Goodbye Takeout Hello Homemade: Recipe #66: Sugar Cookie Cake

Today is the birthday of Ian's mother, Lisa, and we invited her to come to Carmel to spend her special day with us. We had promised her a day at the pool for some time. Hilariously, we had made this promise when the whole country was going through a record high heat wave and a serious drought for a couple of months. Today, her birthday, was the first day we got hit with thunderstorms. (Isn't it ironic?) Well we were able to swim a little bit this afternoon but it was not a full day at the pool.

So because we were not able to completely hold up our end of the bargain I decided to make her a birthday cake to make her day a little sweeter. (I figure we could have just bought one or had one specially made from an actual caterer/restaurant but where is the fun in that?) I knew her favorite color is baby blue and so I did my best to get as close to that shade of blue as possible. It was more of a robin's egg blue but hey, it is the thought that counts!

I have never been great at baking; in fact, I burn most of the pastries/cookies/cakes, etc. I make so tonight I made sure I was extra careful. But, I still kind of overcooked the cake...it was a little brown but again, it's the thought that counts, right?! I found this recipe: http://www.pardonthedoghair.com/2012/04/sugar-cookie-tea-cakes-2/ and the only ingredient I added was the blue food coloring. The cake was fun to make and it tasted great. I hope she had as wonderful of a time as we did today.

Ingredients:

* 3/4 cups of Butter
* 2 cups of Sugar
* 2 Eggs
* 1 cup of Buttermilk
* 2 cups of White Flour
* 1 cup of Cake Flour
* 1 tsp of Baking Powder
* 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
* 1/2 tsp of Sea Salt
* 1/2 cup of Reduced Fat Sour Cream
* 1 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Flavor
* 1 container of Butter Cream Frosting (or your preferred choice)

Cooking Directions:

First preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium size mixing bowl add the butter and the sugar. Add one egg at a time. Mix until smooth.

In a separate mixing bowl add both flours, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the sea salt.

Stir to mix.

Add 1 cup of the dry ingredients into the butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Stir to mix.

Than add 1/3 cup of buttermilk to the mixture and stir.

Repeat these alternating steps until all of the ingredients are mixed together.

Spray 2 baking dishes that are both 9x9 and pour the batter. (Remember to use the same shape baking dishes...I did not realize that one baking dish was more circular than the other. Rookie mistake!)

Place both baking dishes in the oven and cook for roughly 25-30 minutes.

Insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake and if it pulls out clean than the cake is done. (But, I'm sure you knew that one, right?)

Let sit for 15-20 minutes before transferring both of the cakes onto two separate plates.