the cake

our baby turned 2!

she loves chocolate!

i decided to make her cake from scratch
~ cause i'm such a good mom ~ ha!

for the first time ever, i made the chocolate cake recipe from

the recipe said it made one 9" cake.
so i doubled the recipe. why do i always do that?
i made 24 miniature cupcakes, a loaf pan and a 9" round pan.
that's a lot of cake!

it really was delicious!

and guess what the secret ingredient is...

pureed beets : )  mmmm!

initially i wanted to make cupcakes like this:

aren't they adorable?!

then i found this:

so beautiful and delicate!

since i couldn't find regular cupcake liners at the grocery store,
i decided to make miniature cupcakes.

then as i perused the internet for the best icing,
i remembered i wanted to make ganache.
{rhymes with Osh Kosh. i love saying it. it's such a Fancy Nancy word}

now what i am about to tell you is for your own good.
 i do not recommend making ganache or eating ganache.
in fact, it's better than you never repeat that word, ganache.

okay, you think i'm joking, so here's your chance to turn back now.

you're still here, okay... don't say i didn't warn you.

ganache is made from heavy whipping cream and melted chocolate.
not the imitation chocolate either.
real semi-sweet chocolate bark or chips.
i used 2/3 cup cream to 8 oz of melted chocolate.
i should have used equal parts of both
to make it runny enough to cover the cake smoothly.
either way, it's delicious.
i love dark chocolate and
yes, i will be making ganache again. : O
maybe even for cake balls or homemade truffles!
haven't made those before! ; )

the birthday cupcakes were supposed to be
the pièce de résistance
{who knew birthday cakes for 2 year olds could be so French?}
but they didn't turn out as pretty as the picture. big surprise.
next time i'll make a buttercream frosting.

first, i think i cut too big of a hole in the bag of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. 
my butterfly's wings were a little messy, but still delicious.
each wing was a "B"~ her name is Bryn and they're butterflys : )
second, the ganache was messy, which kept the butterfly wings from standing up.
really no biggie for me. we totally ate them anyway! 

isn't the paper so pretty?


i wasn't sure what i wanted to do with the rest of the cake at first.


this is what i came up with:

i free-handed it, so it's not completely symmetrical. don't judge me. 


and here's the finished product:

i had cherry flavored Twizzlers and mini M&Ms in the pantry.
to get the antennae to stay, i used a toothpick and dug a hole ~ it was just the right size.

by the end of the night,
we all had butterflys in our stomachs ; )