.ode to chocolate cake day.

Yes! That's right! It's the day we've all been waiting for: NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY!!! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. After all, it's a day devoted to the celebration and enjoyment of one of lifes best guilty pleasures: chocolate cake!

Since everyone observes this very special holiday in their own way, the way you choose to celebrate may vary: indulging in an entire sheet cake for breakfast... and lunch... and dinner, hanging pieces of cake around the house to help set a festive mood, face painting with chocolate frosting, making chocolate cake baskets and doing a chocolate cake hunt in the yard, filling socks with morsels of chocolate cakey goodness and hanging them by the fire...

*Sigh* Such wonderful memories... Okay. I'm kidding. We have never celebrated National Chocolate Cake day. In fact, I didn't even know about until two nights ago when I was looking up "food holidays" for funzies. Just because we haven't enjoyed an festivities in the past, however, doesn't mean we won't enjoy this little known (and slightly random) holiday this year. Maybe a chocolate buttermilk sheet cake is in order...

.ladybug cakes.

For Livi's first birthday party, I planned a "Ladybug Luncheon." Of course I had to have a ladybug cake and I thought, "Why buy when I can create?" So, I set about my planning to make not one, but two ladybug cakes: one to share and one for Livi to destroy, of course.

I ended up making a 12 inch, triple layer, hand-carved, fondant covered cake for all of our birthday guests and a little ladybug cake with non-dairy frosting for Livi. It took a long time (especially coloring and kneading the fondant), but it was so worth it! Check 'em out!

 

(Notice the alternating chocolate and red velvet layers. Yummy!)