That Little Baking Hobby of Mine: My Favorite Homemade Birthday Cake

I realized that, while I am an obsessive cook {read, BAKER}, I never blog about the things that I make.  My dad's birthday was on Tuesday, so I thought I would share a picture of and a recipe for the cake I made.  I made a similar cake for Dan, only with Kit Kat bars lining the cake vertically on the outside.  Not that I'm biased, but the cake is mouthwateringly delicious!  Thanks, Pinterest, for more amazing inspiration!!!!

A couple of notes on the recipe: when I made the cake over the weekend, I just used this recipe for the cake itself.  However, I have made the entire cake before, and it was out-of-this-world good.  I bought my favorite brand of raspberry jam for this weekend's cake, but then forgot to use it :(

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake

Makes a two-layer 8" cake {the recipe says 3-layer, but I only use 2}

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cups cocoa powder {I use Hershey's}

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup canola oil

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tbsp distilled white wine vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Raspberry Ganache {if making the entire cake - see link for recipe}

Raspberry jam {I use Bonne Maman, because it reminds me of France :) }

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray or butter two 8" cake pans. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda into a large bowl.  Beat in the oil and sour cream, followed by the water.  Add the vinegar and vanilla and mix to combine, and, finally, beat in the eggs until the batter is well combined.  Divide among the three cake pans.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a knife comes out almost clean.  Cool in the pans for 20 minutes {side note: being that I am impatient, I typically stick them in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes, probably no longer than 10}, then invert onto a wire rack, letting the cakes cool completely.

Being that the cake is pretty rich, I don't like to overdo it on the frosting.  Soooo....for the outside of the cake, I use Fat Free Cool Whip, and, on top of the cake and in between the two layers, I use chocolate Cool Whip frosting {it can be hard to find, but check in the freezer aisle of your grocery store.  If you're in DC, I have only been able to find it at Social Safeway}.  Cool Whip frosting is relatively new, and is MUCH lighter than regular frosting.  Also, to add a little bit of pizazz, add a layer of raspberry jam in between the layers, on top of the frosting.  I like to garnish the cake with some fresh berries {in this case, I used raspberries, my dad's favorite}, and I decorated this one with some edible gold glitter that I had laying around.  Most importantly, ENJOY the cake!!!!!!

If you are so inclined, this is where I got the inspiration for the Kit Kats.  Oh, and here's a picture of the cake I made this weekend.

A Quarter-Century Old

I finally have a moment to come up for air today after a VERY hectic week!  I thought I would write about the goings-on of the past week, since there were many of them.

I had a really tough week at work last week.  Work seemed to come flying at me all at once, and I definitely was not managing that stress well.  I had a meltdown of sorts on Wednesday night because of how overwhelmed I was by work stress {which was compounded by the fact that I was out of the office on Friday working a wedding}, stress about that wedding {my first as a day-of coordinator}, and stress tied to feeling like I was coming up short in my many roles- friend, daughter, sister and girlfriend.  Sensing that I am failing other people is definitely a feeling that I am very conscious of, but, during this meltdown, I had to remind myself that I can't always be everything to everyone.  There just isn't enough time in the day!  But, in moments when I am stressed about other things, that anxiety tends to resurface as well.  Poor Dan, he is such a saint for putting up with my stressed-out crying fits.  I don't like to let my work/life stress spill over to our relationship, because I know that it makes him sad to see me upset, but sometimes that just can't be helped.  I thank my lucky stars for that guy every day, I really do!

On Thursday night, I headed up to the Philly area after work for the wedding, and, due to a series of GPS mishaps, ended up driving for about 4 hours.  It was miserable, let me tell you, and I had my very patient and understanding parents on the phone for the better part of an hour-and-a-half trying to get me to Point B in one piece.  I ended up spending a LOT of time in the car on Thursday, Friday {when the wedding took place} and Saturday, both because of the driving time to and from PA and the fact that none of the venues were close to one another.  I think that was the most I have driven in the past five years combined haha!  Despite the fact that there are always unexpected things that come up at a wedding, it was a beautiful day overall and the couple was deliriously happy, so I would consider it a success.

On Saturday, Dan and I met up with Lauren and Molly at District of Pi for dinner.  Dan and I are obsessed with that place, and it was the girls' first time, so it was well worth it!  We then stopped off at Lauren's house before heading to Brass Monkey in Admo for some birthday karaoke.  Now, Brass Monkey has been one of our mainstays since graduation, but this was the first time, as we all stood around, that we noticed how downright grimy that place is! We concluded that the amount of alcohol that we had imbibed on previous visits had probably contributed to that oversight.  Our other observation was that the crowd seemed a lot younger {as in, either still in college or not far removed from it}.  It is tough to be hit by the realization that you're getting older!  Nonetheless, I felt so blessed to have so many wonderful friends there, and I think we got some solid karaoke in as well :)

Sunday, on my actual birthday, Dan and I slept in a bit before going on a run {I think I am the only person who requests going on a run when asked what they want to do on their birthday haha}.  We grabbed bagels  from our favorite bagel place, my last bagel run for awhile since I'm going on a six-week gluten-free diet a week from yesterday.  Blargh.  Then, we watched some basketball and Skyfall and later met up with my parents and Tim at Farmers, Fishers & Bakers, which I have raved about before.  It certainly didn't disappoint this time, bringing an absolutely delightful birthday to a close.  Not that he doesn't treat me like a princess all the time, but Dan was really the greatest this weekend.  I actually got upset because I don't like being treated to things haha, even on my birthday!  He got me an overnight hiking trip {not to worry, we will be staying at a B&B, not in a tent on a trail} out in the Shenandoahs, which shows you how well he knows me.  We have been in serious need of a getaway for awhile, and he knows how much I've been itching for a hike.  We're going in about 3 weeks, so I'm really psyched for that!  Overall, I was blown away, as usual, by the heartfelt messages and calls that I received on my birthday.  It made the day so special for me, and the fact that so many people reached out made turning 25 slightly easier {I may have fake snapped at Dan when he playfully suggested that I am almost 30 haha}.

Me and my ladies! Don't let this picture fool you, there were other guys there besides Dan.  He was just the only one who wasn't able to stealthily avoid my photos ;)

Okay, I've been a bad blogger...

Gulp, sorry for the absence from the blogosphere this week...Things are really getting hectic at work this week (as in, I feel like I haven't left my desk this week, I have been getting in early and have not been taking a lunch), and will probably remain that way until I go on vacation in a few weeks.  And then, in typical me fashion, I have completely booked all of my nights after work, meaning that I am too exhausted when I get home from work to blog.

However, today is a little bit more chill, and is also a fake Friday for me!  I'm taking tomorrow off to recharge (I will most likely spend much of the day by the pool with my mom) and prepare for an early weekend of birthday festivities.  As I mentioned, we are going to a top-secret location tomorrow night for part of Dan's birthday present, and then we are getting together with two of his (and now my) friends on Saturday night, which should be great.  I know that I will come out of this weekend exhausted, so I think that the extra day tomorrow will be just what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, before fast-forwarding to this weekend, I should recap last weekend, since I didn't do my habitual post-weekend update.  On Friday night, Dan and I went to Liberty Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants in Clarendon, and got their insanely delicious Vermont pizza (cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, apple slices and prosciutto; I obviously got the veg version).  Dan really wants to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX, but, after we talked about it, we agreed that it would be better for me to watch Batman Begins first, as I have never seen any of the movies and could probably use the backstory.  Luckily, he had DVRed it when it had been on TV earlier on in the week, so I got to have a nice, quality movie night with my guy.  Truly wonderful.  Some of my favorite nights are the ones where we just relax and snuggle up to watch a movie.

On Saturday morning, we got up at 7 (I know, we're both insane) to go running.  Despite the fact that it was misting, it was nice to get outside, particularly because, after an evening storm, it was significantly cooler out.  As I was running along the river and then back into the city and around the Tidal Basin, I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to call this place home.  Since it was so early, there were very few people out along the Tidal Basin, so I had it all to myself.  Once we had showered and changed, Dan and I parted ways for the weekend- he was off on a golfing outing for the day and I was going up to New York to visit my dad's side of the family.

Spending the weekend with the family really was wonderful.  I hadn't seen that side of the family since November, so a reunion was long overdue.  I always enjoy getting to see aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins, so this time certainly did not disappoint.  Just sitting around talking and enjoying each other's company brough a smile to my face. 

On Sunday, after being in the car for what felt like forever on our way home, I returned home just in time to watch the finale of The Bachelorette.  As I may have mentioned, I am minorly  completely addicted to this show, especially because so many of the guys seem to be great guys.  In the end, even though Emily didn't pick the guy who was my first preference, I was totally won over by Jef and melted when I saw him interact with her daughter.  They really do seem to work well together and seem very in love.  I hope they prove the statistics wrong!  As much as I love the show, I also realize that it is completely unrealistic and ridiculous, so I have stumbled upon several blogs that humorize it a bit.  Lincee over at I Hate Green Beans is a hoot-and-a-half, and I am consistently laughing hysterically when I read her blog. I happened upon Ashley's blog when I was trying to find a picture last night of Ryan's completely effeminate tank top when I was Skyping with Kristin last night, and found it to also be hilarious.  It's nice that people can have fun with it!!!

On Monday morning, I woke up to an esophagus in extreme pain, and that's when it occurred to me that all of the stomach discomfort that I have been experiencing lately may just be acid reflux, which, unfortunately, runs in my family.  I have spent a few days feeling pretty crummy, but I think the medication I started using is finally starting to kick in, so hopefully I'll be in tip-top shape for the weekend!  I am definitely the worst sick person ever, because I try to pretend I'm not sick and go about my exhausting routine as usual.  I'm sure it will catch up to me at some point...

This week has been busybusybusy! On Monday, Dan came over for some stir-fry that I whipped up, and we were able to successfully find some Season 4 episodes of Parks and Recreation.  I would appreciate them putting the season up on Netflix, oh, yesterday.  We managed to have a really nice night, despite the fact that Dan picked up a completely ridiculous ticket on the way to my apartment :( Poor guy.  Last night, I grabbed drinks with Dan's/my friend Lindsay at Donovan House, a really cool place on Thomas Circle. I don't think the bar itself is called Donovan House, but it is located on the pool deck of the Donovan House hotel (interesting concept, but it works).  The view from the rooftop was INREDIBLE, and, as always, I had a great time with Lindsay. We did have to wait about a half-hour for our check, which was annoying, because the employees were both struggling in general and didn't know how to work their new computer system.  Oh well, I still made it home early enough to Skype with Kristin.

I'm so, so excited about this long weekend, and I'm sure I will have many more updates next week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!

My Best Birthday Yet!

One of my friends asked me on Saturday night which of my birthdays has been my favorite, and I have to say that it was this one, my 24th!  There is something about each birthday that makes it special, and before this birthday, I would have said that my 23rd was my favorite, since all of my closest college girlfriends came in to town for a mini-reunion.  However, a lot of changes have happened in my life over the past year that contributed to making this birthday such a wonderful one.

I started off Birthday Weekend with a nice little cupcake party thrown by my colleagues, which was perfect, since I was planning on breaking Lent and eating sweets for the occasion of my birthday.  I'm lucky to work in an office where we take some time out to celebrate everyone's birthday, so it was nice to have that time out of our Friday to relax and eat some yummy treats.  And, what's more, my boss let us leave at 4, right after the party, so my weekend got to start early!

Dan and I had a pretty low-key evening on Friday night, which was exactly what I needed since I had had a long week.  He also had to be up at the crack of dawn (6:30, yikes!) to be a dutiful cousin and go to his younger cousin's swim meet, so we watched some basketball and were asleep at an old people-early time.  On Saturday morning, I got a nice "Happy Birthday" wakeup before Dan had to run out the door, and then I met up with my dad for a nice breakfast and daddy/daughter time. It was so nice to have that time to catch up with him.  He then drove me to pick up my cake from a DELICIOUS DC-area bakery chain Cake Love, and I got my Cookies & Cream cake (and yes, it is as good, if not better, than the picture makes it look!).  The rest of the day was pretty relaxing; I went for a nice run, baked a second cake, and generally got the apartment ready for people to come over.  Dan came over a little bit earlier than everyone else, and then a few of us got Indian takeout (quickly becoming a yearly birthday tradition) before the rest of the guests arrived.

This is the part of the post where I tell you how wonderful Dan is: there were about 10 girls there, and one Dan, and he was such a champ about sitting around chatting with a bunch of girls.  How did I get this lucky??? I made sure to express, on multiple occasions throughout the night and afterward, how grateful I was that he was there, despite being the lone male representative (it hadn't been planned that way, but our few male friends were unable to make it).  I felt terrible for him at multiple points throughout the night, but he hung in there (and even went out dancing, which he hates, for a little while).  I think I owe him one (okay, more than one).  That's how you know that someone loves you, when they're willing to do lots of things they don't want to do for you.  I am the luckiest girl in the world :)

Anyway, since we sat around doing all of that talking, we didn't actually make it to karaoke, which had been our original plan.  We left the apartment at around midnight, and Dan, Lauren, Molly and I went dancing for a bit at Front Page before heading home.  All in all, it was a great night, and I was so happy to have been surrounded by so many wonderful friends.

On Sunday, after a relaxing day, I met up with my parents and Dan for dinner at Filomena, a FANTASTIC Italian restaurant in Georgetown.  It was the perfect end to the perfect birthday weekend, and I was so grateful throughout the weekend to be able to spend time with family, friends and Dan.  A huge thank you to all of you who were either present at some point during the weekend or sent your love.  I feel this way every day, but I am so blessed to have the loved ones that I do!

Spring Has Sprung!!!

Happy first day of spring, darlings!!!! I hope it's a beautiful day wherever all of you are (it's kind of gray here in D.C. today, and we had a freak thunderstorm at 6:30 this morning- I guess spring started with a bang, literally?)!  Sorry for being such a delinquent blogger, but I have had ZERO free time recently to churn out a post, so congrats, you get one of my signature long posts! ;)

This was definitely an eventful St. Patty's Day weekend, with lots of basketball and time with friends- literally, whenever I wasn't firmly planted on the couch watching March Madness, I was running all over creation!  Dan and I both got off of work early on Friday, and, after I met him at work, we metroed home and proceeded to watch 7 straight hours of basketball (which included a second-round win by our Hoyas...I don't want to talk about Sunday's third-round game).  Ah, March, ain't it grand!

On Saturday, I met up with Dan and his friends at around 3 for a St. Patty's pregame, after which we went to Dupont for a bit.  I have to say, I am not the hugest fan of the holiday (I have recently developed an intolerance to beer- really painful stomachaches means it's not worth it to have even one- and, due to a bad experience with Bailey's on my 21st, I refuse to touch it), partly because I am not a huge drinker, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and be festive haha.  I had a really great time with that group (one of his friends had been in Ireland for work for the past six months, so it was so nice to see him again), and then I met up with my friends for a bit afterward (for a lot of that time, I was shoving a veggie burger in my mouth- so ladylike) and then hit the sack at oh, about 10:30.  I'm not even ashamed of the fact that I'm a 90 year-old woman at heart!  Sunday was a thoroughly awful, Murphy's Law kind of day, and, after chalking it up in the loss column, I moved on, determined that the next day would be better, which it was. 

As usual, this week is turning out to be really hectic.  Don't get me wrong, I am loving my FemEx class, but having that at the beginning of the week and then knowing that I won't get back until late (thanks to Metro, I haven't gotten home much before 11 after either of the previous two classes) means that I'll be running on fumes for the rest of the week, especially with that 5a.m. gym routine.  Any rational person would say that I should skip the gym for a day, but anyone who knows me is well aware that that is not an option for me.  So, after tonight, I will simply soldier on for 12 more weeks.  While I definitely like staying busy, I have felt really overwhelmed, on those other days, by how many things I want to do and how many people (Dan, my family, friends in DC, friends from afar who I want to Skype with) I want to spend time with.  If anyone has any tips on how best to manage your time so that you don't constantly feel like you're shortchanging someone in your life.

Something fun that I have to look forward to this week is going to see the cherry blossoms with a friend later on in the week!  If you have never been to D.C. or simply have never gone over to the Tidal Basin when the blossoms are in full bloom, I would highly recommend it.  Since the Festival tends to be a mob scene on the weekends (read: annoying tourists), we're hoping to avoid that somewhat by going on a weeknight after work.  We'll see how it goes!  In any case, I know the blossoms will be stunningly beautiful, so I'm looking forward to that!

And then...Saturday is my birthday!!! I'm definitely really looking forward to the celebrations this year, but it will not be the same as when all of my closest girlfriends were in town on the same weekend as my birthday for a mini-reunion.  I was spoiled last year! I know, though, that everyone will be there in spirit, and, in fact, I learned that Kate, my Birthday Week buddy, will also be going out for karaoke with friends on Saturday night! However, despite missing out-of-town friends, this is the first year that Dan will get to witness our birthday antics (we had only been dating for a few weeks when my birthday rolled around last year, and we both thought it best not to subject him to the gaggle of girls so early on), and yes, I am forcing him to go dancing :) Or maybe he's doing it willingly haha.  In any case, I am looking forward to a nice dinner at an AMAZING Italian restaurant with Dan, my parents and Tim on Friday, followed by birthday festivities on Saturday (including breaking Lent for CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell how excited I am? I have been STARVING for weeks without my sweets!).  I think it should be pretty low-key, which I so desperately need given how hectic my life has been recently.

Yearning for Spring

After an entirely unimpressive winter (seriously DC??? We had MAYBE two dustings of snow the entire winter), I am ready to break out the dresses and retire my riding boots until next fall.  We had some warm days the last few days that caused me to lose the tights (yikes, scandalous!) and trade my boots in for flats.  We'll see if the weather holds...

I have lots of exciting things that are on my radar:

• My birthday is TWO WEEKS from tomorrow!  I don't know what I'm more excited for, getting all of my friends together and going dancing, or breaking Lent and stuffing my face with cake ;)  Or going out dancing/karaoke-ing.

• March Madness!!!!!!!!!! (duh)  Despite a disappointing Hoya loss in the BET yesterday (one of the most worst meltdowns that I have ever had the displeasure of watching), I am cautiously optimistic about our chances in the NCAAs.  Our seniors have really come into their own this year, and both for their sake and my own, I would hate to see them make an early-round exit.  I will be glued to the TV come Sunday to see who the Selection Committee has us playing in the first round!

• I just signed up for my second half-marathon, after having been thwarted in my quest to run the Marine Corps Marathon (who knew that it would sell out in less than three hours? I was planning on waiting a few months to make sure my body would hold up enough to run it, but I guess that was a mistake)!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Dan and I were looking into some other races, and the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach (on September 2nd) caught my eye.  I had heard of it before, but had decided against running it in the past for whatever reason.  This time, I decided that I had to run it!!!!  Think about it, people, live music along the course!  This race was made for me! And, even better, Dan *might* run it with me (maybe I will just get all of his friends to peer pressure him into it haha), and it would be so fun to have a running buddy! What I love most about training for a race is that it gives my runs purpose.  I have (knock on wood) had great runs recently ever since my leg started feeling better, so I'm psyched to start doing long runs again!  We're hoping to run outside tomorrow, so here's hoping the weather holds up!! 

You would never know that the girl who is so gung-ho about races now actively HATED running up until a couple of years ago.  I think that there is definitely something to be said for the power of endorphins, and I feel them much more when I'm running than with any other form of exercise.  I am the type of person who likes to challenge myself physically, so running is perfect for a masochist like me!  I also love the control running gives me over my weight.  Before I started running, my weight definitely yo-yo'ed, but now my it stays a lot more constant (even if I have those occasional cake binges, like the one I will probably be having on my birthday haha).  Because of that, I FEEL so much better all the time, and so much more in control (which, as a control freak, I love).  It is also really motivating, too, that I live in such an active city, so that, when I see other people running outside, it makes me jealous and want to run outside myself (twisted, but it's really such good motivation!).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I hope it's sunny and warm where you all are!