Bestest Birthday Cake EVER!!! - Mocha Buttercream and Raspberry Chocolate Cake

A few weeks ago, it was my birthday and true control freak and avid baker that I am, I made my own cake.  Now I'm sure there is some rule out there, just as my family tried to say, that states you are not to make your own birthday cake if you have family around that can do it, but I wanted this cake...and I wanted it to be pretty...and well see above comment about me being a control freak.  Sorry, its just who I am LOL!  So I stayed up late on the day before my birthday so that I could bake this most delicious cake!  (It is super moist and not too rich and very flavorful, seriously I love this chocolate cake...beats boxed cake mix by like 10,000!)  Then when I got home from work on my birthday I quickly decorated it...so quickly in fact I plopped the top layer of cake on top of the bottom before I put in the raspberries.  I was irked, let me tell you, but no worries I worked with it and by layering them on the sides and in between roses on top it turned out pretty good still.  It certainly helped decorate it since I ran out of frosting before I could complete all of the roses on the sides!  So here it is, the best cake ever...I want it now again just thinking about it.  Knew I should have done this post when we still had leftovers!  I adapted the cake and buttercream frosting recipe from Love and Olive Oil's recipes.  The raspberries were inspired by one of my favorite Starbucks drinks...a Raspberry Mocha...yum...maybe I'll just settle for one of those today...

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy

Add in the eggs...

Add everything else and you get a creamy rich colored chocolate batter

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Chocolate Cake

adapted from Love and Olive Oil's Mocha Buttercream Cake

Makes a 13"x9" two layer cake

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup cocoa powder
2 cup buttermilk
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 cup hot water

dash salt
4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.  Mix in the eggs, cocoa powder, buttermilk and flour.  Mix until completely incorporated.  In a separate bowl, mix together hot water and baking soda; add to the cake mixture.  Add the salt and vanilla, mix slowly until well blended. Grease a 9"x13" cake pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes.  Cool completely before removing from pans.  

Mocha Buttercream

1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons coffee
2 teaspoon vanilla

To begin, sift together cocoa powder and powdered sugar.  In a mixer, beat butter until creamy then slowly add the cocoa/powdered sugar mixture.  Mix in salt and coffee and vanilla and beat until well mixed and creamy, about a few minutes.  Spread or pipe onto cooled cake or cupcakes.

To assemble the cake, carefully cut the cake down the middle length wise to create two layers.  Spread some of the buttercream over the bottom layer and place a layer of halved raspberries down on top of it.  Place the second layer of the cake on top and spread buttercream over the rest of the cake.  Decorate as desired and be prepared to enjoy the yummiest chocolate cake of all time!!

Happy birthday to me!!  Weren't they mean...look at all those candles...and they hid a few on the sides too...ah isn't family awesome!!