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

Linked to:  2 cup Lou Lou, Wake up, Wonderful, Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends, Pretty Pintastic

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Birthday Taco Salad Round-up

Crunchy tortilla chips, spicy meat or non-meat filling, cool lettuce, and toppings galore all combine to make my favorite meal.  5 different versions of a classic.

For as long as I can remember taco salad has been my favorite meal.  In my family, the birthday girl always got her favorite dinner on her birthday.  Yep, you guessed it I always asked for taco salad.

The birthday girl always gets her favorite meal for dinner.  [Tweet this]

As I've gotten older one thing remains the same.  Taco salad is still my favorite dinner.  A few things about it have changed, though.  Now I add more lettuce and veggies to my salad and I try different kinds of taco salad not just the traditional (for me) made with ground beef.  In celebration of my birthday (which is, Friday) I've compiled a round-up of my taco salad recipes.  I hope this inspires you to try taco salad and not be afraid to experiment with new flavors.

Celebrate my Birthday with taco salad.  [Tweet this]

Taco Salad

Spicy ground beef atop a bed of lettuce and tortilla chips.  My favorite meal.

Traditional taco salad is always great.  [Tweet this]

Beans and Rice Taco Salad

A vegetarian meal of tortilla chips and lettuce, topped with spicy rice and beans, and finished with avocado sour cream and cilantro.

Beans and rice make a vegetarian taco salad.  [Tweet this]

Chorizo and Black Bean Taco Salad

Taco salad made with black beans, ground pork chorizo, and spices.

Pork chorizo makes a tender and flavorful taco salad.  [Tweet this]

Pulled Pork Taco Salad

A taco salad topped with spicy black beans, pulled pork, and avocado.

Tender, slow cooked, pulled pork makes delicious taco salad.  [Tweet this]

Tequila Lime Chicken Taco Salad

Leftover rotisserie chicken, shredded, marinated in tequila and lime juice topping green lettuce and tortilla chips.

Tequila Lime Chicken Taco Salad uses  #rotisseriechicken [Tweet This]

Enjoy your taco salad.  I know I will.

For more recipes to make your tacos or taco salads extraordinary check out:

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

How to Make Mexican Chorizo

Quick & Easy Guacamole

Linked to:  2 Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Tickle my Tastebuds, Wake Up, Full Plate

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

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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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Taco Salad (Birthday re-post)

A re-post of my favorite birthday dinner.  Spicy meat (and beans) atop a bed of lettuce and tortilla chips finished with carrots, cheese, and salsa.

 

Click picture to go to recipe

I'm turning 30 today.  I know a lot of people who freak out about their 30th birthday, but I'm not one of those people.  I don't feel old, and 30 isn't really even old.  I'm not in my 20s anymore, but I haven't changed too much.  I can always feel a little better because I'm the youngest in my family so I will always be younger than my sisters :)

My post for today is a re-post of Taco Salad.  This has been my traditional birthday dinner for as long as I can remember.  I have always loved taco salad.  When I was younger we made it with packaged taco seasoning and had it over cool ranch Doritos.  I never liked lettuce in my taco salad then.  I only had chips, meat, and cheese.  Now that I'm older and care more about my nutrition I load my taco salad with plenty of vegetables and even beans.  I even like it better this way now (I guess my tastes have changed as I've gotten older).  I still enjoy the treat of using cool ranch Doritos occasionally, but plain tortilla chips are just fine most of the time (and usually less expensive).

I have also realized that everyone has a specific way to build their taco salad.  I do lettuce, chips, meat, miscellaneous veggies, and cheese on top. My husband will do chips, cheese, meat, and veggies and lettuce on top.  I've even known people to put the chips on top of everything else.  The funny thing is that few people are happy if someone else makes their salad and layers it wrong.  The best way to serve taco salad is to have everything in separate containers and let each person build their own salad.

Enjoy the re-post.

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