Somewhere over the rainbow is a magical land of cakes!

On Saturday, I entered that magical land fires a blazin!  If you have known me for any period of time you would know that there is seriously only one dessert that I dream about at night love to eat, cake.  Specifically, yellow cake with vanilla butter-cream frosting.  Can I get an AMEN?!

Amen!Publish Post

So when we were invited to Margaritas and Fajitas this past weekend, I knew that God spoke to me and said, "Chelle, you must make this cake."  I am not one to disobey, so to work I went.  God was definitely looking out for me and my waistline because when he dictated that I take the cake the M&F night, he knew that I would have to share, and therefore be unable to hoard the entire cake for myself.  Me and my trusty mixer got to work!

The finished product

Oh wait, it gets better.  I couldn't just show up with a boring yellow cake. I needed an explosion once people cut into it, but it would not be practical to place an actual bomb inside of the cake, you know for people's safety and all, blah blah blah...

Drum Roll Please.

TIGATIGATIGATIGATIGATIGA

(yes, that is what a drum roll sounds like. don't argue)

So I decided on a a COLOR explosion.  Boom! Hello, sweet sweet rainbow cake! 

I should go on an on about how hard it was and how much time I spent slaving in the kitchen to get just the right concoction of cake and color.  But that would be a lie.  And since this cake was ordained by God himself, I can't lie about it.

It was easy, with a capital E.  I used a standard box mix and 2 cans (eek, that sounds really unhealthy) of frosting.  Just measured out into 6 separate bowls about 1 cup of batter and *colored it.  Then I made sure I greased and floured my pans really really good.  That step was important since it was such a thin layer of cake.  Instead of following the directions on the box for baking, I baked at 325 for 11 min.  Each layer came out perfect and moist.  Assemble each layer with frosting, bada bing bada boom, a cake!

* I wanted to make a note on food coloring.  If you are interested in coloring your food, but not the runny consistency that liquid color gives, you should really invest in some Wilton Gel Colors.  The BEST, hands down.

A Very Merry "Cake"mas

Merry Christmas!

I have a Christmas present for each and everyone of you. I am going to share my super secret family recipe for Hazelnut Cake.  Fine.  It isn't a super secret or even a secret, heck I found the recipe last week in a magazine and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.  But I did officially decide tonight (while eating the cake) that I am going to make this cake every year at Christmas time, isn't that special? Yes M'am.

So without further ado I present to you your gift:

Chelle's Hazelnut Cake

I know it isn't the prettiest, most evenly frosted, or level cake, but I did put my sweat (not literally) and tears (yes real tears) into it.  I made it from scratch, and not from a box scratch.  Everyone seemed to be really really pleased with it and kept telling me how good it was.  Let's hope they weren't lying for the sake of Christmas and they really liked it.

Chelle's Hazelnut Cake

1 c. butter softened

1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour, divided

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnut*

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

 Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 3 cake rounds.  In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars at medium speed until creamy.  Add vanilla, beat to combine.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each.  In the food processor, combine 1/4 c. flour and hazelnut, process until finely ground.  In medium bowl, combine remaining 1 3/4 c flour, ground hazelnut mixture, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with sour cream.  Be sure to begin and end with flour mixture.  Spoon batter into prepared pans.  Bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in pans for 10 min.  Remove from pan and cool on rack.  Spread Frosting between layers, garnish with nuts.

*  Hazelnuts were hard to find and I had to buy them, crack them, and toast them.  Then I had to remove the skins from them and they didn't want to cooperate.  This is where the tears came in.

Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

2 (8oz) cream cheese softened

3/4c chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella)

8 cups confectioner's sugar

In a large bowl beat cream cheese and chocolate spread at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.  Gradually beat in confectioner's sugar until smooth.

Enjoy!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Saturday full of fun, family, and fellowship.  Not only is today a day for fun, presents, and good food, but most importantly it is the day our Savior, Jesus Christ was born and never has there been a more important gift than that.  So today, in the midst of all the Christmasy things  take a moment to think about what the day is and don't get bogged down in what is has become.