Great Ideas for My Birthday Cake

A round-up of 10 of my favorite cakes, shared on Great Idea Thursdays link party, that I would love to have as my birthday cake.

I don't think anyone should have to make their own birthday cake.  I love baking but I enjoy it more when I'm doing it for someone else.  So, since I find myself alone on my birthday (my husband's out of town for work) I don't have a cake :(  My sisters (in North and South Carolina) ordered me some cupcakes delivered from a local bakery here in Hawaii so you don't have to feel too bad for me (I got my cake after all. I love my sisters).

No one should have to bake their own birthday cake.  [Tweet this]

I've been thinking about cake all week and even thought about making one for myself but made a round-up instead.  These are all cakes that have been shared on the Great Idea Thursdays link party.  I had so many to choose from, but these are my favorites and they are completely lust-worthy.  You can see what I love in this round-up.  It's mostly chocolate, some ice cream, tiramisu, and mocha.  Flavors that make my mouth water and give me sweet dreams.

Have sweet dreams with this mouthwatering roundup.  [Tweet this]

As I mentioned these are all from Great Idea Thursdays link party.  I decided ahead of time that I was only going to choose 10, but there are so many delicious options it was really hard to narrow it down.  You can see all the great ideas, recipes, crafts, DIY, and more, on our Pinterest board.

Follow Joybee, What's for Dinner?'s board Great Idea Thursdays on Pinterest.

Come link up your own great ideas at our party live Wednesdays at 6pm-Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Now on to my cakes/cupcakes.  I couldn't choose a favorite so they are in alphabetical order.
If you want to pin any of these pictures please pin from the original source (give the authors credit for their scrumptious pictures)

Caramel Ice Cream Sandwich Cake from Life with the Crust Cut Off

Chocolate Malt Ice Cream Cupcakes from Growing Up Gabel

Chocolate Mousse Cake on Hazelnut Crust from Something Sweet Winnie's Blog

Chocolate Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting from This Silly Girl's Life

Fudge Brownie Cake from Just a Pinch

Mocha Poke Cake from Living Better Together

One Bowl Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Buttercream Icing from Live. Love. Craft

Snickers Ice Cream Bar Cake from The Jenny Evolution

Spiced Dark Chocolate Cake from Raia's Recipes

Tiramisu Poke Cake from Life with the Crust Cut Off

Enjoy.

Still want more cake? Check out:

Chocolate Pound      Cake

Special Dark Mocha Chip Cake

Mocha Chip Cheesecake

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Mocha Chip Cheesecake

A rich chocolate cheesecake with coffee, mini chocolate chips, and a dark chocolate drizzle.  A perfect birthday cake for my husband.

It's that time of year again.  My husband's birthday was this weekend so I made him his usual chocolate cheesecake birthday cake with just a few tweaks.

For my husband's birthday I made his usual #chocolatecheesecake #birthdaycake [Tweet this]

It's always been a tradition in my family that the birthday person gets their favorite cake, whatever they like.  Even my sisters, who are twins, each got their own cake.  So every year I ask my husband what kind of cake he wants.  Often it's just chocolate cheesecake that he wants but this year he had the idea for a mocha chip (like the coffee drink you can get at a certain coffee shop) cheesecake.

The birthday person gets their favorite cake [Tweet this]

I've already experimented with the usual Hershey's Chocolate Cheesecake recipe by adding coffee flavor a little at a time.  This time I just added more coffee flavor by using more finely ground coffee.  Then stirred in some mini chocolate chips for a deliciously rich cheesecake that tastes similar to a mocha chip frappuccino.  Oh and the smell, while it was mixing and baking.  Strong coffee and dark chocolate.  It was so mouth watering.  Then, when we were finally able to eat a piece; yum!  It had the rich creaminess of cheesecake with even richer dark chocolate and Kona coffee and a slight crunch from the milder semisweet chocolate chips.  It tasted amazing, but you only need a small slice to be satisfied and a big glass of milk.

You only need a small slice of cake and a big glass of milk [Tweet this]

Mocha Chip Cheesecake

Ingredients:

*Graham cracker crust
3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
8 oz sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely ground coffee
1/4 cup Hershey's special dark cocoa powder
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips
*Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Preheat oven to 350

*Graham Cracker Crust:  crush graham crackers (I used Diamond Bakery Hawaii: Kona Coffee Royal Creem Crackers) in a food processor, blender, or by hand until you have about 1 1/2-2 cups of crumbs.  Mix the crumbs with 1 stick of melted butter until thoroughly moistened.  Press into the bottom and a little up the side of an 8-inch springform pan.  Bake for about 10 minutes at 350F.

Increase oven temperature to 450F.

Cream together cream cheese (I used neufcahtel) and sugar until smooth.

Beat in the sour cream and vanilla.  Then add the coffee, cocoa, and flour and blend until fully incorporated.

Lastly, stir in the eggs at a time just until blended then gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour into the springform pan over the crust.

Bake at 450F for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 250 and continue baking for about 40 minutes.  The cake is done when the sides are set, but there is still a small jiggly part in the center.

Remove cake from oven, loosen sides of cake from the pan by running a knife around the edge.

Allow cake to cool completely before removing the sides of the pan.

Prepare chocolate drizzle once the cake is cool.

*Chocolate Drizzle:  melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or chocolate pieces) with 2 tsp vegetable shortening in the microwave.  Use 15-second bursts and stir well in between until melted.

Using a fork or a squeeze bottle drizzle the cake all over with the chocolate.  This is a great way to cover any cracks the cake might have.

Cool overnight in the refrigerator (or at least  few hours) before slicing and serving. Don't forget a glass of milk to go with it.

Makes about 12 servings

Enjoy.

If you want to see more check out my other chocolate cheesecakes:

Hershey's Chocolate Cheesecake

Dark Mocha Cheesecake

For more chocolate recipes check out:

Chocolate Pound  Cake

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Special Dark Mocha Chip Cake

Linked to:  Treasure Box, 2 Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Tasty, Whimsy, Tickle My Tastebuds, Full Plate, Cook Craft Share, Freedom, Foodie Friends, Pretty Pintastic, Show off, Best of the Weekend

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Chocolate Pound Cake

A rich, chocolaty, dense cake in loaf form.  A great dessert, or have a slice with your morning coffee.

I've mentioned my Hershey's cookbook before and let me tell you I love it.  It is my new go-to source for chocolate cravings.  When I was looking for a chocolate pound cake recipe I immediately pulled out the Hershey's book.  I was a little disappointed to find no plain chocolate pound cake recipe, the one in the book is a chocolate rum pecan pound cake.  This did not deter me I just left out the rum and pecans and added some chocolate chips.  The next problem I ran into was that the recipe called for a 12 cup fluted tube pan which I do not have, again the book came in handy because it has a conversion chart in the back.  From this chart, I found out that an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, which I have, is equivalent to 6 cups (so I used 2 and split the batter in half).  I'm not a spokesperson for Hershey's, but I do love simple chocolaty desserts.

I love simple chocolaty desserts.  [Tweet this]

Chocolate Pound Cake

Ingredients:
Slightly modified from Hershey's Recipe Collection Chocolate Rum Pecan Pound Cake p104

2/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder, divided
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cups butter (2 1/2 sticks), softened
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup kefir, buttermilk, or sour milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F and grease and flour 2, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans.

In a small bowl stir together 1/3 cup of the cocoa and the boiling water until smooth; set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each egg. Add the cocoa mixture from above and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, remaining 1/3 cup of cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Add this, a little at a time, to the butter mixture alternating with the kefir.  Mix well.  Lastly, stir in chocolate chips and pour into prepared pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool for about an hour before slicing.

Makes about 24 slices (10-12 for each loaf).  Enjoy.



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Special Dark Mocha Chip Cake

A moist dark chocolate cake with a creamy mocha frosting topped with chopped chocolate chips.

I recently purchased a Hershey's cookbook.  It contains over 475 recipes so I'm in heaven.  As soon as I brought it home I sat down and read the whole thing.  I can't wait to try all of the chocolaty recipes.  My first recipe from this book is this cake (of course I have trouble following directions so I made some changes).  I wasn't going to make a cake for my birthday since my husband was out of town and it's just me, but I couldn't resist.  This is only an 8-inch square cake so it was perfect for me.  I had a piece of cake for breakfast every morning for a week so the mocha was awesome.  This is my take on the Hershey's Cocoa Cake.  In the book, it has a crunchy nut and coconut topping which looks and sounds great, but it was my birthday cake and not exactly what I wanted.  So I made a chocolate buttercream frosting spiked with espresso.

Cake makes great breakfast especially w/ espresso in it.  [Tweet this]

Special Dark Mocha Chip Cake

modified slightly from Hershey's Cocoa Cake

 Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup kefir (or buttermilk)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mocha Chip Frosting:

1 stick butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp-1/4 cup Special Dark cocoa
1-2 tsp espresso
up to 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, or regular milk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F (or 325 if using a glass pan) and grease and flour an 8 by 8-inch, square, baking pan.

In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Add kefir, oil, vanilla and egg.  Beat just until batter is smooth and well blended. Then pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, make the frosting.  Cream together the butter, cocoa and espresso.  Add the powdered sugar and enough milk to bring to a spreadable consistency (if too wet add more sugar, or more milk if too dry).

Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with chopped chocolate chips (I did this mainly to keep the plastic wrap from sticking to the frosting when I covered the cake, but it tasted great).  Allow to cool completely before serving (I was greedy and tried to cut a piece before it was completely cool and my piece fell apart...it tasted great but it was a mess the picture's below).  Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy.

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