Happy Birthday, D....er, Harry...er, Gimme a Break!

So, even though I was late on my plans to make a cake for D while on call, this cake was right on time.  I invited some of our friends over for dinner last week with plans to make this cake...and not plans for supper at that time!  We ended up having a yummy Mexican casserole (that we'll probably do again) - I'll post that soon.  The cake was one I had seen a while back.  You just make your favorite chocolate cake recipe (and this one is a GOOD one, surprisingly), ice with chocolate icing (again...a good recipe!) and line the edge with kit-kat bars and top with M&M's.

YUM!  Now, chocolate is NOT my favorite but D loves it...and this was his birthday cake...so chocolate it was.  I didn't want to use a boxed cake and, surprisingly, couldn't find a recipe in many of my cookbooks.

The recipe I used actually came from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. D got this for me for Christmas...one of our first movies together was Harry Potter!  This is a very moist and chocolate-y cake...even a little tempting to me!

The icing was from AllRecipes and turned out great.  I used it because the description said that many people had deemed it their "favorite frosting."  It is more dark chocolate tasting but very good...actually what I prefer.  The just decorate it with the candy!  A fun and yummy cake.  It was mentioned that this could be made to match the season by using the seasonal colored M&Ms.  Fun.  Hope you try and Enjoy!

Harry's First Birthday Cake from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temp
1 cup sugar (I think I did half sugar half splenda)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray two 8 inch round pans with baking spray (Pam with flour - awesome!).  Whisk together the water, cocoa and coffee.  Set aside.  In a bowl for electric mixer, cream butter, sugars until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla.  Add the cocoa mixture and mix well.  Stir in the flour and baking powder.  Scrape the bowl well.  Pour evenly into the prepared pans.  Place pans into oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Do NOT overbake.  Remove immediately and allow to cool completely.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting from All Recipes
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons milk (I used almond milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
 In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.

Kit-Kat Cake from Recipe Girl
Bake your favorite chocolate cake.  Ice with your favorite chocolate icing.  Edge the cake with snack size (NOT mini) KitKats (I used 36 single ones and needed about 2-3 more).  The pour M&M's on top of the cake.  Enjoy!