Italian Cream Cake

As I mentioned in my previous post, I baked twice last week during the great move.  I somehow forgot that the first official day we could move in to the new place was also the date of my boss' Pampered Chef party, that I'd offered to bake for.  Silly me.  But, I do love a challenge and that's what this was.  Despite having moved a good portion of the kitchen to the new place, I managed to hang on to a few essentials and made this last thing in the tiny kitchen's homicidal oven.

I haven't ever made a layer cake before.  I know it seems crazy, since I kind of bake all the time, but I usually stick to a 9x13 or cupcakes.  The fact that I didn't (until this Christmas, thanks Mrs. Jann!) have 8 or 9 inch round cake pans didn't help the matter but, as Anna pointed out, if I'd wanted to make a layer cake I would have made it happen by now.

I was presented this particular challenge by my boss' friend, who is also my former professor (no pressure there, right?).  She said that she's always loved Italian Cream cake and I stupidly agreed to make it, because I didn't have my calendar in front of me and didn't bother to look up the recipe before agreeing to make one.  I used Billie's Italian Cream Cake recipe from Tasty Kitchen, because I love the Pioneer Woman and anything related to her.  It's an illness that I'm (not) seeking treatment for, don't judge.

I only made two 8-inch round cakes because I only had two pans, even though the recipe calls for three layers, and had enough batter left over for seven cupcakes.  In the future I'll just go ahead and use all the batter for the two cakes.  Even though the cupcakes were delicious, I think the cake would have been prettier if I'd filled the pans more.  I halved the frosting recipe and still had more than enough to put between the cake layers, frost the cake (ok, so Anna frosted the cake while I got changed for the party), and frost the cupcakes.  

Overall the cake was a success, people seemed impressed that it was all from scratch and it was also an excellent marketing opportunity for Crystal and Kristi, since I used Pampered Chef pans to prepare the cakes.  Unfortunately, in the rush to get this cake out the door, I didn't take a picture of it intact.  Here's what I managed to snap at the party.

Pretty and delicious!