Happy Birthday, Welcome Baby, Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby

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Believe it or not...

I baked and I baked good :)
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I began with baking a delicious Mexican Chocolate Cake...

Then I used fellow foodblogger Bridezilla Bake's Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe between the layers on the inside.
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And Martha's easy peasy chocolate ganache for the outside.
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Looks pretty good right?

Well I have to admit this was perhaps one of my most methodical baking attempts I've ever had.

I combed through recipe after recipe online to find just the right ones that theoretically in my mind would go well together as a final piece.

Here is how it went down...

I wisely made the cake layers on Friday evening, so as to allow them more than sufficient time to cool (icing barely warm cake has been a problem for me in the past).

Then Saturday morning, armed with a serrated knife to further layer'fy my cake, I cut each of the two layers in half.

Then whipped up the delicious Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, adding sugar until just the right consistency for cake spreading.

Since I was really trying to think this one through...and I mean work through every step before I started it...I used the cake pan to cut a disc out of a card board box, which I then began to build my cake upon.

Cake - Icing - Cake - Icing - Cake - Icing - Cake

The serrated knife came into action again and I cut around the outside of the cake to even out the sides

The super easy ganache was cooked and cooled.

With the layered cake on top of large upside turned mixing bowl, on top of a cookie sheet (pretty smart thinking in my opinion)...I poured all the delicious shiny ganache over the top which drizzled down and coated the sides perfectly :)

Having that handy dandy piece of cardboard on the bottom was also genius!  I was able to move the cake around with ease.

Finally, the cake was adorned with its jewels...
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Fresh strawberries along the top (which also protected the cake from the foil I was wrapping it in for transportation)

and halved strawberries along the sides.

This delicious cake was special.  Not only because it was an intentional and well thought out baking event...but because it was for my dear friends B&A. 

With it being that time of the year again, B&A were hosting their annual Cinco de Mayo party.  Last year I pleased the crowd with Bridezilla's Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies.

This year however was extra special.  Not only did the party happen to fall on B's birthday, but it was also the Kentucky Derby and....B&A have just had a Mini Me!!!  Yup, the proud parents were also celebrating their newly acquired parenthood and introducing for the first time their new son :o)

For the party I also made...

White Cupcakes
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with sugary white frosting.

The frosting turned out super sugary and still need some work to smooth them out.  However, the kids at the party still loved licking the icing of and I even saw a few of the adults digging in as well.

My almost prefect cake for B&A for the most perfect occasion of celebrations!!

The report from B, the birthday man/new Papa:

By the way, your cake was AMAZING....The filling was out of this world, and the cake was a great texture.

Congrats again little family!