Easter Cake

Tomorrow is Easter. We are having a family gathering at my parents’ house. We do this every year but there are a few differences this year: 1. The weather should be gorgeous and 2. I am taking an Easter Cake.

This Easter cake I speak of isn’t my traditional gig. I usually make a decadent ridiculous chocolate from scratch, but not this year. I saw something new as I was walking the aisles of the grocery store. A blue cake! So spring-ish. I’ll take it. And what’s that I see right beside it? It’s a can of whipped frosting. Why yes, I’ll take that too!

I’m generally not a layer cake kind of baker. I love to bake, don’t get me wrong. Cookies are more my thing, but when I do make a cake every now and then It is usually a sheet cake kind of creation. Not today. Big mistake.

I will admit to being lured into a false security of cake okayness. Looked alright in the pan…not quite the color in the picture on the box, but a blue I can live with. I was even satisfied in how the layers turned out. It was when the icing procedure began that things went awry.

I was putting the frosting on the cake, not quite as liberally as I would have liked and it hit me that this can that touted 15% more was not going to be enough to cover the entire cake but I just wanted this project DONE! So I pulled out a tried and true recipe (which I was honestly trying to avoid, hey it’s the 21st century, right,  we’re all about convenience) that is probably older than dirt…Decorator’s Frosting. I whipped up a batch (no pun intended) not following the recipe to a T and hopefully it WON’T  taste like shortening. We’ll see.

And there is the finished product. Never claimed to be a cake decorator.

Here is the recipe for the frosting.

Decorator’s Frosting

3/4 cup shortening

2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla

1 (16 oz) box confectioners sugar

In a large bowl cream shortening 5 minutes. Add egg whites; cream well. Add vanilla. By hand gradually stir in confectioners sugar.