Chocolate Cake with Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Today was my brother-in-law's 18th birthday. (Happy Birthday Joseph!) Of course such an occasion calls for a cake... I chose to bake a chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting.














I used The Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe (which was pretty darn good though next time I would add just a touch of instant coffee to the batter, to make the chocolate flavor pop just a tad more) and my tried, tested and true buttercream icing recipe (spiked with cocoa powder and instant coffee). And of course, I had to decorate with sprinkles and sparklers. It's just not a birthday cake without them!

Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk.
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and mix in the cocoa powder. Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into greased and floured cake pans and bake at 350-degrees. (For 8" rounds, I baked for approximately 30 minutes.)

Mocha Buttercream Icing

2 cups butter
2 cups icing (confectionner's) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in a touch of boiling water

Using stand mixer, cream butter and icing sugar. Mix in vanilla, cocoa powder and dissolved instant coffee.

Assemble and frost cake. Decorate with sprinkles and sparklers. Serve with vanilla ice cream and an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday.