Black Forest Cake Remix

Today we have the first entry for student cake month from Stephanie. She took a considerable task - the black forest cake on the day that also happens to be the birthday of the biggest black forest cake aficionado! For that she deserves nothing but praise. The cake is tough to make and she was definitely on the right track by using cherry pie filling in lieu of the sour cherries that are hard to come by in the US. Regrettably she didn't realize that the pie filling is already thickened with corn starch so that particular step in the recipe could be omitted. She tried it anyway and ended up with a bunch of clotted cherries. This forced a quick rethink and using what she had at hand she was able to substitute strawberry preserves for the cherries.  It actually made for a nice cake and hence the use of the word remix.  A four layer chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting and fruit filling is pretty ambitious for a first time baker so she gets a bit of extra credit.  The rating taking all into consideration was 4 stars.

Now here is where the fun started.  Because it was a birthday - that of the official cake cutter who also works with student singers - it was expected and required for people to sing "Happy Birthday" if they wanted a piece of cake. The first couple of groups were no problem but then as individuals started to come in the reactions were a blast.  We heard everything from off key singing to barely audible grunts.  The prize went to Mashiko who not only sang it correctly but performed it ending with a flourish. It's amazing how much people freak out at having to sing something. I mean it is a fun thing to do!  Most people played along though one graduated student took a lot of coaxing, The Princess of Ghana helped out by giving people some company with their song. But then there was the big tall lifeguard person who totally wussed out forgoing the cake completely rather than have to sing something.  So if any of you reading this happen to find yourself on a Rhode Island Beach on the weekends and are in need of a lifeguard, whatever you do don't ask the guy to sing "Happy Birthday" or anything else to you lest you strike terror in his heart forcing him to retreat to the shore leaving you to drown!