Coffee Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Icing

The week after we celebrated D's birthday I received a text from one of his friends requesting more cupcakes.

I originally got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman about 2 years ago

I have received more compliments on this cake than any other cake before or since I made it the first time.

My cousin who does not like cake likes this cake

Oreo crumbs provided a great coffee-like dusting, without over doing it on the coffee flavour!

  

D's Birthday Last Year

I was very proud of the texture on this one, although I couldn't get a good enough picture to show it well.

Our friends who don't like coffee, loved this cake (even though it is very coffee-ee-ee)

This year, D requested the cake again. Of course I can't say no and still maintain best girlfriend ever status, so I made it yet again.

This time I was a smart best girlfriend ever, and baked the cupcakes the night before. Yay for planning ahead!

 The next day I iced them

The color contrast wasn't the greatest with the icing...but I was just so tired at this point, and running out of time to get everything done before his party ...it also got a little melty and smushy. 

But still oh-so-DELICIOUS!

Recipe Comments/Tips:

Tip: To make a substitute for buttermilk, pour 1 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar into a 1/2 cup, and add milk until full; let stand for 5 minutes before incorporating

Yes, it does seem like a lot of liquid for the cake...but I have never once had a problem with it setting. Trust me on this. Its a smashing good caffeine fix.

I follow the recipe as is on her blog, until I get to the icing. Here I make the following changes:

• I use 3 cups icing sugar
• add about a 1/4-1/2 cup cream cheese 
• a squirt or two of lemon juice to cut a bit of the sweetness
• This time to get the darker, chocolatey icing I added some chocolate syrup from my fridge to a separate bowl the icing, just until it was dark enough for me.

Hope you enjoy this fabulous cake as much as my loved ones have!

Love,
Ern

D's Big Quarter of a Century Milestone

My wonderful boyfriend is getting older. 25 to be exact!


For his actual day of birth, D had a BJJ symposium and grading conference over that whole weekend. We still managed to steal some time the night of his actual birthday to watch the fights with friends.

I made him a cake, because you have to have cake on your birthday, even if you aren't celebrating it until a later date!

D turns the big 2-5!

 So because I am a student, and incredibly poor this time of year, I had to get a little creative for D's birthday gift. I saw this post: 1 Year of Dates on Shannon Brown's blog and fell in love with the idea!
D says I am not decisive enough when it comes to options for us to go out and do things....So I gave him one year of decisive, and unique dates. We'll be trying new things, tasting new foods, and going places we haven't been before. Added bonus, I don't have to actually pay for the dates until we go on them! (And some of them are even free!)

I'll be posting some of my ideas on here in the near future.

 ...I may have over done it on the chocolate shavings on top...but you can never have too much chocolate...right?

Chocolate Stout Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Icing

This is a delicious, rich and moist chocolate cake without being overly sweet.

I followed this exact recipe over at My Baking Addiction for the cake. She is so talented, check out her fundamentals for some great tips!

I used Bad Hare Chocolate Stout for the required beer.

BONUS: it's enough that you don't even use 1 whole bottle for the cake...so you don't have to buy extras if you don't want to actually drink the stout!

And I found this little gem for one of the BEST icings I have ever had. I'm not a huge icing person, so that's saying something!

Our friend kept stealing the icing off of everyone's slices when they weren't looking and requested a bowl of it for her upcoming birthday...no cake....just a bowl of the icing.

It was a perfect light and airy balance to the cake.

Coming up this weekend I'm throwing D a full out birthday party to make up for the lower level of excitement on his actual birthday.

Look forward to more bday posts soon!

What is your favorite birthday gift you've ever received?

<3
Ern