Best Birthday Cake

For some time now, I have been completely in love with the smitten kitchen blog.  I check it every morning for updates, new posts, and if there aren't any, rely on the awfully clever 'Surprise Me' button for a recipe fix.

Somehow or another though, I've become fixated on one recipe in particular.  Deb's Best Birthday Cake in fact.  I find myself continually drawn to that recipe, even though I rarely have a reason to bake a whole cake, cannot in fact remember the last time I made a whole cake and somehow suspect I have never actually baked a whole cake greater than one layer and without the use of a packet mix....

So when Hubby decided to have a BBQ recently with our neighbours, his sister and a couple of other close friends, I jumped at the chance to provide a dessert, without perhaps realizing the level of sheer panic I would induce in myself at trying to get it made and the house in a state to receive visitors in one morning (this also involved me closing a cupboard door on my head that left an impressive lump on my temple, but that's another story).

After my more recent endless cupcake escapades, Hubby had scoured ebay to get me an affordable Kenwood, which is now my prized possession.  Armed with this, and what I thought was PLENTY of time, I got stuck into making my masterpiece.

 Can I just say now, that I REALLY enjoyed making this cake.  I really, really wish that it was the only job I had to do that morning, because I have to admit, the slightest timing hitch was going to really interfere with me finishing on time.

The only problem I really had with the whole thing, was getting the two cakes (my fab Neighbour lent me a second cake tin) to actually bake all the way through.  THEY JUST WOULDN'T!  And the end result was, that I actually burnt the bottom of both cakes.  Fortunately, when I trimmed them to make them all flat and level, I trimmed off the burnt bottom.  Does anyone have any advice on this one?

I was a little scared about assembling the cake - as I've mentioned before, I have never made a 'big' cake.  Or any kind of multi-layer cake.  Cutting each cake in half was a bit nerve-wracking, but I got there in the end! 

Successfully icing the cake was a bit tricky too.  By the time I was actually icing, a few guests had arrived and were cheering me along which I found very helpful.  In the end, while the icing job certainly doesn't look particularly professional, I argued that I was going for a more 'rustic' look.  I just wish I had put HEAPS more in between the layers.

  

As you can see from the above photo, my cake was definitely overcooked.  But I took IMMENSE satisfaction out of baking something so out of the ordinary for a everyday BBQ.  And surely my icing skills can only get better?