Happy Birthday to Me

Getting older isn't much fun anymore. But cake is still awesome. I usually make the "Chocolate Fudge Cake" from The Cake Bible (Rose Levy Barenbaum). It's wonderful deep chocolate, with a bitter edge from brown sugar. This year I wanted chocolate cinnamon. I felt the cinnamon could get lost in such a deeply-flavored cake. So I went with the "All-American Chocolate Cake" from the same book. And by "I" mean my husband. He hates cake, and he hates baking. But he feels a moral obligation to make my birthday cake. Which is very sweet. And he did a fabulous job this year. The cake was moist and rich and fantastic. I split the layers, and I made an extra batch of the frosting recipe that I posted last week. Good thing. The cake was very soft, making it difficult to spread the frosting thinly. I used every bit of frosting, and I could have used more to cover some blotchy spots. But it worked.

The top stencil was done with a mixture of cocoa and cinnamon. I didn't level the cake, so the top was curved. I realized too late that the solution is to move slowly around the stencil, pressing an area against the cake before sprinkling the cocoa mixture. So some areas came out blotchy. Next time I'll know better. Of course next time I'll probably take the time to level the cake properly.

Delicious! Husband complained that the cinnamon-chocolate cake plus orange-brown sugar frosting was too many flavors. I think he's right, but I still enjoyed every bite.