Baking With Brody
I didn’t actually set out to do a cooking segment here, but about halfway into birthday cake production I decided it needed to be documented, so there you go. Unfortunately I didn’t come to this realization until the cake was already baked, but at least I got to photograph the fun part: decorating!
Cake decorating is kind of like surgery, sort of. You need knives, precision, and someone else to help clean up the mess. It is a match made in heaven.
I started with the recipe for Peanut Butter Bulldog Brownie cake from Kerry at Georgia’s Legacy, which she graciously agreed to let me share. I’ll post it at the bottom.
Here it is, ready for a little cake-o-suction.
I split it into two layers. Then, I traced a bone on the layer in front. See the crumbs?
Commence cake corner-ectomy. Surgery is so much easier when you don’t need to worry about a sterile field.
This was actually a really easy cake to carve. I’ve done lots of cake stuff over the past few years, and the denser the product, the easier it is to cut. This recipe makes a very dense, brownie-like cake. I used a serrated steak knife to do the cutting and it was easy-peasy. Soon, the shape started to emerge.
Obviously in a surgical setting you do not feed the castoffs to anyone.
Here we go. That shaped up pretty bone-like, I’d say.
Then, you just place the cut layer on top of the other layer and trace. It’s a piece of cake. ha ha!
No, that is not my shrunken misshapen hand on the right- it’s little 4 year old fingers sneaking in, deciding that dog cake doesn’t taste so bad after all and maybe he will actually try a piece.
I lack the patience to document each individual addition to the mixing bowl in true Pioneer Woman style, so let’s just skip to the good part: cream cheese peanut butter frosting. You didn’t want to see a picture of me unwrapping a package of Philly’s cream cheese, did you? Plus I was in too much of a rush to finish so I could taste it.
Top your bottom layer with some filler icing, then add some zing. Raisins do nicely.
Yeah, that’s weird vet humor for ya. Don’t use raisins. DO NOT USE RAISINS. Use bananas.
Plop on the top layer, then cover in frosting. Stick it in the fridge to make the crumbs adhere a little more.
Then comes my favorite part: add MORE frosting.
You’ll probably have leftover carob powder from the recipe. If you stir it into the leftover frosting, you can make some dark brown icing for embellishment.
If your edges aren’t as smooth as you’d like, cover them up with dog biscuits. If you haven’t left your carob chips in the car on a hot day like I did thus reducing them to a large congealed mass, you could use those, too. You can pretty much do whatever you want, really. Except raisins. Don’t let me dictate your style.
Recipe: Peanut Butter Bulldog Brownie Cake with Banana Filling
courtesy Kerry Malak, Georgia’s Legacy
½ cup shortening or oil
3 Tbsp. honey 4 eggs (or egg substitute)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup carob powder
½ tsp. baking powder
Cream shortening/oil and honey together thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients. Beat well. Divide batter between two lightly greased 6” round cake pans* and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely.
Frosting:
2 packages cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
2 tsp. honey
2 Tbsp peanut butter
Filling:
1 small banana
Finishing directions:
Beat the cream cheese and honey together until it reaches desired spreading consistency. Add a small amount of milk if needed.
If you will be decorating the cake beyond just frosting it (to add lettering or other decorative touches in a different color) reserve up to ¼ of the frosting for later use. You can add food coloring or carob powder to this frosting and then use with decorator tips.
Add peanut butter and continue to blend until frosting can easily spread.
Spread a thick layer of frosting on bottom cake layer and then top with thinly sliced bananas. Spread bottom of other cake layer with frosting – just enough to help it stick to the bananas – and place on top. Then, you’re ready to frost the outside of the cake & enjoy!
Optional: Decorate using bone shaped dog biscuits along side of cake or crush dog cookies finely and press against sides of frosted cake for a finished look.
*For fast and easy decorating, you can also cook this cake recipe in an 8 x 8 square cake pan and frost as is, without the filling, using only 1 ½ packages of cream cheese.
**I multiplied this recipe by 1.5 in order to bake it in a 9×13 pan. -Dr V
