Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake...

            It has been a long while since I blogged last.  While I would rather bake all day than study DNA replication or biochemical pathways,  in my life as a student-athlete, the word student comes first.... followed very closely by athlete.  Baker is sadly little bit behind (though I would love to call myself an athlete-baker-student).  Anyways, it took my lovely roommate's 21st birthday to break my baking drought. 

           Whenever I make a birthday cake, I do my very best to personalize the cake for the specific person. The recipient in this case  is a wonderful girl who loves to wear..... flannel! The idea of a flannel themed cake seems like a challenge I was willing to take on, especially with the help of my trusty sidekick (check out her blog at http://craftcoma.wordpress.com/).  Equipped with my new "Dessert decorator plus" (sounds legit, right?), I was ready go. 

          I had a bit of a busy weekend, so I was a bit lazy and used a boxed cake mix.  However, to make myself feel better for my lack of creativity, I decided to add some extra stuff to the cake to make it better.    I followed this recipe to a Tee and put the batter in two 9 inch pans: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dessert/the-best-chocolate-cake.html.  Note the name of the recipe is "THE BEST chocolate cake".  It means it.  Seriously, the cake was amazing.  It turned out absolutely perfect.  I have found that spring-form pans also work wonders for turning out perfectly shaped cakes that do not require surgury afterwards. 

         For the frosting, I just used (cough* cough* doubled) the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/quick-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-recipe/index.html.  I used half and half instead of heavy cream.... you know, a low fat version :)..... NOT.  The decoration of the cake was the fun part.  As I wandered the mystical candy aisle at the grocery store, I was inspired by licorice.  I hadn't quite put it together in my head yet, but I knew I was getting somewhere and decided to make the purchase.   I was not quite sure about my roommate's stance on black licorice, so I deciced that the twizzlers would play the starring role in the cake.  After some serious help from Ms. Craft Coma, we created the masterpiece: 

 The twizzlers made the cake a bit hard to cut, but it was worth it.  What is the eagle, you may ask?? Don't worry about it. Until next time!!