Cake Recipe + Banners

I helped host a shower for a friend today and made these little cake banners. I have never been great at cake decorating, so I didn't want to try and write anything in icing on the top. Then, thanks to blogs, etsy, and Martha Stewart, I saw these cute paper cake banners. What a relief -- I can handle paper and markers!

For the cake, I made Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake. When a recipe on Food Network has 953 reviews and 5 stars, I figured it was worth the gamble to make it site-unseen for the party. I have to say, it is the best cake recipe I have ever made! I was a little bummed so many people showed up at the shower as I could have eaten muuuuch more than I did. = ) I also used the Food Network's cream cheese frosting recipe. Good, but next time I think I will add more cream cheese than butter, or add a bit of lemon juice to kick up the cream cheese taste. I quadrupled the recipe for the cake and had too much. I think 3X the recipe would be ample for a layer cake of this size.

**I used Ina's recommended E. Guittard cocoa powder (I got my at Sur la Table for $8...but I should be able to make several cakes with it, so worth the little extra expense) and I made sure I didn't over bake the cakes. They will barely spring back when done and will still have some crumbs attached to the cake tester. The crumbs will be dryer, but it is a moist cake, so keep that in mind. Also, I dusted my pans with cocoa powder (the cheap Hershey's cocoa works just fine here...don't waste the good stuff!) instead of using flour.  That way you don't have any lingering white dust on your finished cake -- just pure, chocolatey goodness!

It is a really easy cake to make, so if you haven't made a cake from scratch before, this would be a great one to try -- don't be scared! It is worth it!



Here is one of the layers before I put it in the oven.  Instead of buying the bands you can use to level your cake, I just cut strips from an old towel, soaked them in water, wrung them out, then attached with a straight pin (be sure it doesn't have a plastic head!).  It worked GREAT!  My cakes were flat as can be and not a crack or a dry edge to be found.

Let me know if you make the cake...love to hear your thoughts!