Happy Birthday, Nora!

Sweet, spunky, engaging Nora turns TWO today!

Hard to believe it’s been two years since this little one entered our life.  She’s an incredible blessing daily with her impish personality and ability to make those around her smile.  She lives life fully and makes it better for all of us…even if we’re exhausted after chasing her around.  Currently she’s a big fan of Doc McStuffins so I went to work making a special cake for her.

Cute, huh?!  I figured Lambie’s face would be the easiest to replicate on a double-tier cake, which is as creative as my baking gets.  My good friend Google helped me find this picture that I used as inspiration.  Here’s how I did it.

First, the cake!  What you can’t tell from this picture is how deliciously chocolately the inside was.  Y.U.M.  I used this Dark Chocolate Cake recipe from Marg at Food.com.  I’ve made it as cupcakes for my oldest daughter’s 4th birthday and today as a double-tier cake for my littlest daughter’s 2nd birthday.  Each time I’ve made it it’s been amazing.

Dark Chocolate Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (preferrably dark cocoa)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 – 1 cup boiling water (see note below)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease and flour baking pan(s)
• In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients
• Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract.  Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
• Stir in boiling water by hand.  The batter will be thin.  (NOTE: The original recipe recommends between 2/3-3/4 cup of water as this has yeilded a cake that is moist but does not “fall”.  I have used 3/4 cup and it’s been great each time).
• Pour batter into prepared pan(s)
• Bake for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes, 30-35 minutes for 9″ round pans, 35-40 minutes for a 9×13″ pan
• Cool 10 minutes then remove from pans to wire racks

I had enough batter to make two 9″ pans as well as 2 cupcakes for Lambie’s ears.  You will love this cake!  It has nearly 5 stars from close to 500 reviews on Food.com.

Next, the icing.  What goes better with moist, chocolate cake than rapsberry icing?!  Nothing.  Chocolate and raspberries must be a combination that’s served daily in Heaven.  At least I hope so!  I found this Raspberry Buttercream Icing on Wilton’s website.  I’ve made it a few times with some minor modifications and each time it was delicious!  For the Doc McStuffins Lambie cake I actually made two batches; one raspberry and one vanilla.  I used the Wilton recipe both times with some slight changes.  Here’s what I did.

Raspberry & Vanilla Buttercream Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, softened (NOTE: the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup vegetable shortening and 1/2 cup butter.  I say yay for real butter!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves OR 1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

• In a large mixing bowl beat butter (or butter & shortening) until light and fluffy.
• Add vanilla, mix well.
• Gradually add sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well on medium speed.  Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.  Icing will appear dry after all the sugar is added.
• IF MAKING RASPBERRY ICING: Add raspberry preserves and beat on medium speed until light and fluffly.
• IF MAKING VANILLA ICING: Beat icing at medium speed while slowly streaming in 1/3 cup heavy cream.

After the cakes were cool I used half the Raspberry Buttercream Icing as filling inbetween the tiers.  Next came a “crumb layer” of vanilla icing over the entire cake and cupcakes.  I popped the cakes into the refrigerator at this point.  It wasn’t pretty, therefore I forgot to snap a picture of this phase.  Sorry!  However, allowing all the cakes to cool in the refrigerator made the rest of the process SO much easier.

When the cake & cupcakes were cool I added another layer of the Vanilla Buttercream to pretty up the outside.  Looks cute in this pic!  So does Nora.

After the Vanilla Buttercream was in place, I added an oval of the Raspberry Buttercream on the bottom part of the cake and as “ears” on the cupcakes.  Then I stuck in two chocolate chips as Lambie’s eyes.  I remembered to take a picture but it was with my phone so forgive the quality.

I made three small icing bags next: one of Raspberry Buttercream, one of Vanilla Buttercream, and one of Raspberry Buttercream plus a drop or two of red food coloring to make the accents on Lambie’s face.  Using the Raspberry Buttercream, I made the best bow I could with a round tip.  I am no expert, whatsoever, so I was really just going with the flow here.  With a star tip I smooshed on (really, it was a smoosh) Lambie’s Vanilla Buttercream “bangs”.  For the last bit of detailing I used a fine, round tip to pipe on Lambie’s nose, mouth, eyelashes and freckles with the bright pink raspberry icing.

Voila!  Sixteen hours later, I was done!  Haha, not really…  I think Nora loved it which was the goal!