My Mom's Birthday Cake (frosting recipe)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My Mom turned *ahem! cough! cough!* years old last Thursday and I volunteered to provide the cake. Of course. And since she so thoughtfully bought me the Wilton flower set for my birthday, I figured her cake needed flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.

A slightly different view, but still the same birthday.

I started on the royal icing flowers about a week or two before her birthday just to give myself a bit of a cushion. The daffodils and the apple blossoms (the pink blobby things) were royal icing. The purple blobby things are buttercream with sugar pearl centers. The text was not written during an earthquake. My handwriting is just that bad. Even in icing.

I wish I had another piece so I could eat it all over again.

I used the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe. It never fails. The frosting was a basic buttercream. The cake was filled with a delish chocolate chocolate chip buttercream frosting. (That's not a typo.) I kept the filling a bit thicker than you'd use for decoration. I also mixed up more frosting than I'd normally use. If you want to make a smaller batch, check out my previous post on basic buttercream frosting.

Basic Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 3 cups of Crisco
• 1 1/2 tsp. each of clear vanilla, almond and butter flavorings (all by Wilton)
• 21-24 tsp. water (Keep a small bowl of water nearby to add as needed. You probably will need more depending on the consistency you want.)
• 3 lbs. of Domino's confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons of meringue powder (optional, but it helps stabilize the frosting)
• Pinch of salt (optional)

Directions
Cream the Crisco, flavorings, and water together. Add the dry ingredients and blend until creamy.

 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup of basic buttercream frosting
• 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 4-6 tsp. water
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions
Blend the frosting, cocoa, and water until creamy. Mix in chocolate chips.

I didn't even bother figuring out the calories on this one. It has to be somewhere in the ten million range. It was soooooo worth it, though.