Back... in blue!

Ok, I promise, I haven't forgotten about this blog. But, as you can imagine, the two kiddos are keeping me on my toes. Really, the thing that falls to the wayside is the picture taking. We are still cooking and crafting, I am just not thinking about the camera when we do... Well, I am trying to fix my ways. Hopefully I will go back to sharing the fun things we do in our home other than the Daring Kitchen...!

This morning, to kick things off, I asked Little Girl if she would want to bake something special. She requested a cake. She chose to make it chocolate, with chocolate chips. When asked what shape cake she wanted, she said a heart. And when I asked what color heart she wanted, she told me blue. With our task set, it was off to the kitchen!
We started with the cake. I used the chocolate cake recipe from the cookbook that came with my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer, adding chocolate chips toward the end. Cakes baked and set out to cool, we set off on our errands.
During "rest time" I made the frosting. I find it easier to work with sugar on the stove top when neither the two year old nor the four month old are attached to me...! I used the same Fluffy While Frosting recipe I have become addicted to from my birthday cake last year, and added blue food coloring to get the color Little Girl requested.
Next it was assembly time, at least once the resting was done. We started by spreading a layer of frosting on one of the cakes, and adding some extra chocolate chips for good measure. Then the second cake went on top. So there, we have a circle. How to make a heart? We cut out a small "v" from the top of the circle and moved it to the bottom. Cover the whole thing in fluffy blue frosting to smooth the corners, and voila!!
So now we had the blue heart. Pretty, right? But it could always be prettier, right? So hand the kiddo some sprinkles, gum drops, and extra chocolate chips, then set her loose...!
The end result was a yummy, colorful chocolaty heart cake that made all of us smile! (Well, all except for the four month old who can't eat cake yet... You'll get there, Baby Girl!!)

Chocolate Cake
2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. low-fat milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate

Combine dry infredients in mixer bowl. Add shortening, milk, and vanilla. Mix about 1minute. Stop, scrape bowl. Add eggs and chocolate, mix again for aprox. 30 seconds. Stop, scrape bowl. Beat batter for a minute.
Pour batter into two greased and floured 8- or 9-inch round baking pans. Bake at 350(F) for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. remove cakes from pans, cool completely on wire rack.

**My adaptations:
I used 1 c. white sugar, 1/3 c. brown sugar. I used margarine for my shortening. I used rice milk (vanilla flavored) instead of low=fat milk. I used pre-melted packets of chocolate as my chocolate squares. And, of course, I added a couple of handfuls of chocoalte chips after the high speed beating.
Enjoy!!