Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Birthday Cake

Our Lady Of (Drown Your) Sorrows Cake With Heavenly Frosting

Yield: Enough for an army

CAKE

3 Milky Way bars, cut into small pieces (we used Mars bars instead)

3 Three Musketeers bars, cut into small pieces (we used Twix bars instead)

3 Snickers bars, cut into small pieces

½ cup butter

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 by 13- inch baking pan. Melt the candy bas and butter in a saucepan. Blend. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Then mix in the shortening and eggs. Beat well. Slowly add the buttermilk, beating until fluffy. Then add the vanilla and candy-bar mixture from the saucepan. Beat well. Pour into the pan, and bake 60 minutes until done. When the cake is still hot, ice with:

HEAVENLY FROSTING

1 bag marshmallows, cut in half (unfortunately we did not have any marshmallows (we didn't get a chance to go to Nakumatt [Kenya's answer to Wal-mart] – and the shop had just ran out of gelatin so we couldn’t make homemade marshmallows – next time for sure!)

1 cup chopped pecans (couldn’t find pecans so we went with macadamia nuts)

2 cups shredded coconut (freshly shredded coconuts that we overpaid for!)

1 box confectioner’s sugar

4 tablespoons cocoa

8 tablespoons heavy cream

4 tablespoons butter, softened

 Place the marshmallow halves, sticky side down, on top of the hot cake. Scatter the nuts over the marshmallows, then a layer of coconut. In a bowl, whip the confectioner’s sugar, cocoa, cream, and butter. Pour over the hot cake. Serve when cool.

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There's a picture of me with the cake on someone's camera - I'll be sure to post it as soon as I get it.

We baked this cake on the stovetop using a large pot with a layer of sand, and then another pot with the cake batter inside it on top of the layer of sand, and then a lid covering the whole shebang.  It basically created an envelope of heat around the inside pot. 

Regardless of the fact that it was a little burnt on the sides, it had to be one of the best cakes I have ever eaten.  I was glad to celebrate the beginning of my 29th year with this cake, and with a group of really cool people. 

It’s a good start so far.  

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This blog consists of my personal thoughts and opinions. It does not in any way reflect the position of the United States Government or the Peace Corps.