Double Chocolate Cake with Spiked Raspberry Filling

Though I say I will stay away from making desserts I simply cannot. It is the one thing I enjoy making and consuming but it is very easy to find someone to bake for, usually. When we have company over for dinner, it seems as though Ryan and I discuss the dessert options before planning the meal itself. I mean, sometimes the dessert makes the meal, right?

To make matters more challenging, not worse, I decided to take Wilton cake decorating classes. Since I enjoy baking and making cakes, I decided it was high time I learned to decorate my cakes better than I have. I have always been one to take classes rather than to teach myself because, well, I like interacting with the teacher and chatting with others. I LIKE it!

One of the things I realized that attending an evening class after being busy with two small girls makes it very challenging coming prepared to class with baked cakes, cupcakes and being set up with all the cake decorating equipment. I probably failed my prep class tonight because I hardly had half the items I needed for my class, but like I told my husband, I managed and succeeded in decorating my first cake. Not only was I happy and tired but the class was also therapeutic.

What exactly did I really need to learn from a class that I could not learn on my own? Well, probably nothing that I could not read, but I learned the difference between three icing consistencies. The stiff icing was perfect for cake flowers and decorations while the medium icing was great for filling and the thin consistency was all about the cake topping. I learned in my first class how to cook a cake evenly and even how to slice a cake evenly in order to add filling. What was most exciting was learning how to not let the filling seep from the middle outside the cake. Yes!

Now who wants the cake I prepared tonight? Any birthdays out there? I will drop it off for you.

Before I started these evening classes I decided to make a chocolate cake for our guests who came to dinner a few weeks back. Even though I knew I enjoyed making cake, I really did not know what kind of icing to make especially since I only half a stick of butter so I went with a frosting instead. It totally did not come out the way I wanted and was disappointed and wondered what I did but then I realized that the amount of liquid to bring the frosting consistency together has to be done carefully or else the frosting comes out too thin which is what I did.

Even so, the cake turned out to be a great hit especially since it was chocolate. I spiked the preserves with vodka and then filled the cake with the filling and frosted the cake with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. All in all, it was super moist and decadent. Our friends were surprised I even had time to bake it which honestly enough, I was too.

Having a hard time deciding what to make this weekend? Make this cake and bring everyone together to talk about the resurrection of Jesus. I know some people on Instagram have been requesting to see the recipe. So enjoy!