Audrey's Sprinkle Cake

This weekend was my bff's, Audrey, baby sprinkle. I was very excited that I could make it down for the event. Her neighbors and dear friends, Nancy, Liron and Taylor threw her a wonderful party. We had lots of snacks to munch on while we mingled. Played some really fun shower games and enjoyed watching Audrey open all of her presents filled with the cutest and tiniest baby apparel and toys ever! And, for the grand finale we had, you guessed it, cake.

I cannot take all of the credit for making this cake. I had help this time around from Nancy, Audrey's neighbor and friend. Nancy loves to bake and she offered to help bake the cake for Audrey's sprinkle. Nancy is this blog post's baking chef of honor :) I live in Boston and I was flying to Baltimore for the party so bringing a cake along on a plane was unrealistic. So I handed off my recipes to Nancy and she had them ready for me when I arrived to Baltimore. She baked a yellow cake and whipped up vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream (see below for recipe). Nancy had suggested we make a cake that looked like a castle and that we use baby bottle's for the towers. I loved her suggestions and got all the supplies ready to put the cake together.

We met up Saturday and Sunday mornings to put the cake together and decorate. It took us a total of 4 hours. I was so grateful for her help! She did a great job and it was so nice to have someone there to keep me company. I usually make the cakes on my own and after a few hours it can get quite lonely. I had a partner in crime and we had fun tasting the cake scraps and finding any excuse to eat the chocolate buttercream frosting. It is dangerous how good this chocolate buttercream tastes. I almost don't need cake to eat it :) We were finished after all the frosting, fondant and the finishing decorating touches made it on the cake. I must say we made the cutest cake castle.

We also took some pictures with the cake this time. I wish I though of doing this before with my other cakes.  I guess this makes it a unique blog post and I am ok with that. So here we are with Nancy on the left, our baking chef of honor, Audrey in the middle, the guest of honor, and myself on the right.

All the picture taking made us hungry and we dug in. Here is the cake inside out for your eyes to devour.

I know that I enjoyed both of my slices of the cake. I want to thank Nancy for helping and doing such a great job baking. Now we are all ready for Audrey's daughter to arrive hopefully sometime this coming weekend. Why Not?

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
prep time: 10-15min


Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream


Preparations:

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. 
Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. 
Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla/almond extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. 
If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Makes about 3 cups of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.