Chocoholism and a long Birthday Weekend

Apparently, the fourth weekend in july is birthday weekend in Northern Virginia. Over two days, I had three different birthday occasions to bake for. The first was for my boss at work. Okay, I realize this makes me a huge brown-noser, but hey -- if you want brownie points with your superiors, why not bake brownies?!  

The second occasion was for my friend's birthday, for whom it is a tradition that I bake each year. This year was particularly special as it was his 21st birthday. I typically do some sort of fun and colorful cake, but this year I wanted to go dark -- a rich chocolate cake with an oreo whipped cream cheese frosting.

To be honest, in previous years I took the easy way out when baking for my friend Todd and used Betty Crocker cake mix. I'm not ashamed to admit that I think Betty is fantastic -- her cake mixes have yet to fail me. However, I feel that in the past year I have become significantly more confident in my baking capabilities, and therefore more adventurous in cake-making. This year, I wanted to make a cake from scratch, but I didn't want to risk the cake coming out too dry or lackluster in flavor. As such, I turned to my favourite contessa to hand-hold me through this endeavor -- Ina Garten. I used her wonderful chocolate cake recipe.

For the frosting, instead of a traditional buttercream, I wanted something lighter that would help counteract the richness of the chocolate cake and the heavy oreos. As such, I adapted a whipped cream cheese frosting recipe from this website:

Oreo Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
8-oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
16 oreo cookies (crushed)

Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until well blended. In a separate bowl, whip heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the whipped cream into the well-blended cream cheese until well incorporated. Fold in crushed oreo cookies.

Since it was for a 21st birthday, I thought I'd use the extra oreo cookies I had to decorate the cake a bit. This may not have been the most beautiful cake I've ever made, but the taste is what matters, right?

The third occasion I baked for was a family friend's birthday who is a total chocoholic. He requested that I make a cake for his birthday, for which I was quite nervous because I had never baked for him or his family before. I knew he wanted a chocolate cake, but I also knew that he LOVES coffee. So for this cake, I once again Ina's recipe above, but for the frosting, I made an espresso buttercream frosting that was simply out of this world, if I do say so myself.

Espresso Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 cups confectioner's sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
2 tablespoons finely ground espresso beans
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl, mix together extract, liqueur, cream, and espresso. Microwave for 20 seconds to allow the espresso to steep into the mixture. Refrigerate to let cool and set aside. In a standing mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the sugar and a pinch of salt until all is well incorporated. Once the coffee/extract mixture is room temperature, add to butter mixture and beat until evenly mixed together. This buttercream may be made ahead of time and refrigerated until use.

To garnish, I added a bit of crushed Cadbury Flake on top with a few blueberries for a splash of color.

This was truly a chocolate-crazed birthday weekend for me -- I'm definitely going to need a bit of chocolate-free detox! It may have been a crazy few days of birthdays and baking, but I must admit that all of this was worth it, as this weekend had two of my favourite things in the whole world: chocolate and celebrating with friends.

Happy eating!
-Talia