On Friday, the financial department at Nathan's work had a little Valentine's Day party. They chose to do all the food with an Italian theme. Everyone was supposed to bring something in for a potluck style lunch. And since Nathan "claims" that he can't cook, I of course have to be the one to prepare his offering for the potluck.
I love to try new recipes, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to find a new one because the only Italian dessert I knew how to make was biscotti and I wasn't sure how well a hard dry (but delicious) cookie would work out in this particular setting since they wouldn't have hot chocolate for dunking. 
So I went to one of my favorite recipe sites, Allrecipes.com, and went looking for an Italian dessert. I found this recipe for a Chocolate Italian Cream Cake that had very good reviews so I decided to give it a try. I did make a couple of changes to the recipe based on the review I read. I doubled the amount of cocoa in the cake batter and I added 4 ounces of melted Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate to the icing. 
And because I can do nothing without my kiddos begging to help too, I let them do a few of the easier steps for me. And because Layton wanted to participate too (i.e. he was pulling at my legs and crying because he wanted me to hold him), I decided to let him be my taste tester. He tasted the icing and loved it and then tried some strawberries to let us know how sweet and fresh they were.
Because I could not see making a cake that looked like this ------>and not get to try it myself, I made a little Chocolate Italian Creme cupcake and garnished it with the highly recommended strawberries that Layton gave a double thumbs up. And it was very yummy. I don't think that I would make this cake all the time because it was a little time consuming, but it was definitely something that would be perfect for special occasions. The icing though was very easy to make and WOW delicious. Cream cheese and chocolate---oh so good. So I can totally see myself whipping up this icing to throw on a boxed yellow cake mix to make it extra yummy on a regular basis.
You know, I must love Nathan an awful lot to spend over two hours making a cake for him to take into work. Especially since I had to make it with three kids under foot that I tripped over more times than I could count. Hhmmmmm.....now what should I make him do in return? Options...options....
8 comments:
I'm way impressed with your frosting job, Katheryn! It really looks professional! The cake looks beautiful AND delicious.
I wish I could taste the delicious cake!!!!
WOW... Work It Work It! Nathan had the best pot luck item for sure! That looks sooo Yummy! I think you should have him watch the kids while you take a hot bath have him put the kids to sleep, clean up the kitchen then give you a full body massage... or a date night out to your favorite resturatnt... or go give Paula Dean a visit this weekend! So many options... Good Luck!
I need that cake recipie... Nothing Heath loves more thatn a Yummy Chocolate cake! I could bake it for him... then say since that was so good how about... get a little somthing myself! Work~en it myself!
Looks like you had Great help! Im sure that was part of the reason it turned out so good!
MMMM!! Cake! It was really good and I got lots of compliments which I deferred to Katheryn. One lady told me I should just take credit for it because no one would know better but I just couldn't do that. Besides, you start taking credit for things you can't do and then people are wanting you to do it all of the time. I don't need those kinds of headaches.
YUMMY!
I will definitely try the icing recipe. Cream cheese and chocolate - is that legal????
Have you tried the 14-layer cake on Bakerella yet? I am contemplating taking on that venture, but want to make sure it is worth all that work.
I cannot believe that you made this cake!!!! It looks like a professional made it. I know everyone thought that Nathan bought it. You are so very talented and the kids look like they enjoyed helping.
I haven't tried the Bakerella cake yet. It looks very yummy though. I'll have to try soon!! My favorite tiny layer cake is my moms fudge cake. I'm not sure there is any tiny layer cake out there that can top it!
Katheryn that looks sooo yummy! So as I was getting ready this morning, I was thinking about your cake and how you said you like to try new recipes and I wanted to run this by you...I was wondering if you have all of your recipes in your computer? Anyways, if you do, we could maybe do a recipe swap, since we aren't making dishes for the same people, or are even in the same area! What do ya think? I will give you my recipes in exchange for yours and we will both get what we want and love...new recipes! What do ya think? Comment on my blog and let me know!
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