My Daughter's Birthday Cake

This was a fun and easy birthday cake to make.  My daughter wanted a butterfly shape, so we found this easy one from Family Fun.  (Click on that link for directions!)  You make two 9-inch round cakes, stack them on top of each other, cut them in half, and then turn them around to resemble butterfly wings.  The inside is yellow cake, and the butterfly "body" is just a Twinkie, frosted with Nutella.  I tried to make brown frosting at first, but it wasn't getting dark enough; Nutella was perfect!  (BTW, my daughter had never had a Twinkie before.  I had to buy a little 2-pack of them for this cake.  We split the second one, each took a bite and threw the rest away because it tasted so gross to us, lol!)

My daughter decorated this herself using her favorite candy- Skittles!  She had fun and I think it turned out really well.  We just used a simple butter/powdered sugar frosting and left it white. 

I tried a new yellow cake recipe for this.  It was pretty good, but I wish I'd stayed with my tried-and-true recipe.  I just didn't want to bother with the 8 egg whites that are always left over with that one!  Oh well, this one was good too.  I'm lucky enough to buy fresh eggs from a friend who keeps chickens.  They are so good! 

Four Egg Yellow Cake

adapted from Allrecipes

1/2 cup shortening (I use organic- no trans fats)

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.  Line the bottom of each pan with wax paper and grease the wax paper, for easier removal.   

2.  Cream together shortening, butter, and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.               

3.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.              

4.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool.



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