Snowman Cake

This past weekend we held a birthday party for my son, filling our house up with friends, family and food! Starting many moons ago, my son made sure that I knew of his wish for a "snowman cake." I'm not sure how he came up with that idea, or if he had seen something similar, but all I know is that he really, really, really wanted a snowman cake.

I grew up with fond memories of homemade birthday cakes that came in various shapes and sizes and I wanted to continue the tradition with my own family, so a snowman cake it was. Despite my husband's apprehension, I decided upon a tall snowman cake, rather than a shaped sheet cake. I didn't really have a concrete game plan, only that I wanted it to be tall, round and super cute. I think (hope) I accomplished that.

Okay, so he's kind of stumpy, but he was damn tasty! And isn't that what counts?

While it may have looked a little bit like a hot mess, the cake was actually pretty easy to make, and really delicious as well. The day before the party I made all four layers of cake. Yup - that's right: FOUR. In addition to knowing he wanted a snowman cake, my son was also very clear as to what it would include. He wanted alternating layers of chocolate and yellow cake as well as strawberry filling. 

I used the same recipe that I had used earlier in the week for cupcakes for the yellow cake, and it made enough for the bottom and top layers of the snowman. For the chocolate part (I made two 8 inch pans worth) I found a really easy and delicious recipe. 

Start by whisking together: 7 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 cup flour, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Make a well in the middle and add: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk. Whisk about 40 times until all blended. I beat the eggs and added it to the milk and stirred before adding it to the dry ingredients.

Then add: 1 stick of melted butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Whisk it all together.

Then bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

It really came out perfectly and only used up one bowl - a total success in my book! When all the cakes had cooled, I wrapped them up so they'd be ready to use the next day. Saturday rolled around and I made some strawberry filling. I didn't really have a recipe, and just kind of winged it. I took a bag of frozen strawberries, mixed in about a 1/4 cup of sugar and a few tablespoons of corn starch. I let it cook down on low and mashed it around with my fork. Once it cooled I spread it between my layers of cake and then frosted the whole thing in cream cheese frosting.

Then it was time to decorate! I used blackberries for the snowman's eyes, a carrot nose, raisins for its mouth, strawberries for buttons, fruit leather for a scarf, a cupcake hat, pretzel rod arms, and shredded coconut for snow.

I also took a slew of photos...

The birthday boy assesses the cake

Phew. He seemed to dig it

ooooh, cake! 

Yeah, it was pretty delish

The remains