My Brother's Birthday Cake

Today was my little brother's birthday and if he didn't live half-way around the world from where I am, I would have made him a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and added 44 self-igniting candles on top that he'd have to continually blow out, just so he'd get a little exercise. :)

I don't think there can ever be enough chocolate for my brother. When he was a teenager, I remember him polishing off an entire 3.5-ounce bar of milk chocolate every afternoon while watching his favorite show on TV and washing it down with 1 liter (a tad more than 1 quart) of whole milk. Yahaah! This, by the way, was just a little snack between lunch and dinner. And the guy didn't even gain an ounce. Go figure!

Here's the recipe for an easy chocolate cake from the depths of my recipe files. I found it somewhere, but forgot to write down the source. My apologies. The recipe can also be turned into cupcakes quite easily, just adjust the baking time:

Chocolate Cake

(Makes 1 round cake and approximately 14-16 cupcakes; double the recipe for layered cake and bake in two round pans.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup oil

1 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. vinegar

Preparation:

Mix ingredients together until moist and well-blended. If making a round cake, bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If making cupcakes, decrease baking time to 25 minutes. Frost with your favorite frosting.

My favorite frosting just so happens to come straight out of Alice Waters' book, The Art of Simple Food, p. 386:

Simple Frosting

Ingredients:

12 Tbsp. ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and fresh lemon juice. Beat until smooth.

Variations:

Now you can flavor the frosting with 2 ounces of melted, but not warm, bittersweet chocolate, or with 1/2 tsp. lemon, orange, or tangerine zest.

This recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting, according to Alice enough for a 9-inch cake or 24 cupcakes. Frankly, I can only frost about 18 cupcakes max with the amount because I have a mechanical pastry bag with some fancy tips that use a generous amount of frosting in order to cover the cupcakes. They look beautiful, though. Next time I make them, I'll have to take a picture and add one to this post.