She bakes!

 I am not a baker.  I am a cooker.  Following recipes gives me hives.  But I sucked it up, took a benadryl, and got out my measuring cups, all for my little man.  If you read this, you already knew I was planning a monster of a cake for Jack's Christening party.  Well since baking is sorta my arch-nemesis, I decided to do a trial run.  And you know what?  It really didn't suck.

I used Dorie's Perfect Party Cake recipe for the cake layers and Martha Stewart's classic cheesecake for the cheesecake middle.  Lemme tell you, Martha sure knows how to make a fattening tasty cheesecake.  Now,  I say I don't bake, but I do make cheesecake.  I have perfected the art of not cracking the top.  I know, I know, hold your applause till the end of the show please.

All three cake layers were made the night before since the cheesecake didn't come out of the oven until almost 9:30pm!  So bright and early yesterday morning, I set out to tackle the icing and assembly.  Dorie's cake came with a buttercream frosting recipe, but I highly advise against using it.  Mine came out HORRIBLE!  It was all runny and curdled. (there was lemon juice and eggs in it...)  So I scoured the internet for another recipe.  I found a lemon buttercream recipe from the famous sprinkles cupcakes.  I have no idea what sprinkles cupcakes are, but famous? yeah I'll take it!  This recipe was much easier to whip up, no double boiling and whisking till my arm fell off, and man, was it yummy!

So on to the assembly...

 

Here we are halfway in.

Cake

Frosting

Strawberries

Cheesecake

Yum

And more frosting

more strawberries

and the top layer

Isn't it huge?

And frosted.

The inside. 

Amazing I know.

I'm so glad I did the trial run.  This is what I learned.

• 
  
  This cake was not as scary as I thought it would be.
• 
  
  I hated the frosting from the cake recipe.
• 
  
  I need to make more frosting for the big day
• 
  
  I need a cake stand.  Although the cutting board was a good substitute.
• 
  
  Two people cannot possibly eat a cake that weighs over 7 pounds. 
• 
  
  Even inviting 3 friends over, there was still 3/4 of a cake left.

It's funny to me how when I cook something, I can still have a clean kitchen throughout the whole process.  When I bake, it's a disaster.

My sink was worse.

And I had the cutest little assistant. 

 

I cannot wait to make this for our family and friends!  You may now applaud...