Happy Birthday Yogi

We celebrated my Dad's birthday today. We all love Dad's Birthday because his favorite meal is pic-a-nic food. Just like Yogi bear, "hey Booboo, let go find a pic-a-nic." Fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, a green salad, Ina Garten's corn salad, fresh crab legs and french bread. Yum! My Dad is smarter than the average bear.

I brought dessert. I remember Dad having a bowl of Neapolitan ice cream at night before bed so when I found the recipe for Neapolitan Layer Cake on Pinterest I knew I had to bake this special birthday cake for a special guy on his birthday.

Neapolitan Cake

adapted from:here and here

Strawberry Cake

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 oz. strawberry Jell-O

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1 + 1/4 + 1/8 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1/2 T. vanilla

1/4 c. strawberry puree (I used frozen strawberries and pureed them with a bit of sugar in my magic bullet until smooth)

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add dry Jell-O. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine flour and baking powder and add alternately with milk and vanilla; beating until just combined. Blend in strawberry puree. Pour batter into one (9-inch) greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. Cool in pan 10 minutes, invert to rack and cool completely.

Vanilla Cake

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one (9-inch) round cake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 22-26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert to rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Cake

For the chocolate cake:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. dark cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

To make the chocolate cake, butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated. Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

I try to use good quality cocoa when I bake, after all I want it to be worth the effort. A bit of coffee with chocolate just amps everything up a notch. When recipes call for coffee I use Starbucks' Via, easier than brewing a pot and very tasty. I make a cup and sip the leftovers as I'm baking.

I use the spray flour and oil combo, it's easy and it works great. As I have mentioned before, buttermilk in a recipe just amps it up to a whole new level.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cubes butter, softened

1/3 c. shortening, optional

1 stick cream cheese, softened

6 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. strawberry puree (frozen strawberries with a bit of sugar, thawed and pureed)

2 tsp. strawberry extract (I didn't use any, I didn't have any and the strawberry flavor was fine without it.)

a few drops red food coloring, opt.

Cream together butter, shortening and cream cheese until fluffy. Add 2 cups powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup strawberry puree, strawberry extract and food coloring and beat until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar and strawberry puree alternately and beat until reaches desired consistency.

I put it in the fridge for an hour to chill it back down and firm it up prior to frosting the cake.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE: Slice the strawberry and the chocolate cake layers in half horizontally. Trim the vanilla cake if you want it to be the same size as the strawberry and chocolate, if not, just leave it whole. I used the whole layer. Place one chocolate layer down on your cake board and top with either strawberry jam or strawberry frosting*. Top with a strawberry layer and top with more jam or frosting*. Top with vanilla cake, then more jam or frosting*. Followed by the remaining chocolate layer, jam or frosting*, then top with the remaining strawberry layer. Frost entire cake with strawberry frosting and decorate as desired. Eat immediately or store in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

*I used frosting only. I served the cake with Neapolitan ice cream, of course.

On this last shot I think my Dad is wiping a tear because Max is such a putz!

Happy Birthday Dad! Love you!