Raspberry Cake

We met the brothers in Greenville last night for dinner. We accomplished a lot.
First, and most important, I got the final t-shirts for the ECU quilt! I washed last night, and provided I get some time today, I will start cutting my squares out. And I hope to make some good progress over the weekend! :)
2. We met Maggie, Matt's girlfriend. She's super sweet and she can stand my brother, so she's ok in my book.
3. We celebrated Josh's upcoming birthday. Hence the Raspberry Cake. We arrived with said cake, but left with none. Not a happy Mama.
4. We delivered; phones, Matt's suit, cookies, cheese, 40 pounds of potatoes (seriously), and mail.
5. My grandparents got to see the boys before they left this morning.

When my mom asked me to make the cake, I figured she would put it together and decorate it, no such luck. I got 'stuck' doing the whole thing. I actually love practicing my piping so it wasn't a chore by any means.

So here you go....

Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture of the cut cake, it was demolished before I even thought about it. It's pretty important though that you make a white cake, and follow the directions about using egg whites. Otherwise it doesn't look as pretty.

So you make your white cake. I used Dunkin Hines. I added a little vanilla, mine is clear; I would not add any if your vanilla is dark brown.

I'm a cake mix kinda girl for a few reasons;

1. It's way easy.

2. It saves time.

3. It's really important to have the correct amount of flour/soda/powder, yada yada, and since I'm not a good measure-er, a mix is way better.

4. No one can really tell the difference between a box cake or a cake made from scratch.

5. Did I mention that it's easy and less time consuming?

I don't buy icing for a few reasons.

1. It's not very good.

2. Butter cream is way better.

3. I enjoy making it.

4. You can tell a difference in canned and homemade.

So of course I made my own.

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 huge bag of powdered sugar

vanilla & almond extracts

milk

Cream butter, extracts and sugar. Add a little milk, and more sugar, and more milk, and more sugar... And repeat until you use almost a whole bag of powdered sugar. I pray there are no Amelia Bedila types trying to follow along. Stop when 1. you think you have made enough to ice your cake and 2. when it's the right consistency (not too soft, otherwise your cake will look like it's sagging. And not too stiff that you can't spread it on without tearing up the cake. It's a fine line.)

So your cake is baked, cooled, and trimmed (the rounded portion from the top is cut off). Now, you need to cut your cake into layers. Typically, I cut 1 cake into 3 layers. But if you have never done this, aim for 2 layers from each - so a 4 layer cake. And assemble. Put a dab of icing on your cake plate to keep your cake from sliding around. Press the 1st layer down firmly. Ice cake, only use a little icing. I pipe a barrier at the edge of the cake so the Raspberry jam doesn't come out the side, making your cake look pink. And fill in with a very small amount of jam. The more you use, the less stable your cake will be...

Repeat until your cake is completely layered. Ice sides and top of cake.



The top doesn't have to be perfect since you are going to cover it with jam. Then I put the cake in the fridge to set up before decorating. About 15-30 minutes. I then pipe lattice, and borders. And refrigerate again, especially if you are transporting the cake. It's best to keep this cake cold until serving time, otherwise it kind of shifts around.