KDRose.com - Wanderlust, Grounded
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Links

30th Birthday Houseboat Extravaganza

7/23/2012

1 Comment

 
There are a lot of ways in which I can imagine ringing in a thirtieth birthday.  One might be a quiet dinner with the family.  Another might be a hike in the mountains with your main squeeze. Some people might be spending the weekend with their 2.3 children and 1.5 pets, barbecuing in the backyard. 

Let’s just say that thirty is one of those birthdays that can look pretty darn different, depending on how the whole situation known as Your Life is going.  

With that being said, our life (and my “our” I mean my pal TDub and our group of friends) looks a lot like this:
Picture
A weekend-long celebration, replete with firework-laden cake (made by yours truly), cocktails, boating, lounging, glow stick dance parties, light shows and house boat-rocking good times. 

We’re taking advantage of it, ‘cause by thirty-one, who knows?  It might look a whole lot  different.
TDub's Rockin' 30th Birthday Cake

Bottom Layer:
Chocolate Butter Cake (from Smitten Kitchen)

Makes one 8-inch square, three layer cake

3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4  teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch square cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

 2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and buttermilk and blend on low until moistened. Raise
the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

 3. Whisk the eggs and coffee together, and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans; each pan will take
about 3 1/4 cups of batter.

4. Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully turn them out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. Remove the paper liners only when they are
cool.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.  Add sugar and cocoa, mixing well.  (You may need to add the milk,
as it is a dry mixture) Stir in milk in portions, stirring each time.  Add vanilla. Spread on cooled cake.
FOR THE TOP LAYER:
Yellow Birthday Cake (from Martha Stewart)
 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups cake flour, not  self-rising
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (from Savory Sweet Life)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
3-4  cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
 1/4 teaspoon table salt
1  tablespoon vanilla extract
up  to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
Print Friendly and PDF
1 Comment
Karen V. link
8/14/2012 05:13:20 am

Wow! Impressive cake and fireworks! I did the sparklers thing one year and had these nasty looking silver ash things all over the cake - hope that did not happen for your friend.

A houseboat sounds like so much fun! 30 doesn't seem so bad... maybe some day I'll get there too... ;)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Katie

    Baker. Traveler. Writer.

    Archives

    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    March 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    August 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.