Chocolate Fudge Marble Cake for Hubby's 51st Birthday!

I was supposed to have written this post yesterday on hubby's birthday but as you can see, I'm a day late! hee heee! It wasn't because I was lazy either, I was just plum tired! LOL! We had a very good day yesterday in spite of my tiredness! Let me tell you about it...


Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge Marble Cake

First, let me tell you why I was so dog tired. The day before, Tuesday, I was working for a brand new client's website. I'm so excited, because hubby introduced me to the gentleman and we worked on our first project until 11:30 that night to finish it and launch it. After that, I was supposed to work on another deadline, then bake hubby's cake and go to bed even if it I had to stay up till 1 AM in the morning. Well, after working on my client's website, I had a terrific headache and all I wanted to do was sleep. So I decided to get up early yesterday morning and bake the cake which is what I did. Then I went to work on another client deadline. I finished that just in time to take hubby to his favorite restaurant for lunch, China Buffet. He was so excited just like a little kid who can't wait to open his presents! We left around 11:20 yesterday morning and when we got there it was about 11:45, we thought it might be crowded, but to our delight, it wasn't. We love the variety of food they have there and hubby and I dashed for plates to fill up with all the goodies.

I opted for honey chicken, cause nobody makes it quite the way they do, I also filled my plate with teriyaki chicken, buttered potatoes, white rice with sweet 'n sour sauce, a yummy dinner roll and a sweet bun for dessert. "Hey! I only get to eat like this twice a year, once for hubby's birthday and once for mine!" LOL! I was back at the table in a lickety-split time waiting for hubby. He came soon after and had filled his plate with green beans (he loves the way they cook them, wish I knew the secret ingredient! :), sweet 'n sour chicken, pork fried rice, buttered potatoes, and a dinner roll. We said our grace and dove into the food and OMG, it was good! I tried not to eat fast, but it's hard when you're running on empty! But I did manage to get my wits about me and slow down to enjoy all the flavors. My favorite is the honey chicken as I mentioned and I tried to guess what they put in it to make it so sweet and juicy at the same time. The chicken perfectly cooked and with every bite I took just made me want more! I must research a recipe to make it at home! Of course we got seconds and hubby even got thirds! His second helping was to have cheese pizza and more green beans! He finished his lunch off with a mixture of vanilla and chocolate pudding! He had that eaten up before I could even look up! He was so happy!

After I paid for the lunch we headed back to the house so that I could ice his cake. I didn't have a lot of time left, because I had to get back to work, so the cakes had had lots of time to cool off. And I took them out of the pans and with a serrated knife I began to cut off the tops so that they would stand straight since they had risen in the center. If you don't make the cakes flat, they won't stand up straight. The cake was so moist and good. I could taste the chocolate marble throughout every piece I had cut off. After that, I iced the bottom layer, carefully placed the top layer and proceeded to finish the icing and I tried to make peaks with my knife to dress it up a bit, don't know if I succeeded. Cake decorating is still somewhat of a mystery to me! Then I tried to decorate it a bit, hubby doesn't like a lot of flair so I had to hold back my desire to go overboard!!

After that, it was a matter of setting the cake on the table, run upstairs to get my lighter, run back downstairs to finish decorating the table all without hubby coming downstairs and catching me in the act! I did it! Then I called him down and boy when he saw the cake, his eyes lit up, he couldn't stop smiling! It is so good to have someone be so grateful for the little things we do for them! I sung happy birthday to him, he made a long wish, I mean a long wish and then he blew out the candles! After cutting the first piece, off he went to get his camera gear! He took a couple shots for the blog and then he was ready to eat the cake! I heard the wonderful sounds, "mmmmm! mmmm! mmmm!" All I could proceed from that was that he must have been enjoying it cause he couldn't talk! I thought, "it's just a box cake!" But then I made it with love and a little vanilla extract! LOL! Finally, he told me how good it was. I tasted a small piece, because I was still so full from lunch and I actually think I ate too much so I couldn't have but a tiny piece to enjoy with him. Yes, I could taste the LOVE!



All I could think of at this moment was running upstairs and writing this post for you guys, but I had a deadline so duty called first. I got that done and then decided I needed to rest a bit. When I finally sat down, my body began to speak of how tired it really was. Not soon after that, the A/C konked out and we had to call maintenance. They finally came over just before 6 PM to fix it. At this point, I was not only sleepy and fatigued, but hot too! That's not a good combination for me!!! Well, it finally cooled down and I started watching "Pride & Prejudice" with Keira Knightley on TV and when it went off it was 9 PM. At that point, after fighting the fatigue and the heat, I was just not in the mood for anything but the bed. And so off to bed I went at 9 PM! Not even my bedtime! I jumped under the covers, turned my little fan on and off to sleep I went. I slept good too as you can see below!!

But at about 2 AM, I woke up feeling a little guilty that I hadn't written my post nor created my illustration. I didn't want to disappoint all my readers and I could just hear ya'll whispering in my ear, "Please Kim, write the post so we can see the cake!" And, hubby had sent me the cake pics long before that so I kicked off the covers, got up, and went to the computer.

I had no idea I could write this much at this time in the morning, but hey, creativity can come at any point, huh?! So anyways...let's get to the recipe for this luscious cake. I did use a box cake, Duncan Hines, hubby picked it out since I asked him what kind of cake did he want me to bake. I didn't have any apple juice this time so I had to settle for water, but let me tell you it didn't hurt the taste at all. Normally, I like to replace water for juice when I bake a cake, but this time I forgot to get the juice! I added a teaspoon vanilla extract and that really made a difference. You think I should start writing at 2 AM more often? I don't know...

Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Fudge Marble Cake Mix
Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate Frosting
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/3 c. Vegetable Oil
3 large eggs
Cooking spray
2 8" cake pans
1-1/4 c. water or apple juice

Preparation:
In a bowl, crack eggs and stir, add in cake mix, water or juice, vanilla, and oil. Beat on low at first and then up to medium until batter is thoroughly mixed and incorporated. I even hand beat it afterwards just to be sure. I like the batter nice and moist. Then spray the cake pans with cooking spray and pour the batter in each pan half way. I smooth it with a knife to even out the batter in the pans and then I bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 to 35 minutes. Your oven temperature may vary slightly. But you'll know the cake's done with you can stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean. Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool for at least 1 hour. If your cakes aren't completely flat, you may want to level them with a serrated knife before icing them. Then add the frosting and decorate the cake anyway you like! Serve it up!

Well, my hubby's 51st birthday was so nice, I know we spent it just the two of us but he told me that was his best present! Isn't that sweet? Of course, he got cards and calls too from our friends and family! It was such a good day and the weather cooperated too, so you can't beat that!!! Wonder what I'll do for my 46th birthday in August? hmmm....