The Big Cookie Project: Week 35

Happy Birthday Jesus!

That was my goal this week, to make a birthday cake for Jesus. I've been struggling with trying to explain to Nolan how Christmas and the birth of Christ coincide with each other. My sister had to break it down for me like this:

"Saint Nick loved giving presents to good children all year-round. He got so busy with so many gifts that he decided to only do it once a year. He chose the most special day of all...Jesus' birthday."

I've never done a cake for Jesus' birthday before, so off to the internet I went to look for a good recipe. Most of the cakes I found were knee-deep in symbolism, which I thought would go straight over Nolan's head. So, I went with a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Recipe. I thought the process of just making the cake for Jesus would be a good experience for Nolan this year. Next year, we'll try the other ones. Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup buttermilk (I used whole milk, that's all I had, and it worked)

1 (12oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk. For example, add 1 cup flour, mix well, then add 1/4 cup buttermilk and mix well. Keep on alternating until you've added all the flour and buttermilk required.

2. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips and bake for 55-75 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

3. After the cake is done, out of the bundt pan and cooled, use a microwave-safe bowl and add the rest of the chocolate chips and the 1/2 cup peanut butter. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Keep on microwaving for small incriments until the peanut butter and chocolate are totally combined. Use as icing for your cake!

Here's Nolan with our bundt cake pre-icing. It was this super detailed castle bundt pan that Greg got on clearance for $1 at HEB. Not a typo....$1!!!!

Nolan drizzling the icing over the castle.

Our finished product (I smoothed out the icing as best I could). Nolan had a good time making this cake in honor of Jesus. He was even trying to convince me to buy Jesus a pair of shoes at Target. It was hard explaining that Jesus really didn't need a pair of shoes, all Jesus wanted was for Nolan to love Him and love others. We've had quite a few interesting conversations this week.

Have a Merry Christmas, enjoy your family, and of course enjoy some baking!