Chocolate Cake and All the Feelings

This past month and half has been one of the most physically/emotionally/mentally draining times of my life! If you didn't know, I am in a contest to win $75,000 (read the details here). It's really crazy. I'm still pinching myself.

I found out I was a finalist for the Mrs. Meyer's Homemaker Hunt in early December, and since then it's been the only thing on my mind. The anticipation is through the roof! It's like the feeling you got when you were a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve, except EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE!

The stressing started with figuring out what kind of video essay I was going to make. They gave me guidelines, but I'm a person who wants to know EXACTLY what you want me to do. God bless the person at Mrs. Meyer's who answered my MANY emails for clarification. This was one of those times when you just have to say "this is the very best I can do," and hope that it's enough.


When the videos went live, I went into comparison mode. "Shoot! Her video is wayyyy better than mine," or "Ok, mine is better than hers...I think." I nipped that one in the bud pretty quick and just stopped watching everyone's video. Truth be told, I haven't even seen all of them...it's the only way I can keep my sanity!

Now I'm dealing with feelings of what would happen if I lose. Andrew is constantly telling me "Don't spend the money in your head," but let's face it -- I'm a girl, I started spending that money before I even entered the contest! I'm walking a fine line of being optimistic and believing for favor, but also not letting my hopes go through the roof.

On top of that I feel like life has been put on hold until this thing is over. I've been eating, sleeping, breathing, Mrs. Meyer's Homemaker Hunt. I've been frantically searching for ways to creatively post things about it to keep people interested. I'm even skipping haircuts so my hair will be as long as it can be for the photoshoot if I win! It's extreme guys!

But even with the constant bombardment of emotions...I am OVERWHELMED with how supportive everyone has been. I've been nagging people to vote for me for almost a month and no one (yet) has told me they're annoyed, tired of seeing this, or tired of voting. People have gone out of their way to say a kind word, encourage me, and share my story. People have asked me how I'm doing, sent me texts saying they are rooting for me -- you have no idea how much that helps me!

If I win, that would be so amazing, but if I lose that will be okay, too. I feel like I know more of what my life's mission is, just through being apart of this intense journey. I have a passion and gift, given to me by God, to be a creative and caring homemaker. Whether I see a reward for that on this side of heaven or not, I know that I am doing exactly what I was created to do.

So now that I'm done pouring my heart and all of my emotions out on this keyboard, here's a recipe for chocolate cake that will make you feel all better after reading my contest sap story!

Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

For the Cake
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flower
• 2/3 cups cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups boiling water
• opt. 1 package strawberries

For the Icing
• 1 cup butter
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk

Directions for the Cake

1.      Preheat oven to 300F. Grease your baking pans. I used two 9in round cake pans.

2.      Cream the butter and sugar. With your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until it is
         light and fluffy. Add eggs and continue to beat.

3.      Combine flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl, whisk your flour and baking soda. Bonus
         points if you use a sifter.

4.      Add cocoa and milk to the cream and sugar. Keep mixing to make sure everything is
         properly combined.

5.      Add boiling water and vanilla extract. 

6.      Add flour mixture. The easiest way to do this is to divide it into thirds and mix thoroughly
         between each addition.

7.      Pour the mixture into baking pans. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 - 35 min. When a
         toothpick comes out clean, your cakes are ready to cool.

Directions for the Icing

1.      Beat the butter until light and fluffy. I used my whisk attachment on my stand mixer and beat
         for about 2 minutes -- scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed.

2.      Add sugar, one cup at a time. Confectioner sugar will go flying, so make you add this one cup
         at a time!

3.      Add vanilla and milk. Beat until it's light and fluffy. It will start taking on the consistency of
         icing.

Once your cakes have cooled completely, spoon your icing on in layers. Cut the tops off of strawberries and arrange them on top. Then grab a large plate, and enjoy! 

xoxo Sallie