The beginning....

So it all began when I was asked to make a wedding cake for my best friend (cake? wedding? biggest day ever? no pressure!) Luckily, I had a few baking tricks up my sleeves and time to practice. Since they live in IL and I in NV we would have to rely on my tastings and a few pictures through text/email. We decided on a two-layer black and white cake with a chocolate black out filling and a basic butter cream.

My Classic White Cake Recipe:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 (9-inch) diameter by 1 1/2-inch deep layer pans or 1 (13 by 9 by 2-inch) pan, buttered and bottoms lined with parchment or waxed paper

Bake at 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top with a metal spatula. Bake cake(s) about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes.

Thanks to Ina Garten (Love her) I found a recipe for an incredible Chocolate Cake. This is the link to Ina's recipe on foodnetwork.com.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html

My Butter Cream recipe is TOO simple and consists of 4 ingredients:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Lastly the Black Out filling (Thanks to Oprah!) was a part of a Three-Layer Cake. It takes a loving hand and a watchful eye but was definitely worth it.

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder , sifted
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons butter , softened
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/food/Three-Layer-Chocolate-Cake-with-Blackout-Filling#ixzz1UjetoNr8

My decorating skills were weak (at best) but it definitely started my love of the 3 T's (Trying, Testing and TASTING!) Here are a few pics of my trials and tribulations of my very BEST friends wedding cake. 

(they loved it BTW... or at least pretended to)