Lemon Raspberry Truffle Cake

This weekend I am at my grandparents house who live in San Angelo. Every year, for as long as I can remember, we have always gone to the Christmas in Ole For Concho here in San Angelo. It's tradition! I was very excited to get off work for it. Even though it's warm outside, the traditions make it feel like Christmas. Lights on outside the house, fort concho, christmas trees and Christmas movies.

We went to a special showing of the movie "A Christmas Story" at Tinseltown this past Wednesday and let me tell you it was fun! I don't know if i've ever watched the whole movie from beginning to end before then, but it always makes it feel like Christmas.

Black Forest Cake

When I was younger, I used to be kind of a tomboy. I grew up with two older brothers so I always wanted to do stuff with them. 

The only way my mom could get me to wear anything besides my brothers old hand-me-downs was to buy something with The Little Mermaid on it. 

Meeting me now you probably wouldn't have any idea I was like that though, I must say i've turned pretty girly over the years.

Now i'm not afraid of dirt and I do like challenges. In fact I even did Warrior Dash this just last November and came 6th in my division!

However, I do enjoy dressing more girly and decorating more. I love cooking and making things pretty, even though half the time my food doesn't come out too grand. I just enjoy pretty things more I guess.

An over the top cake for an over the top mom

So a couple of days ago was my mom's birthday. My mom is my best friend. Seriously I don't know what I would do without her. I know, I know that's been said many times before but it's true. My mom is like supermom x10. Not only has she home schooled me and my two older brothers, but she's managed to cook us homemade food almost every night, helped us with anything we needed help with, helped my dad with anything he needed helped with, I mean the list of things she's done for us goes on and on.

She's the one person I can tell absolutely anything to. We never fight. She even puts up with my bad moods and breakdowns both in the kitchen and in real life.

So what do you make for someone on their birthday who's that amazing?

My original plan was to make her a pie, since I had bought her a new Le Creuset pie dish, but then I decided i'd make her something in that later, but for now I needed something big. Something over the top delicious and decadent. Then while I was sitting there the day before her birthday I decided... Chocolate Cheesecake Layer Cake with Guinness Chocolate Ganache. The most brilliant idea i've had in a long time.

My cakes never tend to come out the greatest looking, but i'll be damned if they're not delicious. If I do say so myself.

I always wondered how people managed to get the cheesecake filling in between the cake layers, but now I know. What I did was make the cheesecake layer the day before, but it in the freezer, then the next day make the cakes and while the cheesecake was still frozen set it on top. Brilliant.

I used several different recipes for the different elements of this cake. Ina's chocolate cake, Chantals cheesecake, and Gastronome Tart's guinness brownies frosting.

This cake was every bit of deliciousness you could imagine. Rich creamy cheesecake, fluffy moist chocolate cake, and dark decadent Guinness ganache.. Every slice is heaven...

Cheesecake Layer

• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom of springform pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Chocolate 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
• Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch roundcake 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 rubberspatula. 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.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

The frosting came from Gastronome Tart's blog. I highly recommend you check it out!