Neopolitan Birthday Cake and a Recipe for You!

My moms birthday is just after Christmas so every year we try to make it just a little bit special so it doesn't feel like Christmas swollowed it up. This year I got the bright idea to make a cake and the image of the Rainbow cakes that have been popping up all over blog land came into mind. I decided pretty quickly that I did not have enough time for all of that so I decided to simplify and an image of a neopolitan cake popped into my head. Below is my cake making journey.....

I bought a French Vanilla cake mix and a Chocolate cake mix. I made the vanilla one first. I poured half the batter into one round baking pan and then added a few drops of red food colouring to the batter that remained. I then poured that into the other round cake pan and I was on my way. I then made the chocolate batter and once they were cooked, using the pans as a guide, I cut off the tops to level the cakes out.

Then came the frosting (recipe below). Now I make a buttercream frosting and I just got it out of a book but let me just say it's become quite popular. I've been told people crave it and I've been asked to share it many a time. So that's what I made. I started with the white layer first, then the pink layer and then the chocolate layer. The chocolate layer I put upside down so that the top of the cake would have a nice flat, even edge to it. I put frosting between each layer and then covered it. Nothing fancy, I just use a knife. The only thing I would suggest when making a three layer cake is to make a recipe and a half of the icing to make sure you have enough for the sides. I ran a wee bit low.

I kept the cake a surprise from my mom so when she cut into it she'd get to see the cool layers. It turned out pretty dang cool if you ask me and it tasted soooo good. I'm seriously craving some right now! The pictures turned out pretty cool too. It was super easy and created a great visual and surprise. I highly recommend trying it.  Below is my now famous (yeah right) icing recipe. Enjoy and happy birthday momma (I don't actually call her momma, just thought it sounded cute)! : )

Butter Cream Icing Recipe

1 cup margarine (I use tub margarine, Imperial to be exact)

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon milk (1 capful is how I measure it) : )

Using an electic mixer beat margarine and vanilla together in a bowl.

Add one cup of sugar at a time beating the mixture between each cup.

Add 1 tablespoon milk to bowl and beat with mixer (the milk cuts down on the sweetness I find).

You want a smooth, not too runny and not too stiff, consistency. Add sugar or milk to your mixture to achieve desired consistency.

Note:

* Because of the margarine I use the icing has an off white color. It's not a true white. If you want a true white you can buy white margaine or use shortening. I prefer margarine as I can't stand the taste or texture of shortening. To each their own though. : )

* If adding food colouring, especially the water based kind, you can add a tablespoon of meringue powder. This will help the colour stay solid looking in the icing. I prefer using gel food colouring. A little goes a long way though!

* Add cocoa powder to icing to make chocolate. You may need to add more milk in order to keep the consistency the way you want it.

Enjoy!!!!