Last night, my youngest daughter and her friends came over after school to bake a cake. Like mother, like daughter, right? Well, sort of. My ingredients don’t normally include a cake mix – not to mention an icing mix. (I’ve never even heard of that.) On the other hand, I rarely have as much hilarity in the kitchen as they did.
And I’d never criticize anyone for using a cake mix. I was about her age when I first started making cakes, and they were always from a mix. Once or twice, I remember taking them out of the oven as soupy as when they went in. Perhaps I wasn’t the most accurate of measurers. (Alas, I’m still not.)
The photo they took of the cake is priceless. The lighting is poor, the plate is half-off the counter, and the cake is surrounded by dirty dishes. In other words, it’s a lot like the first photos I posted on this blog.
The Bulk Barn Chocolate cake
Bulk Barn cake mix
Bulk Barn icing mix
6 eggs (!)
Water
Roses and sprinkles from the Bulk Barn
Simple Chocolate Icing (see below)
1. Stop at the Bulk Barn on the way home from school. Buy everything you need to make cake and icing, and to decorate the cake.
2. Mix 800 grams of cake mix with 1 1/2 cups of water and six eggs. Stir. Divide among three cake pans and one cake-pop tray.
3. Bake cakes at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Bake cake pops according to directions.
4. Meanwhile, mix one bag of icing mix with some unmeasured amount of water. Decide it’s a) too runny and b) the worst thing you’ve ever tasted in your life. Other than the cake you and your friend made last fall.
5. Get your mother’s icing recipe:
Simple Chocolate Icing
(from Company’s Coming: Cake)
6 Tbsp softened butter
2 1/2 cups icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Beat butter in mixing bowl until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring until combined, then beating until smooth.
Frost your cake once it’s completely cool. Take photos with your friends and divide the cake in three, so everyone gets some to take home.
