My Chocolate Lasagna Recipe

This will be one of the best tasting cakes you will EVER have!!! I'm going to share my recipe and the instructions! It is a long process but makes a huge 3 tier cake that is perfection tasting!!! I hope you all get a chance to make it sometime, so you know I really mean it when I say it's the best cake in the world!!

FOR THE CAKE

6 cups cake flour
5 1/4 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups hershey's cocoa
2 tablespoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups butter
12 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM/FROSTING

2/3 cup water
4 tablespoons meringue powder
12 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 1/4 cups shortening
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon clear almond extract
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 teaspoon colorless butter flavoring

MISCELLANEOUS

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Hershey's syrup

DIRECTIONS

1-Heat oven to 350°F Grease three 10-inch springform pans.

2-In mixing bowl, stir together sifted cake flour, sugar, Hershey 's Cocoa and baking soda. Add butter and mix well. Add milk, eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

3-Pour about 5 cups of the cake batter into each prepared pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake center comes out clean.

4-Cool for 10 minutes before you remove the cake from the pan, then cool completely on a wire rack.

5-To make buttercream filling, combine water and meringue powder; whip at high speed until peaks form. Add 4 cups of sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition at low speed.

6-Alternately add shortening and remainder of sugar. Add salt and flavorings; beat at low speed until smooth. Thin out ½ of the frosting with a little extra water (about 1/4 cup). The thinned frosting is used as the filling between layers.

7-To assemble the cake, place one 10 inch cake on a large round plate or a large round cake platter. Spread half of the thinned frosting on top, frosting only the top of the cake (not the sides). Sprinkle very lightly with semi-sweet chocolate chips. (There are very few chips on this layer, usually only 1 or 2 per wedge, so sprinkle very, very lightly).

8-Place the second cake on top of the first. Frost the top with the remaining thinned frosting. Sprinkle with semi-sweet chocolate chips. (You can be a bit more generous with this layer).

9-Place the third layer on top of the second. Frost the top with all of the butter cream that was NOT thinned. This is a thick layer of frosting so pile it on, and try to get the top as smooth as you can. Sprinkle with semi-sweet chocolate chips.

10-To serve, cut the cake into wedges, as you would cut a pizza. Using Hershey's chocolate syrup, create a design on your dessert plate. Place the wedge of chocolate lasagna at the 11 o'clock position on your dessert plate with the point facing down, so that you can see some of the syrup design.

11-NOTE: The frosting seems more authentic if you let it set up (sit out) for an hour at room temperature. Wrap the sides lightly with foil to keep the cake from drying out as well.

The world needs to know!

THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW....
You know there is always that one person who comes into your life right when you need them the most? Well I was lucky enough to have that one special person come into my life 3 weeks before my beloved brother passed away, and that one person is my dear husband Steven Merrill!

This is a picture of us 3 months after we met!
I really didn't know what to think about Steven when i first met him.....first off it was because we met each other on some wild terms (many of you already know the story of how we met).  So I wasn't sure if he was just another guy trying to get me in the sack, or if he was completely genuine, and oh boy did I luck out!  He is one of a kind!

I met Steven in riverdale... He was driving home minding his own business, and i was out at the same time riding in the passenger seat of the car that one of my girly friends was driving, so there were about 5 wild girls crammed in one tiny car heading home after having a few drinks.  Well when i saw Steven driving his truck home, he had his cowboy hat on and i wanted that mans attention...so what is a girl to do?.... Well I'll tell you what i did; I flashed him my boobs right out the front window of the car, and i was right on getting his attention that way! (ha ha)  We flagged Mr. Cowboy (that's what we called Steven for the longest time) over, and had him pull over on the side of the road so my friend and I could hop in his truck and have join us at my friends house to have a beer or 2.
Steven was a complete gentleman the whole night and even took me home later that night, and left without even a kiss from me.
From my surprise he called me the next day, and oh man!, I had the butterflies going like crazy because i didn't think he would really call me the next day, especially since i told him i had a 4 week old baby!  He continued to keep in touch on the phone for a couple of days and invited me AND Braxton out to lunch with him to Cutlers a couple of days later.
Thing were going great between us, and we didn't go a day without talking to each other.  About 2 weeks after we met, Steven had his regular UTA (military training) weekend, which he has every month, and the morning of September 14th, 2008 My dear brother passed away due to drug overdose, and my mother, father, and I woke up to him dead on the bathroom floor upstairs.  I was crushed!  I felt like my whole world ended, and I didn't know I could ever have that terrible of a feeling (which i NEVER wish upon ANYONE)... My first instinct was to call Steven, and of course he left his training (which isn't something easy to do because his military career depends on it) and rushed right on over to the house to help comfort me and my parents.  I never knew till that day that there really ARE genuine people out there who really DO care, and they are very very rare, and dammit i was one hell of a lucky girl to have him in my life especially at that moment!
Steven packed a bag for a few nights (remember - we barely knew each other, no more than 2 weeks or so) and he stayed the night we me every night for that whole week that we had my brothers funeral and services.

I knew from that week-on, that he was "the one!"  I just hoped, and prayed that he felt the same way...My parents fell in love with Steven right away also, so I knew right then that he was also "the one", especially if he got the Bosses approval (my dad),  and trust me, that is pretty tough to do!  As the months went on we became closer and closer and my fairy tale that i dreamt of as a child was finally a reality!! I really found my prince charming!!  I never wanted it to end!  Things just seemed to be perfect with our relationship, and of course the day AFTER valentines day (2009) Steven proposed to me in front of everyone at the church that he has gone to for a very long time.  He even managed to work things out to where my parents snuck in to watch it all happen and I didn't even realize they were there until after the proposal!! I burst into tears when i saw my parents stashed in the balcony in the back of the room!
Oh man i never knew that the love stories that you see in movies, actually DO come true!
I can honestly say that i have been living a fairy tale ever since the day i met that man.
He is the most genuine, kind hearted, patient, and understanding man i have ever met!  He reminds me allot of my fathers personality and I think that has allot to do with why i fell for him so quickly...Because my Dad is my hero and i wouldn't know what to do if i ever lost that man! between him and my mother; they are my best friends...my place to go to for advice and guidance...the two people who gave me the beautiful life that i got to experience.

My Father (Danny) and my mother (Laurie).  Thank you guys for all you have done for me in my life!

Our first Christmas together
To kind of wrap up my story...The thing i wanted the world to know is....I am one blessed and fortunate girl! I have a husband who i call a different "breed" because there aren't many men out there that are as amazing and genuine like him; I have 3 beautiful children who let me discover how it feels to be a mom, and I believe that is the best title you could ever have i the entire world!  I love being a mom, and a wife! My parents are like teenager and travel ALL the time so they are staying busy and happy, yet when they are in town they spend every second with me, Steven, and the grand kids!  I just have a really amazing life and I am so blessed to have the people in my life that i do till this day!
One more piece of advice - Because of loosing my best friend, my brother...Hug and kiss everyone you love every time you see them regardless of what is going on, because life can change in a second and take that one special person away from you!...and don't say "that will never happen to me," because i thought the same thing,....but it did happen, so I dont take ANYTHING or ANYONE for granite....ever.... just enjoy your life, dont sweat the small stuff.

Rest is peace my beloved brother!
Daniel Scott Schroader
July 9, 1982 - September 14, 2008
I can't wait for the day where we will be together again.

 

Marriage, Kids, Life, & Love

I know it has been a while since my last blog so i have some major updating to do...

Well Braxton is 3 and he is my sweetest boy ever! i am worried he will have his heart broken later on in life by a girl that he will fall in love with, and it will completely crush him.  I guess if i know about it now i can prepare myself to hug him and soak up all of the tears when that day happens.
Braxton is my complete love bug! He is always so concerned about his momma! He will stop playing with his toys just to look over at me and make sure i'm still there and that I am doing alright. I would be lost without that boy in my life! He will one day make another woman as happy as he makes his mom!

Hunter is now 2 and he is a fireball! He is sensitive at times (mainly only when he is sick) and he is fearless all the other times! This little boy could pull off the innocent look but in all reality he is the biggest terrorist i have EVER met!  He is so funny because all of the stunts he pulls, but he always has my heart on the edge of heart failure because i know he will be my first "broken bone/ER trip".
I love this little man to pieces, and he looks like spitting image of his father so when i am missing Steven terribly bad i just look at that little guy and it gives me a reminder that i have a little "mini-me" version of Steven with me at all times!



Bailey Ann....My sweet princess is now 6 months old, and this is probably one of the funnest ages i think i went through with all 3 of my kids and I'm loving it!
She is a such a Jabber mouth and I know she just has so much to tell me but just doesn't know how to tell me yet.  I am so glad to have a little girl in my life...Bailey Ann is such a good baby and I am just anxious to see what she is like when she is around 1-2 years old, yet i am trying to soak up every moment I can now that she is a baby because this baby stage goes by so fast, and she is my last one, so regardless of how exhausted I am or how little sleep I get i just have to remind myself that it will go by too fast and i will be sad when its gone.

And now for the happy couple....as it seems.  Steven is more than amazing and I don't even know what the heck is wrong with me! I am always so sad or angry and the more i think about it the more I think it's because we rushed into this relationship with everything on "fast forward".  I miss having "US time"...I know that fades away as you have kids and the longer your married, but damnit i miss my husband.  We don't hardly have time for each other anymore.  We even take the kids to daycare and have us both take the day off work and of course it's a given that we will get a phone c all from the day care to come get one of the kids because they're all of a sudden "magically sick" and i just don't get it.  I have the worst luck when it comes to having any alone time with my husband.  I feel like we fight over everything and anything and I am on a mission to make that stop first of all, but I am also on a bigger mission to get at least ONE night to have my husband to myself....I know i sound horrible, but i am feeling the pressure of being full time parents and unless you are a parent, you have no clue how hard it is, and how much harder it is to manage a relationship with kids, especially the more kids you have the harder it is!
I still remind myself that life is way to short and that things could change in a second, so i am learning to be more patient and appreciative of what is already going on in my life regardless of what i want or need.

I always look up to my parents because i want to be just like them!! They have been married for 30 years, and they're still going strong....And i will tell you that life threw everything it had, and they still stuck together through everything...My brother and i know were not the best kids to raise and we were allot of their fights and arguments, but they still stuck together as a team!  My parents also went through the death of my brother Scotty Schroader in 2008, and they are still together, just waiting till the day they get old together and get to reunite with my brother again.
My parents are the best supportive parents i could ever ask for and i would be sooooo lost and screwed without them "bailing" me out MANY times.  I hope I turn out to be as great of parents to my children as mine have been to me!!

We are in the middle of getting into another house also as we speak, so since October 2011 we have been living in the basement of my parents home, which we are completely grateful for, but not having our own home i believe is the reason for allot of my stress, and the trigger of allot of our fights (between Steven and I).  We are living at home because the previous home we were living in, our lease was expired an we didn't want to rent another home for another year because we are so close to being qualified to buy a home, so being at my parents home gives us the chance to pay on some bills and possibly pay some things off so we can raise our credit score so we can search for the home we want to live in for the next 5-10 years.

This is my chaotic life, and even though i have some problems with needing alone time with my husband i still have to admit i wouldn't change the way things are now, because i have healthy and beautiful children...I have the most kind hearted man as my husband and my father...and i have my parents support which keeps me going... God is great, and he definitely is treating me good with the life that he has blessed me with!!