This week for my learning project I decided to have a little bit of fun! Amongst my many hours of scrolling Instagram, I came across a video from a recent trend (on Instagram and TikTok). Some may recognize this one– the split birthday cake from the animated TV series, Max and Ruby. It seemed to me that anyone participating in the trend had baked any kind of cake they had liked, so I settled on chocolate because I already had the ingredients in the house.
One thing I made note of while scouting Pinterest for the recipe listed above– was the fact that most; if not all of the recipes called for either boiling water or coffee? Has anyone else made a chocolate cake with coffee before? I can truthfully say that I haven’t. It seemed a little strange to me. But who am I to question the recipes? I’m not exactly what one would call a “pro chef” yet, haha! As you can see from my listed pin, I settled on a recipe that called for boiling water (may or may not have cheated that step and used my Keurig, haha).
Max and Ruby is an animated TV series that is targeted toward younger children, and originally aired on Treehouse and Nick Jr.
Instead of baking two separate cakes, I baked one, and decorated the two halves differently to resemble the Instagram reel I found. This week’s addition to my learning project was a lot of fun! I felt like I was creating art rather than making food, haha! (But I guess the two are pretty similar if you think about it, hey?)
Here is how my own version turned out:
I didn’t have a circular cake pan, so I used what I could find. I gotta say, I’m pretty happy with the result! It was a lot of fun to bake and decorate, and it was really yummy!
(Next week– I plan to try my first attempt at making macarons… hopefully, haha. Stay tuned!)
Hi Jelisa,
It sounds like you had a blast with your learning project this week! Taking inspiration from trends on social media can be a really fun way to explore new skills and techniques. Your split birthday cake from Max and Ruby sounds like a creative and tasty choice, especially with chocolate as the flavor – a classic favorite for many!
Looking forward to reading about your macarons adventure!
Hi Jelisa!
Your cake looks amazing! This post brought me back to my childhood, as I grew up watching this show and can vividly remember this episode haha! I have not heard of chocolate cake calling for coffee or boiling water. I have made brownies before that called for coffee, but they were also mocha brownies, so I found that strange as well. Good luck with macarons! I have heard those can be very difficult so I am excited to see how you do!
Hi Jelisa,
The cake looks great, and it sounds like you had a great time decorating it! I agree with Hailey’s comment. Max and Ruby brings back many memories from my childhood as I used to watch it all the time growing up. I remember that I used to be disgusted by the worm cake in the show, haha. I have also used my Keurig to quickly heat water so I did not have to boil it. I cannot wait to see how your macarons turn out. Good luck!
What a poetic title! This is the sweetest post… in two ways. I have the fondest memories of my mom making worms in dirt dessert to appease us kids. I think back to that now and how funny it is that such a wiz in the kitchen got requests for worms in dirt haha…Thank you for sharing your learning; you do so in such a readable way. Love the post and the blog aesthetics. This looks pro even if you’re not a pro chef yet!