Birthday Cake

Since we were traveling back from our vacation on the day of Conor's birthday, we waited a few days to do a full celebration with cake and presents. After getting very little direction on what kind of cake Conor wanted, I decided to make this very cool looking zebra cake. It turned out to be very tasty and easy to make...just a little time-consuming. We were all big fans of this one, and I think we'll see it again for birthdays to come. Of course it's not a birthday cake without ice cream, and I tried out a recipe for a VERY easy chocolate ice cream. It was only okay, I still have some kinks that need worked out, so I'll write more about that later. I'm working on a good summary of how our vacation went, we had so much fun. I'll be working over the next few days to get everything updated on the blog...stay tuned!

Recipe: From Baking Bites
cake

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper and lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs and sugar until mixture is light and creamy and the sugar has mostly been dissolved. Stir in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and almond extracts.
   In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Measure out just over two cups of vanilla batter and place it back in the medium bowl. Sift cocoa powder over the bowl and whisk until fully incorporated. 
3. Put 3 tbsp of vanilla batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own. Put 3 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all the batter has been used up. 
4. Bake for 38-42 minutes, until the cake is light gold and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out the cake and remove the parchment paper. Reinvert on to a wire rack and let cool before slicing.

Serves 10.

buttermilk chocolate frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided
• 6 tbsp buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt together butter and unsweetened chocolate. Heat in 30-45 second intervals, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Cool for 10-15 minutes, or until mixture is at room temperature.
2. Transfer butter mixture to a larger bowl. Beat in cocoa powder, 2 cups confectioners sugar, buttermilk and vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth and slightly fluffy. Add additional confectioners’ sugar to thicken, if needed (depending on the weather, you may need more one day and less another). Frosting should be at room temperature before using.