The little guy turned two in the end of April and it was EPIC! Well, at least for a two-year old. I mean, I didn’t rent a bounce house or pay David Blaine to make an appearance. In fact, I’d never pay David Blaine to do anything. How is sitting inside a block of ice for 3 days considered magic? Does he not pee the whole time? I guess not peeing for 3 days straight is pretty impressive, and probably really bad for your kidneys. Anyways, I did take an entire day off work to make a cake I found on the Fredellicious blog. And because I took an entire day off, and I am so freaking proud of myself for making this thing, I thought I would share it with you. If you know any toddlers (or adults) who enjoy heavy off-road construction equipment (who doesn’t?!) then this is the cake for them! So delicious, and with none of that pesky diesel particulate matter to worry about!

So, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Yeah, ok, you made a cake, cut a chunk out of it and added a toy excavator. That took you an entire day? What a LOSER!” Well, before you pass judgment sassy pants, take a look at the inside of the cake:

That’s right people — cake that looks like caution tape on the inside.

SUCK IT TREBEK!!

Another photo, because I still can’t believe it turned out as well as it did, considering my total lack of cake baking experience.

Cute safety cone candles I found online.

It was fun to watch all the cars slow down as they drove past the house. Go big or go home I always say.

Construction Themed Birthday Cake

Adapted from Fredellicious
White Cake (makes 2 8″ layers)

1 C milk, room temperature
3/4 C eggs whites (about 4), room temperature
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 C cake flour
1/2 C all purpose flour
1 3/4 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 T (1 1/2 cubes butter), softened

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare 2 8″ pans with non-stick baking spray with flour
• In a bowl, combine milk, egg whites and extracts and whisk together with a fork.  Set aside.
• Sift both flours together, and add sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix together on low speed with a standing or hand mixer.
• Add the butter a little bit at a time, and mix together until it’s all moist crumbs
• Reserve 1/2 C of the egg/milk mixture, and add the rest to the dry ingredients.
• Mix on medium speed with a standing mixer, using a paddle (or high speed with a hand mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Scrape sides of bowl, add the rest of the milk mixture, and mix to combine, for at least 30 seconds.

**If you are adding color, be sure to add it before you start baking.  I used black (a LOT) and yellow gel colorings.

• Divide evenly into 2 prepared pans, and cook for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
• Let cakes sit in pans for about 3 minutes, then invert onto wire racks or plate, then invert again to cool completely
• Once cakes have cooled follow the Fredellicous tutorial for making the slanted cuts and putting it all together

Frosting:

• 2 cans of chocolate chip fudge frosting – the chocolate chips give the frosting a dirt-ish texture

Decorations:

• Small construction vehicles, barrels and safety cone candles
• Various colored candy melts and chocolate molds in the shape of hand and power tools
• Milk chocolate rocks (I found them at my local baking supply store)
• Crushed chocolate cookies or Oreos and graham crackers for dirt
• Finely crushed graham crackers for gravel road