That's Love, Baby

B turned the big 3-0 this past week. Of course, some baking was in order. He couldn't decide between a butter cake with chocolate icing or chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, so I made a combo of both! Here are directions (not exactly a recipe, since I cheated and used box cake).

• Using a spring-form pan, make the bottom chocolate layer first. Fill the pan about two inches and put the rest of the batter in cupcake forms - I was able to make 9 cupcakes, about 3/4 or less of the way full in each cup. This is important, because you want your top layer to be slightly smaller.
• Bake as Duncan Hines directs
• Because you're using a spring-form pan, you should be able to get the butter batter in there (also Duncan Hines) very quickly. This time, I filled 11 cupcake forms first the put the rest in the spring-form pan.
• My chocolate cake still had a dome shape, but I just sliced the top off. I created a bit of a dip, which was good because it gave the cream cheese icing a place to settle. Spread the icing to about 1 inch away from the edge of the bottom layer.
• Plunk the top butter layer right on top after it has fully cooled. This may take a while. You want the bottom of your top layer touching the top of your bottom layer. You don't want their tops turned in on each other, in other words.
  
• Glob lots of chocolate icing on the top butter layer and spread outwards.
• Now, smooth! This takes some skill. You will have to fill in gaps between cakes with icing. It's kinda fun and it takes practice. I still haven't mastered it. When you have enough icing on there, spin the cake around while smoothing the edge with a knife.

Now this is where the real love comes in. I couldn't find any maize and blue sprinkles (B went to Michigan and is obsessed with it) so I bought funfetti icing and hand-sorted out all the yellow and blue sprinkles. If there was any doubt of my neurosis before, it is now confirmed. It took fracking' forever.