Shai 23rd Birthday

 My baby boy turned 23 this year and he loved Tiramisu so I decide to make him one instead of buying it.  Indeed I must say homemade cake are the best ! I used lady's finger cookies  on the outside.  The cake is layered with whipped mascarpone and heavy cream frosting and kahlua.

My birthday cake ...Black Forest

I love love absolutely love Black forest cake.  Something about the sweet cherries and whipped cream in between the cakes and the texture of the cake itself is moist and chocolaty.  The cake was frosted with whipped cream which was stabilized with gelatin.  Even after 2 days the cake was very moist .  The only regret was I did not have the cherry liquor and just used Vodka.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder ( dutch processed)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk ( I mixed in 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice)

1 cup hot water

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Cherry Liquor

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup cherry liquor

Whipped Cream Frosting

1 tbsp water

1 tsp gelatin

3 cup Heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 8inch cake pans with parchments.

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the eggs and the wet ingredients.  Beat with handheld mixer till everything is blended nicely.  Batter will be very thin.

Pour into prepared pans and bake about 45 min and test with wooden skewer if the cake is done.  The skewer should come out clean.  Cool for 10 min in the pan and then turn over to the cooling rack.

Prepare the cherry liquor by mixing everything together and set aside.

For the whipped cream...First mix the gelatin in a cold water and set aside.  once gelatin is soft, put in the microwave for couple of seconds and let it cool. Beat the heavy cream with powder sugar for 5 min or so.  Add the room temp gelatin in and whipped the cream to soft peak.  Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

51st Birthday Carrot cake

Well this surely doesnt look like a carrot cake because I was so busy that I forgot to sprinkle the pecans our the cake.  No doubt the cake was delicious and moist.  My hubby loves carrot cake and this surely made his birthday special.  Recepi is adapted from here

I made another carrot cake for my friend's  husband and managed to add the nuts :)