So I baked a cake for my co-worker's birthday and it turned out super awesome! People couldn't stop talking about it and even our manager "D" who BAKES THE BEST DESSERT CAKES AND PASTRIES praised the cake. You know what that means when she approves... that I did a good job!

I volunteered to be in charge of the cake because I wanted D to make some cabbage rolls. Also, because I was too lazy to cook. Initially, I thought of doing a fridge cake, you know, graham crackers in cream overnight, very easy... BUT our freezer was full. So over the weekend, I kind of just gave up that idea and knew I had to bake. Sure I bake, but I'm no D. I mean, every time we have a potluck, D's cakes are always what we look forward to. Of course the good food too, but her cakes were like gold at the end of the yummy-rainbow-food. Oh my god, you don't know how hard I hoped that my cake would turn out at least half as good as hers so I won't disappoint them. I'm so glad that it exceeded everyone's expectations. YAY!

On to some pictures...

Unbelievable Chocolate Cake

• 1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare your cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of the pan. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.
2. Using a fine mesh strainer, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed (with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack.
4. Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level. Frost as desired.

Cappuccino Buttercream

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee

1. Combine the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream. 
2. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer, and whisk on high speed until mixture is completely cooled and stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes. 
3. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, on low speed, mixing well after each addition. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
4. Stir instant coffee into warm water until dissolved. Add, 1 teaspoon at a time, to buttercream, mixing well after each addition.