ronin cake

[shusu]

So it was Touma's birthday on the tenth.

Here's his cake. High-sugar, gooey, nutty, bubbly yellow-and-blue cake. Appropriate, no? I didn't bake it perfectly, but it was fun to watch a cake explode.



The 'gold' is all almonds.







Duncan Hines link. The same thing's floating all over the net.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups self-rising or cake flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups water
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup oil or softened butter or margarine
• 8 Tbsp. blue food coloring
• 4 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 cup each chopped pecans and almonds
• 2 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
• If you want to decorate, use Duncan Hines icing.

Directions:

1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2: Combine the first seven ingredients. Slowly add food coloring.
3: Mix at high speed. For filling (pudding), follow instructions as written on the box.
4: Oil and slightly flour two 8-inch pans.
5: Fill each pan halfway with batter, then add filling, and fill pan with batter. Bake for at least 45 to 60 minutes.
6: Insert toothpick in center of cake. If toothpick comes out clean, then it is done. Cool, then frost.
7: Cover each layer with chopped walnuts, pecans, and almonds.
8: Then cover frosted cake with remainder of chopped nuts.

Tips for this cake:

1. Add more food coloring than you think you need. Otherwise you get a Sage cake.
2. Add less pudding than you think you need. The batter will rise in the oven, so it can't all be topped off to the lip. Otherwise the cake will collapse like a bloated twinkie.
3. Cool the cake completely before doing any serious moving or icing. At least till the pudding's somewhat solid inside. If it's molten, see above.
4. Most expensive item? The nuts. Use less and save up.
5. Warm up your icing before decorating. How you do it is up to you ;)

Crossposted (a bit differently) to tenku.