Happy Birthday USA~

 Here praying that you and yours had a wonderful Independence Day! As we THANK the brave men and women that made this possible for us!

(Make your own flag craft with Popsicle Sticks and paper folded for flag. Next hand it over to the kids for decorating. They make a wonderful Center Piece / Cake Topper .)

  Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

 2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered

Directions

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don't worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

Homemade Powdered Sugar Icing

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup stick margarine or butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2-4 tablespoons water

Preparation:

Melt margarine in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix until smooth and of desired consistency (a thick syrup). Drizzle over cooled cake. (This will glaze one 12-cup bundt cake or a 10-inch angel food cake.)