall. Briton loves to have pretend birthday parties for his family...pretty much daily so when he found out that Grandma's real birthday was coming up he couldn't wait to start planning her REAL party (they are best friends after all and you need to plan you best friends party). His party venue of choice was Chuck-E-Cheese. Thankfully after some mommy manipulation he was convinced that his 2nd choice, Stevie B's, was a much better choice. My younger sister drove down and joined my Mom, Dennis, Briton and I and we had a great night. I don't know the last time I saw my Mom as happy as she was at her birthday party. It was silly and fun but so is our family so it worked out perfectly.
For her cake my mom requested and almond cake with chocolate buttercream. Briton wanted to help so I looked for a recipe that was simple enough to really involve him. I'm so excited that he enjoys baking, he questions each ingredient and takes a real pride in what he's doing. It's pretty awesome to have this shared hobby. So after some tweaking this is what I came up with, the almond flavor was light and worked well with my go-to chocolate buttercream recipe.
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, sifted after measuring
1&1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1&1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 8-inch cake pans.
*In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
*Add milk, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Beat with a hand mixer for about 3-4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs and beat for another 3 minutes.
*Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing equally among both. Bake 30-35 minutes until your cake tester comes out clean.
*Cool in pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes, flip out cakes and cool completely on racks before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3&1/2-4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons heavy cream
*Cream the butter for a few minutes in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.
* TURN THE MIXER OFF! Sift together 3&1/2 cups of the sugar and all of the cocoa powder into the mixing bowl. Turn mixer on lowest speed and mix at this speed until the dry ingredients are absorbed by the butter.
*Increase speed to medium and add extracts, salt, and heavy cream. Beat for another 3 minutes.
*If the frosting is too thin add more sugar, if it too thick add more cream 1 teaspoonful at a time.
Now, frost that cake!!! I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it with your loved ones. Any day can be a special occasion and a special occasion needs cake!
Until we eat again,
Rachael
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:My couch
Yum! I can't wait to try that frosting.
ReplyDeleteEven Briton likes it and he normally thinks chocolate is "yuck". If he didn't look and act exactly like Dennis and I then I'd probably accuse the hospital of a baby switch.
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