i make this chocolate cake a lot

I made it for my birthday. And Beth's birthday. And Beth's dad's birthday. And Omi's birthday. And a lot of other occasions! Hallie even made a mini 6" version to celebrate Patrick Swayze's birthday (though with vanilla frosting). In order to switch up the decorations, so they don't all look identical, I play around with different piping styles, using offset spatulas or other tools, sprinkles, etc. I like having a go-to recipe for which I almost always have all the ingredients. It continues to be incredibly easy, reliable, and delicious.

This one was for my birthday:

Obviously, this one was for Beth's birthday:

For Judy's birthday, I covered it in ganache because she really loves dark chocolate. (I've made her other cakes with ganache before.) It was really rich!

I made these cakes the same weekend, so the decorations were thematically similar. For Mike's cake, I covered it in ganache, but it was filled with chocolate frosting, and I used that for the decorations as well.

Anyone got a birthday coming up? You know what to expect!

Also: I am super excited that I finally redesigned the blog! It deserved some attention after such a long time.