This Spring Celebration cake holds a very special message among the spring flowers. Happy Birthday! See how I created this unique design and get the perfect Chocolate Cake recipe! If you love cakes, don’t miss my 50 Best Cake Recipes in the World!
My MIL graciously told me that I could bring a cake to a family get together this weekend. It just so happens that I know of three ladies celebrating a birthday in the next few days (happy birthday mom!), so I figured a birthday cake would be appropriate.
And since I have had my Dear Husband home this week, I was actually able to make a real cake.
I dread him going back to work.
Anywho, my MIL loves spring colors and flowers and so I thought I would make a Spring Celebration Cake.
That is Gloria holding her/my MIL’s birthday cake. Isn’t she gorgeous?
A sweet little cake with flowing green grass and some colorful flowers to brighten any winter day.
Except I wanted it to be a birthday cake as well…
So I made the grass with all the letters of Happy Birthday.
It was definitely a fun cake to make!
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Instructions
- MAKE THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line them with parchment paper; butter the paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour with the sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt at low speed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the oil, eggs and vanilla. Slowly beat the buttermilk mixture
- into the dry ingredients until just incorporated, then slowly beat in the hot coffee until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then invert the cakes onto a rack to cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.
- Set a cake layer on a plate with the flat side facing up. Evenly spread one-third of the frosting over the cake to the edge. Top with the second cake layer, rounded side up. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and side of the cake. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before slicing.
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Here is the frosting I used:
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 (8-ounce each) packages cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except the sugar into a large bowl and mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl often.
- Once all sugar is added, beat until fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
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FYI~ I would probably not use the cream cheese frosting again if I were going to decorate it. I think buttercream works the best for that!
I used royal icing for the decorations which worked beautifully as I had to travel for 3+ hours by car with it on my lap. Since it dries hard it stayed totally in tact!
Woooooooow!! This is cool! I made one very similar several years ago….but then I scrolled down to look at more of the pictures here and saw the “Happy Birthday” genius part for the grass! THAT is awesome! I said that out loud, too. So the whole fam was in here ooohing and aaaaahing over your cake.
As always, you do a FABULOUS job, girl!!
Beautiful! You rock!
Gloria is gorgeous and so is this cake!! WOW!! It made me all happy thinking of snow. 🙂
Patience….if only I had those patience lol – it looks fantastic!
Best.cake.ever.
Ever.
Fantastical, Amanda! I love how you did the lettering! How do you do that detailed work without your hands shaking? My hands were shaking as I wrote out my Christmas cards! The first 10 or looked awful! I finally got into a grove and the rest looked better. I would imagine that the key is getting the icing the right consistency. Still….I might need a glass of wine or something just to keep my hands from shaking the cake off of the table!!
Wow! So creative! The chocolate cake recipe sounds super delicious! I love seeing your baking creations!
I think this may be Maygan’s “inspiration” cake for the Cake & Sugar Art Show…. Just perfect!
Beautiful!
That is so cool you wrote the letters to say happy birthday on the side!!
Thanks for sharing it! Hooray for email updates 🙂 I didn’t like not being able to have i am baker on my google reader.