Happy 12th Birthday Frankie!

Our Nephew Frankie is turning 12 today! Its so crazy to think how fast he’s growing up. We were just about Frankie’s age when he was born. We were 13 and felt so grown up because we already had a niece and couldn’t wait for Frankie to get here! As soon as Frankie was born we wanted to hold him, feed him, change  him, and bathe him. There were plenty of times where we would fight over who was going to hold him. We feel really close to Frankie because we saw him almost everyday for the first few years of his life, we look at him like our baby brother. Frankie is one of those kids, that when he speaks to you, you think your speaking to an adult. He excels in school and is very knowledgeable for a 12 year old. We predict that Frankie will become president one day! Wouldn’t be bad to have some connections with the President.

Frankie will be successful in whatever he chooses to do in life. He’s such a great people person and loves to have conversations with everybody and anybody. Most of the time he starts off by saying, “Did you know that…”

Frankie  LOVES to read. You’re probably wondering why we drew a scorpion and a lightning bolt on top of his cake. Well, Frankie is into a series of books called, Alex Rider. They are all over 300 pages and he has read about 10 of them! The scorpion and lightening bolt were on the covers of two of the books, and he wanted us to incorporate them into his cake. We are so proud of him and look forward to seeing him continue to grow.

Okay so you’re probably wondering what kind of cake, icing, and filling we used…

After talking with Frankie this is what we decided on.

Chocolate Cake. Oreo Cream filling. Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.

We can’t wait to eat this tonight!

Happy 12th Birthday Frankie!

We love you so much!!

Cake

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Oreo Filling

Ingredients

• 1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups  thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
• 16 OREO Cookies, coarsely crushed

Directions

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in COOL WHIP and crushed cookies. Stack cake layers on plate, spreading cream cheese mixture between layers.

Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 cups (9oz) unsalted butter (softened)
• 4 1/2 cups (1lb 2oz) confectioner’s (castor) sugar, sifted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tbsp hot water

Directions

In a mixing bowl, mix the butter until light and fluffy. (2 minutes)
Carefully mix in the sugar, vanilla and water and beat well at high speed until the mixture is light and creamy. (4-5min)

Frost the cake!