Birthdays are extremely important in my world and I always want to make sure that the person who is celebrating said birthday feels loved and adored. Always.
We don’t throw the big birthday parties for the kids and instead we focus on making the time all about them. This involves me cooking their favorite meal and whatever cake they want.
Usually this isn’t a problem {Thank you Pinterest} and I’ve been able to concoct whatever confection their little heart desires. There have been cheesecakes made. Lemon Cakes. Buttery yellow cakes. My mom’s favorite is a pineapple cheesecake that HER mother used to make.
There have been ice Cream Cakes
and the latest was a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
My cakes don’t look pretty – if I need a cake that is delicious AND pretty, I call on my friend Kara, proprietor of Pretty Things Cakery. Usually, delicious is enough to fit the bill when my family is concerned.
I put a lot of planning into cakes because yes, you can taste love, and there is never a box mix involved – making these beauties from scratch is half the fun.
Except last summer… you see, we had just arrived home from our annual trip to Colorado. We schedule the trip every summer for the window between Father’s Day and Mini-me’s birthday to minimize the dealings with the ex and his summer schedule.
We arrived home from a long ass drive around 1AM and that’s when it hit me. Like a load of bricks. Mini-me’s birthday was tomorrow…. and I forgot.
Mother of the Freakin Year.
Let’s take a moment and recall that Mini-me’s birthday is EXACTLY 1 month after mine. Add to that the fact that we planned our return home AROUND the date in question. There is no reason why I should have forgotten this. What mother forgets their kid’s birthday?
Fuck.
So, 1AM and I’m scrambling. I don’t have the ingredients to whip up a cake in the house… hell I don’t even have MILK in the house.
Once again, Chef Google saves my ass…
This was the first time I made suggestions… we had just returned from the land of whitewater and s’mores… I surveyed the ingredients on hand and whipped up a magical S’mores “cake”…err Pie…
I was flying by the seat of my pants for sure on this one – hoping that it wouldn’t be a disaster… I busted out my handy dandy springform pan – that thing has gotten more use than any other cake pan I own.
I started with a simple graham cracker crust – graham crackers, sugar and butter – always butter.
Layered in a flourless chocolate cake.
Topped with a marshmallow layer and even busted out a torch to brown the top.
In the end, it all worked out. Mini-me thought I had planned this all along and was thrilled. He had no clue about the scramble to get this done.
And with a smile like that, who needs sleep.
- Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- Cake:
- 6 ounces Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Marshmallow Topping:
- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 (16 ounce) package chopped marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Crust:
- Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended .
- Press mixture into a spring-form pan making sure to build up the sides enough to prevent your cake batter from seeping through the bottom. Lessons learned the hard way.
- Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
- Cake:
- Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Do. Not. Rush.
- Add sugar and salt and reduce to low. Stir constantly while cooking until the sugar starts to dissolve. Remove pan from heat and whisk in eggs- one at a time.
- Add Cocoa to the mixture {sifting the cocoa in would likely make this step easier. If only I had thought of that first.}
- Pour batter into your spring-form and bake for about 25 minutes. The center of the cake should be just firm to the touch, but be careful – if you over cook it, it WILL be dry.
- Marshmallow Topping:
- Combine marshmallows, butter and vanilla in a sauce pan and cook on medium low, stirring until the marshmallows have melted.
- If the mix is too thick, you can use corn syrup to thin it out, but I didn’t find it necessary.
- Add topping to the cake and let the whole concoction cool. Preferably overnight.
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Nice save! lol – I love the McGyver is the Father image.
Well, it looks delicious. I want it like, now. 🙂 And you don’t suck as a mom. You’re human.
Sweet! Pun intended. You did well, Babe!
🙂
Traci
Sugar rush! What’s not to love, especially with the huge smile on Mini-you’s face.
I’m pretty sure that the sugar rush was the only thing keeping me going that day.
Nice job! Making great birthday cakes has always been a big deal for me, too. When my kids were younger, I would make them elaborate cakes that looked really awesome, but were so covered in colour-saturated frosting, no one really wanted to eat them. One year, I bought one and it felt like such a fail. These days, I make cakes that look decent and taste amazing. Now everyone is happy.
Recipe pinned!
Thanks!
I’d take it. Forget my birthday anytime if this is what I get, I don’t care if you’re not my Mom. 😉 Good save, Shell. GOOD SAVE.
It was a miracle.
In the end it all worked out? I gotta call this out. It’s a cute recipe post where you supermomed and fixed it all at the last minute. I respect your boundaries, your choices, and your blog… but I really thought we were doing something deeper than this.
My mistaken interpretation is not your problem, it’s mine, so please know I’m not being bitchy or judgey, I’m just surprised and will adjust accordingly.
LOL Jenny… 🙂
So what you’re saying is … I dropped the ball on being deep? I’ll take it. {and Decki, I don’t delete comments}
BEST RESPONSE EVER LMAO!
Also- there is no wrong interpretation. Interpret as you wish. I’m not feeling deep today but love that you are 🙂
I love it when a plan comes together. And you get something delicious out of it, too! Plus, what kid wouldn’t love a s’mores cake?!
Plan. I’m not sure that word means what you think it means 😉