Today is Kate’s birthday! As you know, Kate is my baking buddy! She is who I turn to if I need to bake a cake – especially if I need to decorate that cake. Kate is very talented when it comes to decorating cakes. Kate is also my quilting pal – together we have completed 4 t-shirt quilts, 8 baby quilts, and 10 others.

Kate and I both share August birthdays and we like to get together to bake a fancy cake to celebrate. This year I took inspiration from a foodgawker find and we did a play on Neapolitan ice cream – but in cake form! We used Kate’s favorite chocolate cake recipe and 3 different flavors of butter cream frosting – strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla! Look below the photo for the frosting recipes.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp milk

Steps:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Add vanilla extract and milk. If needed, add more milk 1/2 tbsp at a time. 

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1/8 C cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp milk

Steps:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add milk. If needed, add more milk 1/2 tbsp at a time. 

Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp strawberry puree (for puree, pulse a handful fresh strawberries in a blender)

Steps:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Add strawberry puree. If needed, add more puree 1/2 tbsp at a time.