I have loved to bake ever since I was a little girl. My great-grandmother was an awesome baker and I have many fond memories of spending time with her in the kitchen, wearing aprons she made herself and baking. It was always my job to cream the butter and sugar together and to this day–almost 30 years later– I still think of her every time I do it.
I was never one to be very creative when baking however. I always stuck to tried and true, family friendly recipes and when I would make a cake it was often just your basic iced, round double layer cake. In the past few years however, I have branched out and started making cakes that are decorated according to the season.
When trying to come up with some simple Easter Desserts last year I came up with the idea to cut my cake to look like a cross. This cake was so simple to make but it really looked great sitting on the dessert table Easter Sunday.
I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, with my favorite buttercream icing and got creative. I baked it in a oblong cake pan and cut out the sides to make it look like a cross. I then used the pieces that I cut off to extend the sides and the bottom of the cake to make it longer.
I finally iced it with chocolate icing and piped white icing down the middle for emphasis.
- ¼ c butter
- ¼ c shortening
- 2 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 c. flour
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ¾ cup cocoa
- ¾ c boiling water
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- Grease and flour a 13X9 pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and shortening, add sugar. Add eggs beating well. Sift flour and salt and set aside.
- Make a smooth paste of cocoa and hot water and set aside to cool slightly.
- Stir baking soda into buttermilk and add to creamed mixture, alternating between milk and flour--starting and ending with flour.
- Add cocoa and water paste to creamed mixture and blend thoroughly. Stir in vanilla and pour into pan.
- Bake 40 minutes for oblong cake pan
It looked great, tasted great and was a cinch to make.
Enjoy!
Mel {MamaBuzz} says
Mmmm, chocolate cake, looks delicious. I could definitely eat a piece of chocolate cake right now. Very creative.