Me: “What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?”
Hubby: “Either chocolate with white frosting or yellow with chocolate frosting. BUT I just want a small one.”
Me: (mental note using my inside voice) “A small one. Got it.”
Hubby’s birthday is also in April and he knows that he pretty much ends up eating most of his birthday cake. Have I mentioned I don’t eat cake? Growing up, my family never had desserts so eating something sweet after a meal was foreign to me until I started having dinner at other people’s houses. But sweets and dessert time never stuck with me. Snacking also was unheard of to me…until living here.
Hubby has a sweet tooth for sure and since I show love by feeding people, I started to enjoy baking and in the process, have gotten used to eating little bites of cake from time to time. Alex will eat chocolate cakes, but in moderation, and Joshie can’t stand cakes.
To honor hubby’s very practical request of having a small birthday cake, I did just that. Presenting the world’s smallest chocolate birthday cake!
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup (145 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- ¾ cup (175 ml) buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (41 grams) Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon table or fine sea salt
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Grease an 8-inch square cake pan and line with greased parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and sugars until fluffy.
- Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla and beat until combined, then the buttermilk and mix again. Scrape the bowl down well and don’t worry if the batter looks uneven.
- Place your flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a sifter (I find this step necessary because my cocoa is very lumpy) and shake it over the batter bowl.
- Stir on low until just combined; scrape down bowl a final time.
- Scoop batter into prepared pan and smooth flat.
- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes in cake pan on cooling rack, then flip out onto rack or serving plate to completely finish cooling before frosting.
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp milk (more or less depending on the consistency that you'd like)
- In a medium bowl, beat the butter until smooth then add the powdered sugar.
- Add the vanilla and salt until combined.
- Add milk until fluffy and to the consistency that you'd like.