Ditch the box and start from scratch

Sometimes competition gets the best of you. Sometimes you just need to prove you can. Whatever it is, you can. So, in my quest to be this all put together adult member of an ever increasing family preparing for the eldest of the next generation's marriage to another large family I somehow declared that during the chaos of the wedding weekend I would in fact bake a cake for my daughter's birthday.

There was some nobility behind this. We don't eat traditional birthday cake and I certainly wanted to make things special. But then I realized that what we consider delicious and wholesome and healthy even may not be suitable for everyone else. That whole judgement thing started creeping in. What if my cake sucks? What if someone runs out to the nearest grocery store to get an emergency cake because they think mine is somehow fake cake?

Well, I figured I better practice. Make sure my cake can be made quickly and easily amidst all the chaos. I know my muffins are good. And my layer cake is good too. But this is not going to be me in my kitchen with all my gadgets and tools. It'll be in someone else's kitchen with bridal mayhem all around. So I adapted my muffin recipe, what some call a muffin cake, and it was beautiful.

Of course then we had to frost it. Birthday cake must be frosted. So I turned to my version of the Betty in a can frosting. And it was of course just the right touch. I knew then that this birthday cake thing was gonna be fine. I got this. 

Well almost. Next practice is the writing on the cake. That's a bit tricky. But I'm up for the challenge.

Emmy's Birthday Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup Almond Flour

1 cup Peanut Flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Swerve granular sweetener

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 stick melted organic butter

4 organic eggs

1/3 cup Almond Milk (unsweetened)

1 teaspoon Hazelnut Extract

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 glass pyrex baking dish.

In large mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients. 

Add melted butter and extract. 

Mix in eggs, one at a time, then add almond milk and gently mix until well blended. 

Evenly fill baking dish and bake 40-45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Don't overbake. Let cool and refrigerate overnight for best results. Use your favorite frosting or try my Betty in a can.