It was my mother-in-laws birthday this past week and since they were coming to visit us I figured the good daughter-in-law thing to do would be to bake her a nice birthday cake. I asked Ryan what kind of cake his mom liked and he didn’t know because his mom does the baking in the family and had never baked a birthday cake for herself. April (my-sister-in-law) was a little more helpful and suggested that her mom would enjoy anything chocolate. That was all the suggestion this chocoholic needed.
I searched the web for “the best chocolate cake.” I came up with several variations on the same recipe all adapted from Hershies Chocolate cake recipe. I decided that the most reliable of these would probably be from the blog “My Baking Addiction.” Anyone addicted to baking would probably be trustworthy in the chocolate cake department. I followed the recipe mostly (just substituted coconut oil for vegetable oil). Then I pondered my frosting options. Both a chocolate ganache and chocolate butter cream frostings were recommended as fitting accompaniments to my cake. And since I couldn’t choose between them I just said “yes” and “yes.” I decided on a chocolate ganache filling and a chocolate buttercream frosting smothering the outside. Since the cake called for a cup of coffee on the inside, I added a touch of instant coffee to the frosting too.
Everything came together like a symphony of chocolate. It was too rich for almost everyone but me and Ry. But. So. Good.
