Happy Birthday To…as-Tite

Birthdays are full of presents, smiles, balloons, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and your favorite cake.  For most of my birthdays, my mom has made my favorite chocolate cake recipe – Toney Jepsen’s chocolate cake, to be precise.  Toney was a friend of my great grandmother and her legendary cake recipe has been passed down through the generations.  On top of her glorious cake usually goes cream cheese frosting and candles.  We also usually add a small clown decoration – it’s just a round ball with a sweet clown face painted on with a pointy hat and a paper fringe around the neck.  At this point, the paper fringe has gotten burned a few times, but it was on my mom’s birthday cake when she turned three and it still graces our family events.

Now, the little clown is at home at my mom’s but since Boy and I are both summer babies, we simply had to celebrate with a chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting Toas-Tite.

Ingredients

• Chocolate cake, sliced into two layers approximately 1/4-inch thick, big enough to cover a Toas-Tite grill
• Cream cheese frosting (one block of cream cheese and powdered sugar to taste)

Directions

1. After you bake your chocolate cake, cut your slices to prepare them for your Toas-Tite.  Make sure your slices are big enough to completely cover the Toas-Tite.
   
2. After mixing up your frosting, take approximately 1.5 tbsp and spread it into a small circle on a piece of aluminum foil.
3. Place your cream cheese in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.  This will help keep your cream cheese from liquifying too much in the Toas-Tite.
4. Lightly butter your Toas-Tite grill or use a bit of cooking spray.  You will likely need very little as the cake will be buttery itself.
5. Place your cake in the Toas-Tite and the cream cheese in the middle.
   
6. Close your Toas-Tite and trim the excess cake (which I highly recommend nibbling on while you wait).  Your birthday cake Toas-Tite will seal quickly.
7. Toast as much as you like, though the longer you toast, the warmer your frosting will be on the inside.
8. Remove it from the grill, throw on your candles, and let the party begin!

Notes from the kitchen

As you can see in our picture above, our seal didn’t take so well on our Toas-Tite.  The reason was…we cut our slices of cake about half an inch thick.  Unbeknownst to us, homemade cake has a tendency to rise a bit more in a Toas-Tite.  As we toasted it, it expanded and bits of cake and frosting escaped through the edges.  A quarter-inch cut cake will give you significantly more leeway as you toast.  But either way…you’ll end up with something fantastically tasty.