Friday, March 30, 2012

Happy Birthday, Dad!

March is the awesomest month ever!
SO many of my friends and family have birthdays this month. In my immediate family alone, 3 of the 4 of us (yes, we count the dog) have late March birthdays. Archie's on the 20th, my dad is the 28th, and mine is the 31st.
I'm home for the first half of my birthday weekend, then the second half will be with my honey :)
I'll be adding more pictures later, but I left my camera chord at school, so I can't attach the ones I took ahead of time of this masterpiece.

My dad loves golf. He's been playing it forever, and as soon as I saw this cake idea on Love and Olive Oil, I knew I had to make it for his birthday. I ordered this cute golf-themed chocolate mold two weeks ago, and it turned out perfectly!
Super Chocolate Cake
Courtesy of Whisk Kid
I doubled the recipe to make two layers, which I then split into 4. 
Ingredients:
Flour- 2 2/3 c
Unsweetened cocoa powder- 3/4 c
Baking soda- 3 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter- 1 c (2 sticks), room temp
Brown sugar- 3 c
Eggs- 4, room temp
Vanilla- 2 tsp
Sour cream- 1 1/3 c, room temp
Hot coffee- 1 1/3 c
Directions:
1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, ~5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Alternate dry ingredients with sour cream. Gently stir in hot coffee, and pour into two 9-inch cake pans that have been greased and floured. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for ~35 minutes, or until the cake tester comes out clean.

A little frosting anecdote...
My plan was to make two batches of Italian Meringue Buttercream. The first batch turned out great! The second, not so much.... Fortunately, I had all the ingredients I needed for marshmallow buttercream! So it's IMBC on the outside, Marshmallow on the inside, then I had to use some store-bought vanilla frosting for the little tufts of green grass. 
Here's the Marshmallow Buttercream frosting recipe :)

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
Courtesy of Baked Bree
Ingredients:
Unsalted butter- 1 c, room temp
Marshmallow fluff- 1 (7 oz) jar
Powdered sugar- 2 c
Vanilla- 1 tsp
Directions:
1. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add marshmallow fluff and beat for 2 minutes.
2. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute.

ASSEMBLY!
~Wrap the cake layers in saran wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight). This will make slicing much easier.
~Slice each cake layer in half, resulting in 4 slices.
~Place a generous amount of marshmallow buttercream in between each slice. Stack carefully!
~For the "hole," place one shot glass upside down on the top layer of the cake, use a knife to draw an outline. Take the shot glass off the cake, and dig a little hole in the top. Put the shot glass back on while frosting.
~Frost with a crumb coat of IMBC, and put in fridge to harden, ~15 minutes.
~Frost with another layer of IMBC. BE PATIENT! If you want it to be super smooth, you're gonna have to be willing to spend a solid chunk of time on this step.
~The green grass is actually a lot easier than you may think. All you need is a grass tip from Wilton.
~For the golf ball and tee, use a chocolate mold. Melt a handful of white chocolate candy melts, and pour  ~2 spoonfuls into each golf ball mold (it's a good idea to make an extra just in case). Let harden, then poke the edges with a knife until it pops out. Frost the flat side with some extra frosting, and stick 'em together.
Serve with ice cream if you like :)

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