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| Stirring the ground beef |
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| Putting cheese on torillas for Daddy's double deckers |
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| Chowing down! |
Today we got out of school early because of snow, so we had a whole afternoon to burn up. After nap and a little train playing, I decided we were going to make a chocolate cake from scratch. I should mention that I have NEVER, EVER made a cake from scratch, but I had the ingredients so I figured we would give it a shot. I found a recipe using my trusty google (see below for our adapted version) and we went to work. While the cake baked, we made the icing and cooked orange chicken and rice for supper.
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| The mixing begins |
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| Into the oven |
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| Licking the batter |
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| Coating the chicken for orange chicken |
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| Modeling the new Curious George apron Grandma made for him |
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| Our finished product |
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| Samir approved! |
The recipe is originally from the Hershey's website, but I changed a bit of it up to simplify things and make it a little healthier.... okay, how heatlhy can chocolate cake with chocolate icing really be?!
Hershey’s Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar (I used Splenda)
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup hot water
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
2. Throw everything in the bowl; With a mixer, beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Stir in hot water. The batter will be very thin. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with chocolate frosting.
Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter in the microwave or in a small pan on the stove. Stir in cocoa and milk. Beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached (I used all three cups, plus some) Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.