The 8 layer cake

 Hadlee just turned 8.  It's hard to believe I have an 8 year old.  It's ridiculous really.  I asked her what kind of birthday cake she wanted, expectin to hear something like 'Justin Bieber' or 'Hannah Montana.'  She responded saying she wanted an 8 layer cake.  With chocolate and funfetti cake, pink frosting and purple roses.  I thought about it for a while, trying to decide what the best way to do that would be.  I was stressed out planning on stacking 8 TIERS up on top of each other.  But then I realized a layer is not the same thing as a tier.  I decided to have 2 layers per tier.  I think in the end she probably would have preferred an 8 tier cake because when it was all put together, it was hard to tell there were 8 layers from the outside, but I am really not sure how the stacking would have gone.  This is the largest (tallest) I have made to date and I thought I ought to try this before making one as tall as Hadlee herself.  Maybe next year I will attempt 9.  It did seem boing just to make a cake of layers and not in a fun shape.  I decided to try to do the whole thing with buttercream rather than fondant.  I let it psych me out and ended up having to hurry and decorate the cake so I just went with the dots.  Next time, hopefully, I won't have the same problem and I can skip the psyching out problem.  I already did it right? 

The cookbook for our baking club came in handy for tips on stacking the cakes and decorating.

I used a yellow cake recipe (for the funfetti cake) and a buttercream recipe from this book.  While they probably aren't going to be my go to recipes, the tips in the book were worth it.  And I also used a chocolate frosting from the book to go between the chocolate cake layers and it was delicious.  I will try a different buttercream recipe for the next cake for sure.  In the buttercream recipe I used, the egg whites (a lot of them) are whipped and then a sugar mixture is boiled over the stove to a certain temperature and then beat into the egg whites.  After beating for the specified time, huge amounts of butter are whipped in the mixture, making buttercream.  No powdered sugar!  After frosting an refrigerating the cake, the frosting was easily smoothed when it had set up a bit but I don't think this frosting is meant to be colored.  It seemed like the gel color mixed in okay, but after refrigeration, all the color seemed to seep to the surface.  So while I was smoothing, I was taking off darker frosting than was underneath.  It was kind of weird.  If I were sticking with white, I might try it again but I already have my eye on another recipe for next time.  This was my first attempt at roses and I have decided I need some serious practice. 

Maybe one day I will be a cool as this guy.  I even used the chopstick like he does but I guess I need some serious practice.  Also I guess my dreams will all come true because I watched this video.  What?  That's what it says.

I just watched this one and I wish I had taken the time to watch it before I made the roses.

Like I said, the funfetti cake wasn't anything to write home about, but the chocolate cake was pretty darn good.  Hadlee was happy with her cake and we all survived to tell about it.  Part failure (the decorating and frosting coloring, the funfetti cake, if we are keeping track), part success (the chocolate cake, the stacking and leveling), but Tyler keeps telling me to be easier on myself when something isn't perfect on the first try.  Maybe he's right.  But seriously, I think it should be perfect!  At least it was partially successful, right?  I will keep telling myself that.