Recipe: Chocolate Birthday Cake + Happy 79th Daddy!

Last weekend my father turned 79! Both my parents are such an inspiration on how to grow older gracefully. This is a picture of my father from 1937.

As I write this post, I'm listening to a radio show about some of the songs from that era. I love those old songs.

Besides sharing this picture of my father and my love for old music, I want to share a new recipe. A chocolate birthday cake recipe to be exact. This cake has evolved over several years. I've blogged before about my endless struggle with the chocolate birthday cake.

Three years later, I can say with confidence and a smile on my face that I've found a chocolate birthday cake that I'm very happy with and comfortable baking for anyone. My mother loved it for Mother's Day. My father asked for it for his birthday. And I think his inner child really enjoyed this cake.

After we sang Happy Birthday and he blew out all the candles, he grabbed them and licked them clean. He never does that! I'm usually the one. Well, it was nice to see. : )

 I've been adapting my standby chocolate cupcake recipe, doubling it to make a layer cake, then adapting it some more. The frosting is vanilla. In reality, I rarely measure the ingredients, because it's so easy. But if you want an excellent vanilla frosting recipe, use this one. I used mocha frosting between the two cake layers. For this, set aside maybe 1 - 2 cups of the vanilla frosting and add 2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Dissolve about 2 tablespoons of instant coffee in about 1 tablespoon of hot water, then stir into the frosting with the cocoa powder. Taste it and see how you like it. I like a very strong flavor.

Below is the cake recipe. I hope you try it!

Chocolate Birthday Cake

(makes 2 layers)

INGREDIENTS:

•  2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla rice milk (or use regular milk, soy milk, etc.)

 INSTRUCTIONS:

Grease and flour two round cake pans, the set aside. Set oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Then dry ingredients. Then add rice milk. The batter will look and feel very pudding like. Divide batter between both pans. Bake cakes for about 50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and then remove from pans. Frost and decorate as you wish.

   

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2011. All rights reserved.
This Post’s Link
 Follow me on Twitter. Join me on Facebook.