Black & White Birthday Cake

My dad's 60th birthday just passed a few weeks ago! I can't believe how fast time flies. He turned 60 this year and I turned 30...ugh!!!! Anyways, we decided against throwing a party, b/c parties start and end before you know it. I wanted to give him something more memorable. So, my sister and I bought him a trip to Vegas! He'll be going with my mom later in the year. We still had a small celebration for his actual 60th. We went out to eat Turkish at Kazan's in Mclean, and came back to my place for some cake and a movie:) Neil spent a lot of time installing an awesome projector in our basement. Movie nights are the best down there, and it was so nice to be able to share it with my family. We don't have enough time together like that anymore :(

Here's a pic I took of them. From the left, Neil, bro in law, sis, bro, Mom, and Dad. Dad's cheesin' big time!


Back to the cake...I hadn't made a cake in such a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity, and I wanted to find the perfect birthday cake. I ran across this Black & White Cake on the Smitten Kitchen blog. I had so much fun making this, so I think another excuse to bake a cake is right around the corner!



The recipe calls butter cake having a dark chocolate cream filling alternated with white chocolate cream. I had to make some modifications. Half my family likes dark chocolate, and the other half only likes milk. So, I made the dark chocolate cream a little "milkier" than the recipe calls for. The cream is actually just a decadent chocolate pudding, and Neil was definitely eating it as such :) If you don't want to attempt the cake, please at least try the pudding part. We were licking it out of the bowl!! The cake turned out beautiful, and both creams were delicious. However, I wasn't that thrilled with the actual butter cake layers. It was a little dry for my taste. I'll be sticking to my normal, moister butter cake the next time I make this. Btw, I apologize for the lack of quality in the pictures. I'm a terrible photographer, and my camera is super old. The pictures just don't do the cake justice!



See Recipe!