Happy Birthday Erin!

My beautiful and awesome wife turned 26 on Tuesday. She likes to be pampered (and I like to comply) on her birthday. One of my favorite parts of her "birthday week" is making her a cake. I only make 1 cake a year so I might as well go all out; three layers at a minimum and I try to make it as unhealthy as possible.

This is my 3rd year of practice and I think I've learned a little. Last year's cake caved in pretty bad mostly because I didn't have enough time to let the cake cool before stacking and frosting. This year I gave myself enough time but still found it tough. Below is the series of events leading to the final product. Here is my formula:

-add as many m&m's and chocolate chips as the cake will hold
-try to take the sticky formula out of the pan








-carefully stack the layers
-piece back together the broken cake








-use frosting as an "adhesive" to hold the cake together
-use whatever you can for support while the "adhesive" is drying





-frost over the blemishes





-finish with more frosting and compare to last year