A yummy chocolate and vanilla cake

You know you always have an idea of what kind of cake you are going to bake and then by the time it's finished, it always seems to turn out different than you planned? At least that's they way it usually works for me!

I usually use a cake mix and then add a few extras ingredient, but this time I baked a cake from scratch, but still added a few extras to the original recipe.

Chocolate & Vanilla Swirled Cake

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1 box vanilla pudding
4 oz. vanilla yogurt
6 oz. melted semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pans with nonstick spray.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Add vanilla and mix. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and add to batter alternatly with milk, mixing well. Continue beating one minute. Divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into half the batter; mix well.

Use a pan set with circle divider and alternate chocolate and vanilla batter into sections, dividing batter evenly into the three pans. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. Freeze until ready to frost.

Assemble cake by layering circular cakes in order desired according to swirled colors. Spread icing between layers. Frost top and sides.

Serves 20.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup shortning
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. clear vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 TBSP milk

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Add more powdered sugar or milk until you get desired consistency.

I baked the cake Saturday morning, froze it until after I got home from church and then frosted it. I layered the layers, spread frosting in between the layers, cut off the crusty edge around the cake and straightened it for easier frosting.

And then I realized that when I layered the cake, I put two chocolates together instead of chocolate, vanilla, chocolate. And I stuck those three layers together really well. Being the perfectionist I am, I "unstuck" the layers, layered them correctly and refrosted it. Yeah, you knew that was coming, right? I mean you can't leave a cake with uneven chocolate and vanilla layers, can you????

see the crispy and uneven edges?

I know this looks deadly, but I really am good with a knife - on food anyway!!

See how I cut the edges off?

A slightly unbalanced, but evenly layered cake.

Ahhhh.....finished!