Monday, April 9, 2012

how we weekend

This weekend was made of up everything a weekend should be made of. 
sleeping in
sunshine
a perfect trail run through the stickiest of mud
firing up the grill
staying out until sunset
bike riding
skate boarding
(both resulting in skinned knees)
staying up too late
adorable Littles dressed up for church
an Easter feast!
egg hunting
chocolate cake
kite flying over snow melting on mountains...
kite copy
this weekend just made me so very excited for summer to get here so we can have weekends like this every week. over and over again.
jolueaster2012 copy
I think my favorite thing about this picture of my and my girl, is that under our easter-eggy sunday best we both have the grossest bruised and bloody legs.....we play a little hard around here.
melueaster2 copy
and.....last but not least....The Cake. 
As of Saturday night I still wasn't sure what I was going to make for dessert. I knew I wanted to make a cake of some kind, so I just started making chocolate cake and let it figure itself out from there. 
I wanted to keep it simple, so I opted for one layer, and ended up just doing simple chocolate whip cream to top it. very easy.
chocolate cloud cake
Chocolate Cloud Cake
named by The Children
this cake could easily be made into two layers, but I poured the batter into one 9" round pan, and then had enough batter left over for four cupcakes.


Chocolate Cake
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water
6 TBS butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
2tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line bottom of one 9" pan with a round of parchment paper. Butter paper, and sides of pan.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with boiling water and cocoa powder. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

In a bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs (adding one at a time) until thickened slightly and light colored (about 3 minutes). Slowly add buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined well. Add flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan, Fill about 3/4 full.
Pour remaining batter into cupcake liners.
Bake cake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-28 minutes. 
Cupcakes should be done in about 13-15 minutes.

Let cake cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from pan onto cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting. 

Chocolate Whipped Cream
this is easy to play around with and you can add more cocoa/sugar depending on how sweet/chocolaty you want it.
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powder sugar
1/4 + a few TBS unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Beat with electric mixer for a few minutes until you reach a thick whip-creamy consistency 

Spoon onto cake. 

Dust with cocoa powder.
If you want to add a few chocolate pieces for decoration (and eating of course) melt down some good semi-sweet chocolate and spread it thinly onto a piece of parchment paper. Pop it into the freezer for a few minutes until it has set back up. Break it in to pieces and VWALLA!! fancy cake topper.

enjoy!

How was your weekend?

20 comments:

Elise said...

Sheena! Your hair is so long! It looks pretty and the girl looks grown up and pretty!

Heather Louise said...

Your family is so beautiful!
Our weekend was equally chocolaty. Happy Springtime!

GG said...

Sheena, I made your brown butter brownies and topped them with chocolate frosting for one of my Easter desserts, they came out so great! Those brownies are one of my favorite recipes :)

gfs said...

such a gorgeous weekend and such a lovely photo (always wicked to know such sweet smiles are hiding playing scars :)) and that cake, oh my, with all the chocolate over easter I'll need a chocolate break...or I'll just use my chocolate stash to bake this cake!

Lori Folkman said...

Look at your straightish hair! Gorgeous! You guys are so cute!

Courtney said...

Your Kiddos look lovely, and her little dress is so cute! Glad you had a Happy Easter.

Brittany said...

you and your kids are just beautiful. :) and i love all your outfits.
our weekend was good. we hosted easter dinner. it was also my bday so we celebrated that with some cake too. lemon cake with black tea frosting (AMAZING).

austin-sara.blogspot.com said...

BEAUTIFUL family!!! And I am LOVING your long hair sheena :)

Unknown said...

i seriously cannot get over how beautiful your kiddos and you are!

also... muddy shoes, scrapped knees and chocolate cake sound like heaven! what a fun family you have.

Marie said...

How do you not have a million advertisements on here? Keep it up you amazing woman. I love your blogging.

sweetsugarbean said...

Gorgeous cake! Sounds like you had the best weekend. Mine was interesting - went on a blind date that actually didn't suck!

Anonymous said...

Your family is so gorgeous! That cute little teeth gap on the little boy.. And not to mention, you're strikingly beautiful! And this cake is perfect!

MyFudo™ said...

Beautiful pictures and a wonderful recipe...Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Sheena, your family is beautiful.

I love the kite picture.

the vanilla bean blog said...

That is a beautiful cake.

Whitney Lane said...

Those kiddos are GORGEOUS! So are you!!

Nikki said...

Hi Sheena,
I baked this cake yesterday for my daughters 2nd Birthday! We loved it, so moist and yum! Thank you!

Jenna Grace said...

Beautiful family and photos! What lens do you use/did you use for these photos? I'm researching on which next lens to purchase and your photography is always sharp & amazing. Thanks for your help!

Anonymous said...

I made this cake today...it is FANTASTIC! I'm a serious chocolate lover and not just any chocolate cake satisfies me. I wouldn't change a thing. I'll probably make it at least a hundred more times. Thanks!

julimondlicht said...

Sheena, I wished you kept posting recipes. This chocolate cloud cake is devine and actually every thing on your blog I try is sooo delicious... Thank you! Hope you are well. Juli