Knead to Make Lots of Dough

Arlene here again! I was debating on whether this was worth blogging about but decided to anyway! So yesterday was my last pig out day of the weekend and I wanted to make it count! What I wanted to do was make this:

Duncan Hine’s Black Forest Torte.

The cake mixes were on sale at the supermarket the other day (4 for $5.00!!! WUT WUT!) and I went bananas! Unfortunately when I went back to the supermarket, they didn’t have any cherry filling! Instead of giving up I decided to buy some cool whip (on sale!!) and work on my cake assembling skills.

So I took all the knowledge I’ve learned from the internet and went to work! First thing I did was bake the cake! I used a box of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix and prepared the batter according to the directions on the box except instead of using vegetable oil I used softened margarine (gives it a buttery flavor but keeps it light). Then I poured it into two heart shaped pans. (Take notes ladies and gents, these are good tips for V-day!)

Once the cakes are done, I let them cool to room temp then put them in the freezer. Yes the freezer! Why am I freezing my desserts you ask? Well, I’m getting to that part. Sheesh, relax!

Leveling your cake!

Most every cake you bake comes out with a bump on it, so what do you do? You slice the bump off like a knife happy plastic surgeon! Every cake has the right to be flat and beautiful! Freezing the cake layers first makes it easier to level and leaves less crumbs so that when you frost your cake the frosting doesn’t get all dirty with cake crumbs!

I left the layers in the freezer while I went to run errands but you only really need to leave them in there for about 15-30mins. Until the cake is a bit stiffer than it was when it became room temp. I’ve read that it is NOT a good idea to put a hot cake in the freezer so please don’t do that. <3

When I got home, I took them out and with a long knife sliced off the top leaving it nice and flat! I shook off the crumbs and transferred my first layer to a plate! On this first layer I spread a large spoonful of cool whip over the top.

Next I sliced off the top of the second layer, shook off the crumbs, layered it on top of the cool whip and proceeded to frost the cake. Some people like to pile all the frosting on top of the cake and let it drop down. I find that this leaves holes in my frosting and looks lumpy. Here’s what I like to do:

Frosting the cake!

• Drop a spoonful of frosting on top to ensure you have enough for the top later and just leave it alone for now
• with the knife, take a few dollops of frosting and spread it on the bottom sides.
• Once you have frosting covering the bottom, take the knife and spread it up to the top layer.
• If you have more than two layers of cake, the frosting may not reach all the way up so spread it up as far as you can without thinning out the frosting too much and repeat from step one on the next bare layer.
• Once the sides are completely covered then you smooth out the top adding more frosting if you need to.
• When the top is smooth, scrape the knife clean on the edge of the frosting container point the knife downward and smooth out the frosting with the flat end of the knife all around the edges.
• Do the last bit gently! We don’t want to scrape off the frosting after all that work. We just want to smooth it out.

Once your cake is lovely and smooth and perfect you can decorate your cake with a piping bag or add little candies or whatever you want to do.

I didn’t. I just wanted to eat the darn thing!

Lo and behold!

The inside!

You know you want some…

By the way, if you’ve never frosted a cake with cool whip, you NEED to! It’s the easiest and cheapest “frosting” out there and it tastes great with any dessert!

We bake, we eat, we blog. Til next time!