Whip-It-Up: Week 2

If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that I didn't post a recipe last week for Whip-It-Up. The reason was because of my volleyball-filled weekend as mentioned in my previous post. So I used my free pass and now have to make 2 recipes this week.

Week 2's theme was "Guilty Pleasures". I had a craving for cake for the last month, specifically the cake I had from Urban Fare last year. They called it a tuxedo cake so of course I had to find a recipe for it. I found a few different cakes, all called tuxedo cakes, so I picked one that sounded yummy. It's called a Tuxedo Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting and Chocolate Glaze. Take a look and tell me you're not drooling like I was!

I had actually bought all the ingredients last week but due to the fully packed weekend that I didn't know I had since I didn't know I was playing in Whistler until Thursday. I finally found the time to make the cake on Monday, after borrowing a few pieces of equipment from Jason (baking pans and mixer!) The recipe itself isn't difficult; the difficult part was measuring as I totally forgot I don't have a measuring cup!!! :/

I had previously measure what a cup is, so I have a very educated guess on the amount needed for all the ingredients for this cake. But I have to admit that not having a measuring cup is probably not helping make this baking process any easier. I was making a 2-layer cake but ended up with a lot of more batter!

I had thought that it won't take that long to make this recipe but what I forgot was that I had to wait for the cake to cool before I can put the frosting on and THEN I have to wait some more before putting the glaze on. Not only that, I can't make the glaze until I'm ready to put it on the cake. So I ended up making the cake and frosting but leaving the glaze till the next day.

After football, I came home and made the glaze. Again, because I didn't have a measuring cup, the glace seemed to turn out a little thinner than I thought it would be. It definitely had no problems running down the sides of the cake. It was also very sweet and not as chocolate-ty as I thought it would be, so I think I put too much syrup and not enough chocolate.

As you can see with the photos, I ended up with two round layers and one rectangular layer so I make one 2-layer round cake and I cut the rectangular layer in half and made one 2-layer rectangular cake. All my friends and possibly even my staff at work will get some sweet treats this week. :) They may not look exactly like the cake shown with the recipe, but they still look pretty darn good!

All in all, this was really fun and the cakes turned out pretty good for my first attempt at baking a cake! It was very sweet and not for the faint-of-heart. I definitely will make this recipe again. It was easy to follow and was not as difficult as I thought it might be, especially if I have the proper equipment and use the exact measurements!

Now I have to decide on a second recipe this week for week 3. The theme is "Regional Favourites". If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them on!