Happy Birthday Squidward! One of the very first things I made in my Tokyo kitchen was a birthday cake for Squidward. Last year, it was a Martha Stewart chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, adorned with a candied smiley face. This year, I went with a super moist chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting from the always amazing and drool worthy Smitten Kitchen blog. In one of Deb's posts, she talks about how she wanted to make a cake version of a Devil Dog
or Hostess Cup Cake
. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out when she gave it a go, but I decided to give it a shot and tada! Here is the finished product. Look familiar?
or Hostess Cup Cake. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out when she gave it a go, but I decided to give it a shot and tada! Here is the finished product. Look familiar? 
The layer inside the cake (and the swirls on top) is a recipe similar to the yummy marshmallow filling you'd find in a Ding Dong
, Cup Cake or Devil Dog. Seven Minute Frosting is the name. Even though it took a lot of sweat and muscles to make (beating the egg whites by hand over simmering water....Big Blue Betty was of no help to me here) it really made this cake authentic and cut some of the over the top chocolatey-ness. If you're going to make a chocolate cake in the near future, USE THIS ONE. It is devine. As for the filling...be sure to eat the cake fast because the seven minute frosting will eventually absorb into the cake.
, Cup Cake or Devil Dog. Seven Minute Frosting is the name. Even though it took a lot of sweat and muscles to make (beating the egg whites by hand over simmering water....Big Blue Betty was of no help to me here) it really made this cake authentic and cut some of the over the top chocolatey-ness. If you're going to make a chocolate cake in the near future, USE THIS ONE. It is devine. As for the filling...be sure to eat the cake fast because the seven minute frosting will eventually absorb into the cake. I read A LOT of food blogs thanks to my Google Reader. (Why isn't everyone using it already?!) I'd say that 90% of my kitchen experiments are inspired by the things I read online. However, when it comes to baking, I really need to be more diligent about converting the recipes to be Japan friendly. I made this recipe as it is shown on Smitten Kitchen and I'm lucky everything turned out ok. Ovens and cake pans are MUCH smaller here so I had a ton of leftover batter and a little bit of cake overspillage on the first batch. (This just means I have 4 extra cakes in the freezer...wah wah) And as I mentioned before, ingredients are measured in grams, milliters and CCs. Even the Japanese Cup is different from the American Cup. 200mL vs. 237 mL respectively. I just learned this last tidbit yesterday and it blew my mind. So, I've started keeping an Excel document that will help me convert these American recipes into Japan friendly portions as not to waste ingredients and bake more accurately.
You = my hero.
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