I think one of the most wonderful things in life is a homemade cake, I was brought up with a grandma who had 3 homemade dessert at the end of every dinner. I remember seeing these cakes come to the table and thinking to myself, "oh how wonderful". I would look around the table and see every one's faces with the look of awe. I knew then, that I had to learn to cook and bake because I wanted to make people happy. I believe a kitchen table that is full of people is a true blessing to a home.

Baking a cake from scratch is really very easy nothing to fear. There is a standard formula to follow for all cakes, after you have that down then your on your way to bake any recipe.

First, you always start with you butter (must be real butter...so much healthier) then you add your sugar, mix the two ingredients together with a electric mixer. This process is called "creaming." The next step is to add the eggs one at a time. After that, all of your dry ingredients are mixed together in a separate bowl, such as bakings soda, salt, flour etc. A rule of thumb is to always start with the dry ingredients and alternate , you want to make sure to always finish with the dry mixture. The final step is pouring the batter into the baking pans and bake. Remember that each recipe calls for different temperatures and baking time so read the recipe carefully. The smell of heaven will soon fill your kitchen!

German Chocolate Cake

1 package (4 ounces ) German sweet chocolate found in the baking section

1/2 cup water

2 cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 sticks of butter that is soft.

2 cups sugar

4 egg yolks

1 t. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs whites

First you need to get the chocolate melted which is why the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of water. Heat the water either on the stove or in the microwave, put the 4 ounces of chocolate in the bowl of water and stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Remember the formula? (Dry, wet, dry, wet . . .)

Mix your butter, sugar and vanilla together. Always add the eggs yolks one at a time (save your egg whites until the end).

Mix all dry ingredients together and alternate with your wet (buttermilk)

Mix until smooth..... don't kill it.

Beat egg whites in separate bowl with electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. This is going to make the cake light and fluffy.

Gently stir into batter.

Pour into pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.

Cool completely on wire racks.

Coconut- Pecan Filling and Frosting

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks butter)

4 egg yolks, sightly betten

1 package ( 7 ounces) coconut

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Mix milk, sugar, butter egg yolks and vanilla in large saucepan. Cook and stir on medium heat about 12 minutes or until thickened and golden brown. Remove from heat.

Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature

Spread coconut -pecan frosting between layers and over top. I love using a milk chocolate frosting in between layers and on the sides of the cake . . .oohhh mmmmyyy so good!!!

Chocolate frosting

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut

2 sticks of butter

1 egg yolk at room temperature

1 t. vanilla

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 t. instant coffee power

Now . . . if you are short on time and need to cut a corner, I think 2 cans of milk chocolate frosting from your local grocery store is just fine ( I won't tell if you don't). Because life is NOT all kitchen work!

Let the cooking or in this case BAKING begin!!!!!!!!