A Birthday and Employment

Ok ok ok. It's been a week... AGAIN! I am horrible! Butt.. My daughter is finally a year old! On her actual birthday, hubby was lucky enough to have it off because he had watch the night before and got off in the morning. We pretty much went out to eat lunch, then we went shopping at the mall to get her gifts which consisted of two pairs of jordans, two outfits, and two brand new toys! We decided on letting her open her presents on the day of her party instead. Then we went to go pick up hubby's brother since he had just came back from deployment.. then we got ready again and went out to eat dinner at Chili's. We got baby girl a chocolate molten lava cake and she loved it! Then finished the night off with a little bit of shopping at Wal-mart to get some more things for the party on Saturday.

Then Thursday came and I started to prepare all the cakes for the party. That night I made Chocolate Cupcakes from scratch and put the in the fridge to get frosted on Saturday. Then Friday night I made Red Velvet Cake from scratch and mixed it with Cream Cheese frosting to make them into Cake pops. I also baked baby's smash cake which was regular yellow cake from the box. I didn't get to sleep until about 3am and I woke up at about 8am Saturday morning to finish the cakes and start baking the ribs in the oven. Once I woke up and got the ribs going, I started making the Butter Cream Frosting for the cupcakes and I started melting the milk chocolate for the cake pops. After about 3 hours, I finally got everything ready! I also had a bit of chocolate left over, so I decided to dip some fresh strawberries! All in all, things went pretty well! It was a bit too hot outside for anything, which made the swimming pool really useful... but I don't think we'll be celebrating her birthday outside again for a while! Now here are the pics of all my hard work and.... of course... a recipe for you! Enjoy!


Chocolate Cream Cake

• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups ice water

1. Grease and lightly flour three 9x1 1/2 or 8x1 1/2 inch round baking pans. Combine flour, soda, salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, beating eell after each. Beat in chocolate. Alternately add flour mixture and water, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just till combined. Pour into prepared pans.
3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 min or till a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 mins. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

Butter Cream Filling: Beat 1/2 cup butter till softened. Beat in 2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in additional milk, if necessary, to make a filling of spreading consistency.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat 1/2 of an 8oz package cream cheese till softened. Beat in 3 tablespoons milk. Beat in 3 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar. Beat in 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in additional milk if necessary to make of spreading consistency.

P.S. After job hunting for about a month and surviving 5 interviews.. I finally got a callback and I was offered a position! So I will be starting work in a few weeks! Woohoo! So starting next month, my life as I know it is going to change completely. I hope I'm ready for it!

And by the way, she enjoyed her smash cake. :)