A Chocolate Birthday Cake!

My oldest turned 11 Friday, and I decided to bake her an all chocolate cake. I'm always up for trying new recipes so I did some googling and found one that everyone seemed to like. Suzanne's Chocolate Cake was my choice. As I was mixing it all together, I thought it seemed like a lot of sugar going into it, in fact I had to triple check the recipe to make sure I copied it right (Yes, I have to hand write these days, my printer was attacked by little hands). I also don't normally make butter cream frostings (I'm a cream cheese frosting fan) and I found it to become a little melty, for our warm house. I kept it in the fridge and brought it out to room temp for a little bit. I also baked mine as 2 rounds and 6 cupcakes. It was a really good cake, but not one I'll make very often.

Also, about the frosting...I seem to never have enough to finish decorating the cake. It's like I have to make a double batch just so I have enough to pipe with. Next. Time. I. Will. Remember! (which will be my birthday! yay!)

*To decorate this cake, I used melted (the only chocolate I had were unsweetened squares -eek!) chocolate, and wrote my designs on parchment paper, then put it in the freezer for a bit to harden. That makes it easier to pick off and place on the cake. The kids loved it, but could not eat them. It's like sticking your finger in the cocoa jar. yuck.