The Best Birthday Cake Ever

When it comes to birthday cake everyone in my family has the same request, a quadruple layer hybridized German Chocolate Cake! It may look impressive but it is easy to make. I use the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe, but make 4 8" rounds and alternate chocolate butter cream with coconut pecan frosting.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients 

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

   

 Directions

 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

  2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Grease and flour four 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

 Directions
Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer


Coconut Pecan Frosting
 Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 beaten egg yolks
1 tea vanilla
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans

Directions
Toast pecans on a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat, set aside
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a low boil, cook for 10 minutes, remove from heat
Add vanilla, coconut and toasted pecans
Cool completely before applying to the cake

Summer Ramblings

I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately. I've been distracted by beautiful summer days filled with children...

The sights, sounds and smells of childhood memories are carried on a summer breeze. Fairs and festivals, camps and cookouts, picnics and pools, bike rides and barbeques, sidewalk chalk and bubbles, fireflies, friends and windblown fields, homemade ice cream, all these things are the fabric of childhood. I want to soak it in moment by moment. All too soon the things of childhood are left behind and young adult responsibilities begin eek their way into our children's lives. I don't want to be in the kitchen or on the computer while that happens!

String Cheese

The origins of string cheese are a little hazy. Perhaps in some rustic Italian villa, a mother, anxious to keep her child busy while she finished her cheese, pulled off a piece for him to work. After all the word Mozzare means to cut off.

My kids love to make string cheese

Once you have mastered Mozzarella there is no reason you can't move on to making string cheese. There is no need for a special recipe just follow the directions to the point of stretching. Once you have pulled the cheese just stretch and roll it out then cut into strips and brine it for a few hours.

The Best Play-Dough Recipe in the World

What could be more fun on a sunny summer afternoon than play-dough? This recipe has been around forever and with good reason, it is simply the best.

Play Dough
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbsp oil
1 tea cream of tarter
Gel type food color

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small pot over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until it forms a ball. Knead lightly and allow to cool. Store in an air tight container or baggie.