Birthday Cake!

It has become an annual tradition to make Ian a sour cream chocolate chip cake for his birthday. He is able to look past the sour cream and appreciate it only in cake form. I am very pleased about this transition. As I have mentioned here the first recipe I made of this cake was a fluke and since then I have been trying out recipes in an effort to recreate the goodness that was the initial cake.

Now, I sort of blew it this year and forgot a key ingredient to the frosting, so I was unable to frost it until the next day. Ian couldn't wait that long and took a piece while I wasn't looking. Evidence seen below.

The frosting I made this year was a new recipe, it happens to be the Magnolia Bakery frosting recipe, and I love, love, love it. It is easy to make and doesn't include powdered sugar. I was so happy with the way it turned out. I overwhipped it, so that is why it looks so grainy. Better luck next time.

This weekend we had some friends over for a champagne challenge. When I hear that someone doesn't like champagne, I must immediately make them feel otherwise. This was; a) fun; and b) a continuation of Ian's birthday celebration weekend.

It turned out the bottle they brought over they liked the most and not the ones we selected, therefore, they were the winners of the challenge. Here, I mostly want to highlight my artistic work on our chalkboard for the event.

Here is the recipe for the cake. It is a great blend of sweet and tart.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter, softened 
• 1 14 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 1 cup sour cream 
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1 cup (give or take and depending on preference) chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease 2 8in cake pans.
3. Stir flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Beat butter with brown sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, add vanilla.
6. Whisk 1/2 cup sour cream with milk.
7. On low speed, alternately beat in flour and sour cream mixtures, in 2 additions, until batter is smooth.
8. Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
9. Divide batter equally between the prepared pans.
10. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.