**headsup: a lot of photos ahead, if you want the recipe just scroll to the bottom! 🙂 First though, happy Cinco de Mayo! I hope you will all be celebrating with a Mexican feast and plenty of margaritas tonight. If you need any ideas, check out this post! OK, but this cake? Isn’t is fun? As you can see I got just a little carried away with the edible flowers, but what’s new, right? And for those of you who are wondering, those would be hibiscus flowers, aren’t they pretty! But this cake, from the outside you’d never guess what’s hiding on the inside…
Zebra cake layers! Ahh! I’m still just in awe of this cake. And for those of you out there saying you could never make a zebra striped cake, trust me you can…and you should. When I set out to make this cake, I wasn’t real optimistic…I figured I could probably make it taste could, but look good…doubtful. How would I get a cake to look like zebra stripes? Well, I took some advice from a pro, hello Martha Stewart, and you know what? Creating a zebra striped cake is simple and pretty painless. The secret? Simply pouring the chocolate cake batter over top of the vanilla cake batter, a little at a time, to create layers. Yes, it does take a few minutes longer then just dumping the batter into each pan, but the fun zebra stripes make it totally worth the extra time and effort. I did a simple vanilla and chocolate cake batter, but for my filling, I went with something a little different. Over here, we are huge fans of anything involving chocolate mousse. I knew with Mother’s Day coming up in just a little over a week that I could create the perfect cake for my mom if it involved chocolate mousse. So that’s what I did. I created a zebra striped vanilla and chocolate cake with an easy chocolate mousse that’s light, airy and pairs perfectly with this cake. Then I frosted the outside with a little whipped cream and decorated the cake with tons of flowers, because anything with flowers is always my mom’s favorite…and my guess would be that’s the case for a lot of you moms out there too. Flowers just make everything better.
You know what the best part about this cake is? Even though it’s super fun and pretty, it also tastes amazing. I feel like so many pretty cakes end up being dry and flavorless, but this cake is anything but…it’s moist, chocolatey, and airy – SO GOOD. Also, and I feel like this is something I really want to stress to you guys, DO NOT freak if your zebra stripes aren’t perfect, mine are totally not, but none of you mind, right? The cake is going to be fun no matter what, and promise, even if the cake batter looks like a hot mess going into the oven, by the time it comes out it will be pretty and zebra stripe…ish. And remember, perfect is just plain boring anyway. Little imperfections are always a good thing, they show character.
OKok. And with that, I think it’s time to say see ya! I hope you guys all have an incredible cake-filled weekend. Are you up to anything fun? I’m headed to Salt Lake City to speak at my very first conference. I’m going to be running through my photography process with attendees and answering all their questions. And you guys, well I am excited, I am so nervous!!! So please, send good vibes! Please and thank you!
In the meantime, I’ll just be over here stress-eating on this cake. But for real, those layers! Love.
