I'm blessed to have a dad who taught me to karate chop overgrown bamboo thickets, appreciate the finer points of WWF wrestling, and who humored me tying him up and feeding him lettuce.
Yeah. I know. My dad is hella great.
So what better way to thank him than with one if his favorite things: yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
But comon... It's a holiday. Lets kick It up a notch: As seen on American baking competition I made, yeah you got it, a surprise cake.
SURPRISE!
How to:
Bake a cake in fun colors I recommend coloring two batches two different colors. (I used red and gray because, well, Black was just too hard)(That's what she said.) My dad watches his sugar intake so I used sugar-free boxed mix.
Then use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out shapes from your colorful cakes. I used an awesome ninja set. I made red ninjas and gray ninjas. They will fight each other in the cake. Awesome, I know.
Now, being a lazy woman that I am I used pre-mixed cake (boxes) for both my colorful inside cakes and the, shall we say, mother cake.
Lineup all your cookie-cutter cutout cake pieces up in a cylinder. I used two loaf pans... Because that what mom had laying around.
Then mix the 'mother batter' or outer layer mix. Again people: I boxed the shit outta that thing. Which wasn't the best choice. It was a little fluffy for this echelon of art and architecture, but I digress.
Pour an inch of the mother batter (what'd you call me?) in each/ all pans. Then add the cut out pieces stacked together.
Cover completely with the mother batter. Or, if you're me: run out of batter and leave little ninja head sticking up. Meh. It's fine.
Bake again until mother cake is set. Ignore your mothers vague skepticism. Watch that the ninja heads don't burn (or, you know, be competent and don't leave ninja heads sticking up in the first place).
Then forget about your cake and eat Philly cheesesteaks as per dads request. Then thank mom for remembering about your cakes and take them out of the oven.
I frosted my ninja cakes with chocolate ganache. Classy right? One of my most witty and ADHD students, Cricket, once said 'ganache is rich people's frosting'. Touché Cricket, touché.
I had to make sure and get the top of the ninja heads. Then sprinkle that bad boy with toffee chips or, you know, whatever and call it a day.
You're welcome. Hiiii-yah!
