That's a big chocolate cake

Student cake 2012 number 4.  This time it was a classic American chocolate cake with a butter cream or something similar frosting.  As a matter of fact it was a VERY BIG American chocolate cake.  We took a look at it and figured it is one of those that would be around for awhile.  Boy were we wrong.

Chocolate Cake Under Glass

A good size chocolate cake!

Lab appropriate inscription!

Our student baker with her creation!

It's pretty tall!

The 7 or so inch side wall!

In addition to a rather large footprint the cake was also very tall. We assumed it was multi-layered but in fact it was only two.  The baker did not have the problem that a lot of people do when the cake turns out a lot flatter than what you would like or expect.  Whatever was put into this one helped each layer to rise appropriately thereby giving the cake its tall profile.  In between the layers there was more of the chocolate frosting.

Good size layers with frosting in between!

Eating cake and longing for a glass of milk!

Usually when we get a cake this tall we are reluctant to eat a large amount given the number of calories that could be consumed.   However this cake was much lighter than expected. The cake was nowhere near as dense as some of the commercial products that we have had making it very easy to have a larger portion.  The frosting was soft and not too sweet but adequately chocolatey. There were a lot of comments about how great it would go with a glass of milk or some ice cream. Clearly it was provoking nostalgia for childhood days of cake eating.  In any event given its size we thought it would last but it went instead pretty fast. There was but a small piece remaining at the end of cake hour.

We never thought we would get this far!

This was all that remained....nothing for the second shift!

To tie the cake in to the laboratory it was inscribed with the phrase "Keep Calm and Pipet On". It was an appropriate phrase but hopefully there isn't someone being too stressed by working in the lab environment.  This last little touch of creativity helped give the cake a four star rating.  (We're being pretty generous this year.)

Am I done or do I finish that last piece!