Isn’t this a thing of beauty??? Yes it is! My obsession with cake is one that I cannot entertain often or else my health would bein danger! When certain occassions arise, I go all out and make a cake worthy of a bake shoppe…from scratch too! Smitten Kitchen is awesome for scratch recipes and thats where I got my inspiration…but i got lazy for filling and that is store-bought.

Dont want to blow up these pictures of heaven but this is the process… backwards. The pic on the right is the raspberry filling on top of the bottom layer of yellow cake.
I had some issues getting the cake out of the pan…so I took my cue from Mrs. Julia Child. – no one will know if you made a mistake.
Frost the cake and no one will know the difference.
Rest in Pieces These are the pieces that I trimmed…Don’t worry- Henry found stuff to do with them.
Now, the reason for the fancy cake is because I was going to my first Barbecue…of 2009. Isnt that sad? Summer is almost over and I JUST made it to a bbq? good grief!
My good friend Nechama and her hubby Dan had henry and I over for a BBQ. Naturally, nechama waited to do the bbq shopping till 30 mins after Henry and I arrived. No problem. Im used to last minute- i can make last minute work!
We settle on ground turkey, ny steak strips, and some chicken that I brought ahead of time and marinated in BBQ sauce and random spices.
Since the chicken was ready to go when we came back from the grocery store, I gave henry the Charcoal and told him to start cooking the chicken so we can get the party going.
I start to make burgers with some chopped onions, garlic powder, bread crumbs, 1 egg, salt and pepper and some Country Bobs.
Henry knocks on the window and said “something is wrong”
Me: What do you mean?
Him: The chicken is BLACK! but raw on the inside.
Me: Henry, how much coal did you put in the grill… the SMALL grill.
Him: the whole bag.
Me: the 13 lb bag?
Him: yeah
Me: (screaming) i need a shovel and a bucket of water!
I emptied 3/4 of the grill and saw my beautiful free range chicken was burnt to a CRISP! I nearly cried. but i pulled it together and threw the chicken back on the NOW normal burning grill and when the chicken was done I did what any cheapskate would do…..
Cut off the burnt part! The chicken was so moist on the inside. Too bad all my seasonings BURNT off… but some BBQ sauce fixed that no problem. So thanks Henry for burning my $20 worth of chicken.
Everything else cooked beautifully!!!!

Dan approves of the burnt chicken!

Henry and Nechama make it work!

I cry.
And are any of you wondering why i was invited to BBQ and did all the cooking/shopping?
yeah, me too. Mickey really wanted some burnt chicken but she settled for kibble with burger sprinkled on top! (spoiled dog)
Can’t have a party without Miguel! The chips were a hit! I brought one of every kind of chip. Dan and Nechama really enjoyed it!

I dont know about you, but i can TOTALLY tell I jacked his cake up! But everyone enjoyed it anyway.

Afterwards, Mickey went swimming in their pool and surfing while Henry and i raced and acted like kids in the pool…we were zonked that….

This is Mickey in the back seat of the car, she NEVER sits there. She jumped the back and instantly went to sleep. *squeal*
And please, if you have a bbq and invite me and henry, DO NOT make him in charge of hte grill!