We're baking a cake!

The Pioneer Woman says, "Nothing tastes more delicious than food you cook yourself."

Today we decided to test that concept for our newest creative challenge.  Why not bake a layer cake from scratch for Caitlyn's birthday?  We've never done that before!  Usually I'll just pick one up at the grocery store or maybe bake a 13" x 9" cake from a box, but no, not this time  Today we decided to make a 2-layer white cake with creamy white frosting (Caitlyn's choice).

We worked on it after school today, and this is what we found out:

Oh my goodness!  The frosting was out of this world!  We are waiting until the actual birthday tomorrow to try the rest of the cake.  But so far, I would say the Pioneer Woman is right...

BUT...

You realize just how fattening cake is!  There was an obscene amount of sugar and shortening in this one!  I don't even want to repeat the amounts.

AND...

It's not easy.  My cakes were sticking to the pans and hard to get out.  It's also slightly lopsided. Then there is the issue of frosting.  It is SO not easy to get it to look smooth!  I spent a half hour obsessing about it and then gave up, telling myself it's good enough and will be eaten up too fast to matter anyway!

PLUS...
We broke the hand mixer.  The frosting was just too creamy.  So, you might need some special equipment if you want to make a habit of this 'from scratch' cooking thing.

AND...
The kids lost interest about halfway through and ended up playing their games on my computer.  It really did take a long time.

BUT...
We are so ready to devour this cake tomorrow!  Hopefully it was worth the effort...fingers crossed! :)

3/19: THE VERDICT:

Was it the best cake we ever made?  Probably...it was so rich and delicious!  It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever seen, but it was tasty.

Did we make some memories yesterday?  Definitely!

Uh oh...now I've raised the bar on baking birthday cakes...hmmm...maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...