Flower Cake (With Tillie!)

 I.....  Made a cake.

  A cake that not only LOOKED good, (Imagine that..)  but TASTE good.  I think those many, and I mean many, times trying to make a pretty cake paid off.  But of course, Tillie was there, so....  I guess I know why it looked so pretty. :)

Tillie and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, and she's been baking as long as I have.  Her father just got done with culinary school, and is now an official chef.  Soooo, like father like daughter, Tillie loves to cook...  and bake....  Yeeeeahh.  All that good stuff.
SO, without further a-due, let us make a cake.

Of course, not just any cake, but a cake so pretty you want to stuff your face with it.  I mean sure, it's not perfect, but I think it's dang beautiful.  

We kinda ran out of frosting, so I dug in my cabinet and found a tube of white butter cream icing.  You could still see the chocolate cake at the bottom, so I just did a little ruffled edge to make it pretty.
GOOD EATS!

chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda  
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

Buttercream Frosting:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

4-8 Tablespoons milk

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels, if desired

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. Then place parchment paper cut to size on the bottom of each pan and grease paper. Dust pans with cocoa.
• Sift dry ingredients together and place in a large mixing bowl.
• Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat for a couple of minutes until combined.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add hot water and mix together.
• Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 28-30 minutes. Batter will be very liquid.
• Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the frosting:

• Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth.
• Add vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the powdered sugar in several additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
• Add milk a tablespoon at a time and mix together until you achieve a smooth consistency.
• Note: If you want your frosting whiter without using shortening, add a little white icing color to tint.

To assemble: trim tops off of cake layers with a long serrated knife so they have a nice, flat top. Place one layer bottom side up on cake stand. Mix about 2/3 cup morsels with about 1 cup of the frosting. Spread frosting on top of bottom layer. Place second layer on top. It helps to have a crumb coat on the outside of your cake first. Simply apply a thin coat of frosting to the entire cake to catch any excess crumbs. Then place cake in freezer for a few minutes to firm up frosting and cover the entire cake again with a thick layer of buttercream. This will help you keep all those crumbs from getting caught in your pretty work.

THIS RECIPE IS FROM BAKERELLA.

Enjoy!