The Best Chocolate Birthday Cake

Well, today is Gene's birthday and I figured I'd better come up with something better than I did in our early years of marriage, when I served him a whole wheat zucchini cake. (If you know Gene, you probably know that this kind of cake didn't go over so well.) So, I've made one of the cakes I served at Kelly and Clint's wedding. It's delicious and gorgeous too.

You can be sneaky like me and prepare the layers ahead of time and freeze them. Then it's even easier when you are frosting frozen layers. The layers are not nearly as fragile, and there aren't as many crumbs to deal with.

And this cake is especially moist due to a secret ingredient -- pumpkin. Your guests and the birthday boy or girl will never guess it's in there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE!!!

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Cake
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 C dark brown sugar
1 C sugar
3 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
1 1/2 C flour
2/3 C cocoa
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 C buttermilk (or 1/4C plain yogurt or sour cream & 1/4 C milk)
1 C canned pumpkin
2 t vanilla extract

Frosting
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 C confectioner's sugar & 3/4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C heavy cream

Ganache
4 oz semisweet or bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate bar, chopped
1 T butter
3 T corn syrup
1/2 C heavy cream

To Prepare Cake
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Line the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper and lightly butter bottoms and sides. Sprinkle with cocoa.

Beat the butter and sugars together using an electric mixer at medium high speed until light and fluffy -- around 4-5 minutes. Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time. Add the cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the mixture. Combine buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla in small bowl. Reduce mixer speed to low and alternately beat in the flour and buttermilk mixture just until combined. Pour the batter by measuring cup (so pans have an even amount) into the prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

To Prepare Frosting
Beat cream cheese with 1 1/2 C confectioner's sugar and vanilla on low speed, until combined.

In a separate chilled bowl, beat whipped cream with 3/4 C confectioner's sugar on medium high until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until well combined.

To Ice Cake
Spread around 1 C of frosting in between layers and use the rest to frost top and sides of cake. Chill the cake at least 30 minutes before topping with ganache.

To Prepare Ganache
Microwave heavy cream til boiling in a heat-safe measuring cup. Add chopped chocolate, butter and corn syrup and stir. Let sit 3 minutes. Stir, using a whisk, until smooth. Let sit 3-5 additional minutes (approximately), until ganache thickens and cools slightly. Pour the ganache onto the center of the frosted cake and let drip down sides.

As A Side Note: This cake can be turned into a harvest/Halloween cake by adding 1/4 t orange paste food coloring to the frosting while you're preparing it. This cake looks especially striking!