A year ago I posted on chocolate birthday cake.  So classic, so addictively sweet, you know your mouth is watering right now for a big bite of two layer lusciousness!  This year for my daughter’s birthday I went right to that classic cake recipe, it is the only two layer chocolate gf cake I ever make.  It came out perfect, well mostly; a small chunk came off one layer and a touch on the second.  Gotta love that wax paper circle under the batter for saving my butt…again!  Maybe parchment paper next birthday cake….

This time I updated my timeless and tasty cream cheese icing for adult tastes.  This coffee flavored icing is as easy as ever to whip up but now it is even yummier.  Kahlua icing was the star of the party, champagne colored and coffee flavored, it seduced that chocolate cake right into our mouths with that combination of coffee and dark fudgy cake.   The cake recipe is here at https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/chocolate-fudge-birthday-cake-perfection/ and all you need to do to change it for this spectacular icing is get out that bottle of Mexican Kahlua from the liquor cabinet. Leave out the vanilla in the icing and add a tbsp. of Kahlua and a tsp. of coffee powder.  Coffee powder is simple to make.  I use my electric herb grinder and put in a couple tablespoons of decent quality instant coffee.  Grind it a few pushes of the button until it is a powder.  There you have it; smooth and dark and perfect for adding coffee flavor to any recipe.

It was hot as heck in my busy kitchen when I went to ice it; baking sweet potato oven fries, baked beans simmering in a cast iron fry pan and 6 people milling around yakking and hugging so I put a thin icing layer over the entire cake and set it in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up the icing.  Then I finished frosting to even things up a bit.  This trick is wonderful in the summer and your cake is none the worse for a little freezer time.  Heck, I wanted to climb in there for 20 minutes myself!

The little hole in the icing is from a birthday candle! I guess I should have smoothed it over before the photographing!

Next birthday party try this cake; if I can make you can too!  I am terrible at birthday cakes; you will find that out when you read that cake post from November 2014. Birthday cakes are an effort of love, made for those who are so special you are willing to fire up the oven on a 90 degree afternoon just so they can dig their fork into a real cake, a safe for us celiacs cake and a cake so good no one misses the cakes I made years ago. Now, that is the must have cake for my birthday parties. Made with cocoa, melted chocolate, sugar, butter, gf flour mix and a whole lot of love!

PS: It keeps great in a sealed container in the fridge; minimum of a month; ate some I had longer than that and it was still terrific.  If it lasts that long in your house!