Birthday Cakes Galore

This week I'm making two very different birthday cakes for two of my friends, Jerry and Mike (sup fellas?! haha). Jerry requested carrot cake with dark chocolate ganache. I changed this a little to make a dark chocolate frosting. Mike wanted a funfetti cake with vanilla frosting. I was torn between making vanilla buttercream or vanilla sweetened whipped cream. I figured the buttercream would stand up to the cake better since Jerry's whipped cream frosting didn't quite as well.

Carrot Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:
1 box of carrot cake mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs as directed by packaging
2 cups whipping cream
1 lbs good dark chocolate
1 tsp. espresso powder

1. Preheat oven according to box directions.

2. Make cake according to packaging. In my box I had to soak the raisins and carrots so look out for that step. Bake according to time chart near bottom of box.

3. Allow cake to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.

4. Frosting. Chop chocolate into small chunks.

5. Pour heavy whipping cream into a metal bowl and heat over low flame. Whisk constantly so cream doesn't boil.

6. Add chocolate to cream and whisk off the stove until chocolate is melted. Add espresso powder and stir until mixture is combined.

7. Pour about 1/4 of this mixture between the cooled cakes. This will be the frosting for the middle.

8. Place into the fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes. This makes the next step a lot easier.

9. Using an electric mixer, hand mixer, or by hand (this will take a lot of strength!) whip up the chocolate/cream mixture until it is of a whipped cream consistency. It should be firm but not too stiff.

10. Frost cake. To write/ decorate the cake you can use writing chocolate (recipe in other birthday cakes) or white whipped cream.

Funfetti Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:
1 box funfetti cake mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs according to box of cake
6 tbs. butter, melted
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-8 tbs milk

1. Make cake according to package directions. Try to make layers as even as possible for consistent cooking.

2. Remove cakes from pans and place on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes

3. to make Frosting. Pour melted butter into a bowl and add sugar. Whisk until it resembles chalky beads.

4. Add vanilla to mixture and slowly add milk, whisking well after each addition, until frosting is consistency you like. (make sure it's not to runny or frosting cake will be difficult)

5. Place a small amount of frosting on top of a layer of cake. then place other cake on top, make sure it's straight. It's best to pour all the frosting on top then ease it over the sides. Then remove excess frosting if needed.

6. Since this cake is funfettie I decided to add some extra sprinkles on top!