It's My Birthday and I'll Bake If I Want To

I am a liar. 

It is not my Birthday.

However, it was my Birthday...  about 2 weeks ago now. Oops! Time flies!  BUT I kinda maybe really wanted to use this title.  So I am gonna just go ahead and do as I please. It is my Birthday after all. 

I mean, it's really not. But it was. And was it ever a great Birthday! One of my best.

 

It wasn't hard to beat, considering last year I spent the day at home with a recurring case of bronchitis. Pretty much anything would have been better than that. But it really was a great weekend. Old friends, new friends, a decadent brunch, a fabulous dinner here (so good I forgot to take pictures!), and oodles of presents! This girl was spoiled. Thank you to all my wonderful friends for making my day so special. You know who you are ;) Love love love you all.

Okay enough with the warm fuzzies. Let's get to the cake! I know that's why you're all here.

I actually whipped up this cake the day after my Birthday, when my girlfriends and I gathered at my house for a lil' slumber party. It was just like in the good old days: Movies, junk food, prancing around my bedroom in hair curlers and nightgowns, singing into hair brushes about boys we met on summer nights a la Sandy & crew in Grease...

Okay, maybe that last part didn't really happen.

Ahem... moving on. I was a teensy bit distracted when I made this cake, which resulted in a few... hiccups. FULL DISCLOSURE: This cake was SALTY. And not intentionally so. 

While making my much beloved Swiss Meringue Buttercream, I mistakenly grabbed salted butter from the fridge instead of unsalted. And I failed to notice until it was all almost mixed in. Now I wouldn't say this ruined the frosting, but it certainly made it more... interesting. After the first couple bites the salt was unnoticeable, and you just wanted more More MORE cake! Sodium will do that I guess. Anyway, it wasn't inedible (far from!), but I wouldn't recommend you try it on purpose. It can't be good for you.

The other problem I found was that the layers didn't rise quite as much as I would have liked. I am not sure if this was a cocoa/ leavener issue (hmm apparently leavener is not a word. good to know), or perhaps my oven temperature? Either way, they were a bit flat. For this reason, I didn't level them off as I normally would have, not wanting to lose any precious cake. Regardless, I really do like this cake recipe. It is nice and rich and moist, and is so easy to throw together. It would be nice if it were thick enough to split into four decent sized layers though. I will probably give it a shot again with some modifications, I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, you can check out the original recipes. If you do give it a try, be sure to let me know how it works for you. Or if you have a dark chocolate cake recipe you love, send it my way!

One Bowl Dark Chocolate Cake from Sweetapolita

Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Martha Stewart

Chocolate Glaze From Martha Stewart

Enjoy the rest of your week. I'll be back with some Valentine's treats very soon!

XO,

Maia