Window Box Birthday Cake

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

63 people added this to their Recipe Box

Window Box Cake Photography by Robert Wigington

This recipe makes 12 servings

Nutritional Info
Per serving: about	-
cal	634634 cal
pro	6 g6g pro
total fat	25 g25g total fat
sat. fat	12 g12g sat. fat
carb	102 g102g carb
fibre	3 g3g fibre
chol	78 mg78mg chol
sodium	523 mg523mg sodium
% RDI:	-
calcium	77 calcium
iron	1515 iron
vit A	1717 vit A
folate	44 folate

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Ingredients

1 cup (250 mL) cocoa_powder

2/3 cup (150 mL) boiling water

2-1/4 cups (550 mL) all-purpose_flour

2 cups (500 mL) granulated_sugar

1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) each baking_powder and baking_soda

1/2 tsp (2 mL) Salt

1-1/4 cups (300 mL) buttermilk

2 eggs

1/3 cup (75 mL) vegetable_oil

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

Butter Icing

Yellow food colouring

2/3 cup (150 mL) chocolate cookie crumbs

Garnish:

Green ribbon licorice, bamboo_skewers, gumdrops, granulated_sugar and gummi worms

Preparation

View large image of Window Box Cake.

Grease sides of 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) cake pan; line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Set aside.

In small bowl, whisk 3/4 cup (175 mL) of the cocoa with water until smooth; set aside. In large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make well in centre; pour in buttermilk, eggs, oil, vanilla and cocoa mixture; whisk until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for 45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack. Run knife around sides; turn out of pan.

Whisk remaining cocoa powder into 1 cup (250 mL) of the Butter Icing. Tint remaining icing with yellow food colouring. Cut cake in half lengthwise. Place one half on cake board or tray; spread top with 2/3 cup (150 mL) of the cocoa icing. Top with remaining half, bottom side up.

With knife, make 3/4-inch (2 cm) deep cut around top of cake 1/2 inch (1 cm) from edge. With spoon, hollow out centre 3/4 inch (2 cm) deep. Spread bottom of hollow with remaining cocoa icing. Spread thin layer of yellow icing over border and sides of cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until hard. Spread remaining icing over border and sides. Spread cookie crumbs inside hollow, pressing to adhere.

Garnish: With scissors, cut ribbon licorice into leaf shapes. Slice gumdrops; roll in sugar to make petals. Pierce petals with skewer; top with small gumdrop for flower centre. Push skewer into cake; press leaves into cake at skewer base. Arrange gummi worms in cookie crumbs.