Mmmm Cake!

So Madelynn and I are dabbling a bit in baking.  We are having so much fun experimenting with different recipes and ideas!  Of course my ulterior motive is creating memories with my daughters.  Madelynn loves to help in the kitchen and I am taking full advantage of it while I can.

Since it is Easter, we decided to try a new recipe for a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting and make it festive by using yellow marshmallow Peeps to turn it into a sunflower.  I'll be honest and admit that the recipe came from Food Network and the Peeps idea came from Pinterest, though we did add a little "oomph" to both.

Here's the recipe:
cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup real fine sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
dash ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp strong brewed coffee
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups milk chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350.  Spray two 9 inch round pans with cooking spray.  Sift together first 6 ingredients in medium mixing bowl and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl beat together vanilla, coffee, eggs, buttermilk, and oil.  Slowly add in flour mix and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Batter will be very thick.  Pour into baking pans and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

One layer of baked cake

frosting
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 lb milk chocolate morsels
Bring cream, sugar, and salt to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Add in chocolate morsels.  Let sit a minute then whisk in.  Refrigerate for about an hour whisking occasionally, until spreading consistency.

I frosted the cake with slips of wax paper under the edges to protect the cake plate.  I frosted in the usual way - a blob on the top of the bottom layer, flopped on the top layer, a blob on the top of the top layer, then smoothed around the sides.

cake with frosting

After the cake was frosted, we added yellow marshmallow Peeps around the top edge to look like a sunflower.  I found it easier to keep them connected and kind of sculpt them around.  Someone with a steadier hand might be able to separate them and put each on individually.  We then, dropped leftover milk chocolate chips into the center to make it look like the center of the sunflower.  After removing the wax paper, I piped green leaves around the cake plate using a store-bought bag of green-tinted cookie icing.  And voila!  Not bad for our first attempt!  We think it's cute anyway.  Happy Easter!!!

Top view

Side view