Cakey goodness!

Cake in all types, shapes and forms! Or, well, actually, the same cake, only in 3 different stages.

I decided that I had to make a cake for my sister's birthday. But not just any cake: a Nutella cake. Oh yes. A simple cake, with Nutella swirls, with a strawberry jam filling, covered in a Nutella buttercream, and topped with whole strawberries.

That one. My photoshop skills aren't as madly l33t as I would have hoped, but you get the point. And that point is Nutella-coloured.

Naturally, I had this all planned out days before her birthday and got a bit restless, creatively, so I decided to make a little keychain for her to remember this cake by. (Hoping, of course, that the cake would be something she'd want to remember..) The cake went 3d!

And then... It was time for her birthday party. Having never done a cake like this before, I was a bit nervous about the outcome... And because my sister and her friend wanted to help, it didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted to (that's what you get when 3 people try to get cake batter into 2 tins and add Nutella in there somewhere... That's right, a mess.) and because my parents have a silly oven that gets way hotter than the temperature you set it to, I managed to burn one of the two slightly. Hrmph.

Thankfully, a lot can be fixed by simply using a sharp knife. (that's not a universal truth, by the way. just to be clear. I doesn't go for relationship problems, for instance.) I cut the crust off, took off the bottom, and it was basically good to go! Plus, a lot can be hidden underneath a nice, thick layer of Nutella buttercream.

The final result: absurdly sweet. Gorgeously Nutella-ey. I hope. I didn't have a single bite due to a massive headache which sent me home after dinner, before the cake was brought out, so I still have to check in with my sister to see if it was actually any good. But the components, the cake, the Nutella frosting, the strawberries, the jam... they were all very tasty.

It was a fun little project to try my hands on, as well. Since I had never made buttercream frosting before, I didn't know what the right consistency was supposed to be like, but I think it could have been thinner. I had a bit of a rough time getting it to stay on the cake when spreading it, as you can see by the holes and unevenness of the frosting. This may have been my rookie roots showing, though. I didn't read up on how frosting is supposed to 'work'. But it was tasty, so that's a win in my book! My sister was very pleased as well, so that's another win! And I'll just make sure to read up beforehand next time I try my hand at a cake like this. Because I will be making something like this again, for sure!