Chocolate Eclair Cake & The Wonders of Photoshop

I made this AWESOME Chocolate Eclair Cake for our family's Labor Day picnic last weekend. Many thanks to Miss Beth for passing on the recipe. It's so easy and so yummy, I highly reco that you stock up on the ingredients on your next shopping trip. It got rave reviews from all and produced great sadness once it was all gone.

You can find the recipe on allrecipes.com. I healthified my version a little by using low-fat cinnamon graham crackers, lite cool whip, Simply Smart's Fat-Free milk, and reduced sugar chocolate frosting. Beth's suggestion was key for spreading the frosting on top: Put the can of frosting in the microwave for about 40 seconds. That way, you can easily pour it out onto the cake. Just don't forget to remove all of the aluminum foil seal before nuking.


With the leftover pieces, I decided to play around with my shooting and styling skills. I don't have many good shots of cakes as it's sometimes hard to make a good slice, and extricate it from it's dish without making a mess. Remembering a tip from the food stylists I've worked with over the years, I carefully sliced a small square of cake, placed it on its dish and popped it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

After removing it from the freezer, I took a thin, sharp knife and carefully trimmed each side of the cake to create smooth, clean edges. Once I could clearly see the cross section of the cake, I realized that I didn't exactly split the pudding batter evenly between the first and second layer. No problem! I may be an amateur cook, a budding photographer and student of styling...


...but I definitely know my way around Photoshop. Ta-da! Perfectly proportioned cake! Much better.