BIRTHDAY PIE??

LAST YEAR MY DAUGHTER ASKED FOR A BIRTHDAY PIE INSTEAD OF A CAKE. I WAS THRILLED SO MUCH EASIER TO MAKE. I DIDN'T HAVE TO MAKE FROSTING AND DECORATE A CAKE. I DO LOVE CAKE, DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME, BUT IT WAS A NICE CHANGE. WHO SAYS IT HAS TO BE A BIRTHDAY CAKE? AS LONG AS WE SHARE AND CELEBRATE I DON'T THINK IT MATTERS. DO YOU?

Black Forest Cherry Cake

We love black forest cherry cake so I came up with a somewhat "healthier" version so that my whole family could enjoy it. I bake a boxed mix dark chocolate cake. Pillsbury has a reduced sugar cake mix, that is good but you can use any you like. After baking in round cake pans I like to slice each layer to make four layers, it just looks fancier and its not hard to do. For frosting I use cool whip but I add 1 cup shaved chocolate to it. For the cherries I get a can of cherry pie fill but again there is a low sugar version but you can use any. After frosting each layer and then the whole cake I lay the cherries on top and make a cool whip border around it to dress the cherries up a bit. It looks nice and I know its not as impressive as other black forest cakes but this one we can all feel a little less guilty about eating. My family loves it. Because of the cool whip it has to be refrigerated or eaten. I prefer eaten of course!

ANY IDEAS???