It's a birthday cake......from scratch

I've only made 1 cake ever fully from scratch-that was a chocolate buttermilk cake I made for a sister's husband a few years ago (thinking about you John Nelson).It was delicious.Usually even for birthday cakes,I'll use a box mix because I'm usually so stressed around birthday time that it's just easier for me that way.This year,I decided to see if I could come up with a generally 'not too bad for me' birthday cake--CHOCOLATE mind you.And OH MY GOODNESS if this cake comes out 1/2 as tasty as the batter was I am never buying a chocolate cake mix again! The frosting recipe below is from the box of cake flour.I'm not sure if I am going to use it yet-hopefully I can find one that is more diabetic friendly.

Julie's Simple Chocolate Cake
1stick butter
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
3eggs (or egg substitute equiv)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3oz unsweet chocolate melted
2tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups Swans Down Cake Flour
1 cup sour cream (i used lite)
1cup boiling water
1sugar free box jellow pudding mix
**my switch-eroo was the pudding mix-the original recipe didn't call for it-in about 30mins I'll know if it was a good switch-eroo


preheat oven to 350*--prep your pans (either 2 9inch rounds or 1 big square pan)
in large mixing bowl-cream butter until smooth-add brown sugar and eggs-beat until
light and fluffy-beat in vanilla and chocolate-then baking soda and salt-add flour
alternately with the sour cream-beating until smooth-add the box of pudding mix-mixing well-pour in the boiling water-stirring with spoon until smooth-pour into pans and bake about 30 mins or until when
tested in middle it is done


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
3 3/4 cups powder sugar
1stick of butter-softened
3-4tbs milk
1tsp vanilla extract
2oz unsweet chocolate-melted and cooled

combine in a large bowl,sugar,butter,milk and vanilla-beat at medium speed 1-2mins until it is creamy-add the chocolate and beat until well blended-if needed add more milk to reach the desired spreading consistancy you need.


Well I found a frosting recipe that is a little more diabetic friendly:
1 box of sugar free jellow pudding frosting-i used french vanilla
1cup cold milk
1 tup of sugar free/fat free cool whip

add all and mix in a large bowl-

**the original frosting recipe calls for powder sugar but i am ommitting-i think the pudding will make it sweet enough