Well, once again some time has passed since my last post, written on my birthday at the very beginning of this month. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes…it was an awesome birthday! I feel like I’m still celebrating.
Upon request, my husband gave me a new pair of hiking boots and socks for my birthday, along with some other goodies. And additionally, keeping with the hiking theme, a friend gave me a really super day pack as a birthday present. In order to do justice to all of this new gear, we had to go someplace where the hiking was cranked “up a notch,” so to speak, and we spent a lovely weekend in Highlands and Cashiers, North Carolina.
Just down the road from Cashiers is the truly beautiful Gorges State Park in Sapphire, North Carolina. “Plunging waterfalls, rugged river gorges, sheer rock walls and one of the greatest concentrations of rare and unique species in the eastern United States are found within Gorges State Park. An elevation that rises 2,000 feet in only four miles, combined with rainfall in excess of 80 inches per year, creates a temperate rain forest and supports a collection of waterfalls.” As this description on the website indicates, there’s lots to see and a strenuous hike!
I don’t know if it was the cooler weather—which was in the low 60’s that day—or the renewed vigor resulting from a birthday, that made me feel up to the challenge of hiking an 800 foot elevation change after a night of celebrating. But it was a glorious, if strenuous, hike, and my new boots and pack performed exceptionally well. The payoff of Rainbow Falls at the end of the trail by the same name, is totally worth the effort. We’d actually run into some friends the night before at dinner in Cashiers and they joined us for the hike, which made it all the more fun. I’d love to go back here and do this hike again, as well as explore some of the other trails in the park. Do this every day and you can eat what you want! Here’s a slideshow of some scenes from my birthday adventures and our hike, along with some captions included to guide you through. I hope you’ll enjoy the tour.
Meanwhile, you might be wondering why this post has a birthday cake with SOMEONE ELSE’S name on it? Well, October is the birthday month for several of our friends and while I did not make a cake for myself, I did make one to take to a party we attended for a friend of ours last weekend. This cake was so delicious that I felt like it was truly post-worthy. Now I’m not a real baker, nor one to take too much time for fancy decorations. In fact, getting out my icing bag and tips for this caused me to break out in a sweat, momentarily, but I pushed through. This makes a great, old-fashioned birthday cake—a classic that everyone loves.
A birthday cake for all of the October birthdays!
Old School Devil’s Food Layer Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing
Serves 12-16
(Cake adapted from Epicurious.)
For the cake:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (such as Baker’s)
2 cups granulated cane sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher sea salt
1/2 cup hot brewed coffee
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs lightly beaten
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with unsalted butter, then lightly flour them and set aside.
Melt the chocolate over very low heat in a heavy saucepan or in a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the hot coffee, sour cream and canola oil. Gradually whisk the eggs into the wet ingredients, then stir in the melted chocolate. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all of the ingredients are smoothly blended. Pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans, dividing evenly.
Place in the oven and bake at 350 for approximately 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack with the top side down, before frosting. Cooling with the exposed top side down to the rack helps level the cake.
For the icing:
*This is a double recipe which makes about 4 cups of icing, which will be a bit more than you may need. I find it better to have a little too much, than not enough when frosting and decorating a layer cake! Half the recipe for a sheet cake.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon kosher sea salt
4 teaspoons pure madagascar bourbon vanilla
6 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar, plus a bit more if needed
2/3 cup whole milk
In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, salt, vanilla and two cups of sugar on low speed with a mixer and beat until fairly smooth. Add a bit of the milk, then more sugar, alternating the two and beating until smooth between each addition. Add more sugar to thicken or milk to thin the icing to your desired spreading consistency. Set aside about 1- 1 1/2 cups of icing, if decorating.
Place one tablespoon of icing in the center of your serving platter, cake stand or plate. This will help your layer to stick and not slide off the plate while you’re frosting the cake. Place one layer of cake, pan or bottom side down on top of the plate (if one layer is larger, use it on the bottom.) Put strips of parchment just under the edges of the layer (about 1/8 inch) all the way around the layer, to protect the serving dish from stray icing. These will slide out when you’re done icing and give you a nice, clean edge at the bottom of your cake.
Place about 1 cup of icing on top of the layer. Spread the icing evenly over the top of the layer, using an offset long spatula. Add a little more icing, if needed, to ensure the layer is covered. Gently place and center the second layer on top of the iced layer, pan or bottom side up. Put about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of frosting on the top, then smooth it evenly to cover the entire top. Try not to overwork the icing—just use smooth, long strokes. This will help keep the crumbs out of your icing. Once the top is covered in icing, frost the sides.
Working in quarters, add icing to the side of the cake, smoothing as you go. Be sure to give yourself enough icing for each quarter so that you aren’t digging up crumbs. When the cake is fully iced, carefully remove the parchment at the bottom.
If you want to leave as is, this is a great cake! If you want to decorate, add food safe gel colorant (Wilton makes a good version in the U.S.) to the icing you set aside earlier and mix to get the desired colors. Pipe your designs or script through an icing bag fitted with decorative tips.
bits and breadcrumbs 
Good job, Betsy. I like to bake, but I don’t have an icing bag and tips because I don’t have the coordination to decorate. Your cake looks great (and I’m sure it tasted good with all of that chocolate, coffee and vanilla).
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Thank you kindly, Sharyn! I do so appreciate your comments as I know you are a baker. 🙂 Yes, the decorating was requested by the hostess of the party for which this cake was made. I was happy to do it, but probably hadn’t tried my hand at cake decorating since I was a child. That was when I did most of my baking. I thought it turned out pretty well, all things considered. And it was a really great tasting cake…maybe TOO good. 😉
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Lake Winfield Scott is so tranquil and beautiful, I could spend hours lying on the grass by the lake just day dreaming. Beautiful red roses. The decorations on your cake is simple yet elegant and classy.
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It is very tranquil and beautiful this time of year at Lake Winfield Scott. During the summer, a little less so with the swimmers and fishermen, but still such a pretty little lake. Thanks, Norma. I tried to keep it simple with the cake, given my lack of piping experience! 🙂
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It sounds like you had a really lovely birthday and your gifts sound like they’ll be very well used. I think your cake is gorgeous – I love how it’s decorated – I think you’re better with a piping bag than you probably realise xx
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Thank you for that wonderful compliment Charlie Louie. Coming from an expert cake baker and decorator like you, that means the world to me! 😀
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Such a great spot and way to spen your birthday, Barb. Isn’t it wonderful when the gifts you receive are thoughtful and can be put to good use immediately? I only wish I could decorate a cake nearly as well as you did. I’d go into business! Ive a piping bag but it represents an impossible dream, at this point.
BTW … notification of your post “appeared” in my inbox, just like you used to do. Yay!!!!
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Hi John! Yes it was a wonderful spot and way to spend my birthday. It was an exceptionally wonderful birthday this year all around. And even though I’ve been to Highlands a lot…it’s so pretty in that area this time of year that it’s always a new experience. I am fortunate to have such thoughtful friends and family, who contributed to making my birthday so special.
I did have fun with the cake, but it took me all day to make that one little cake…I basically had to take the day off! I don’t think I could make a go of it professionally, even if I was better at it. But I wouldn’t mind practicing my piping skills a little more. It’s kind of like painting and surface decoration on a clay pot…both of which I enjoy. 🙂 So happy to hear I’m showing up in your feeds now!
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Your cake looks terrific, so delicious and perfectly iced 😀
And that pumpkin field – it looks awesome!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you CCU. That means a lot coming from someone who bakes all the time and is so good at it! 😀 Aren’t those pumpkins great? I was so stunned by the display that I didn’t buy one there…of course it was a bit early for Halloween.
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Hey Betsy!!!! I love the pix of NC mountains. There is nothing like hiking there in the fall. I love that area so much. Are you going to Pat’s this weekend? I think we will. Want to see her so bad. She, like the North Carolina mountains, reminds me of fall.
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Hey Hollis! Yes, NC is the greatest place to visit and hike. Can’t get enough of it. 🙂 I’m hoping we can make it to Pat’s on Sunday. I have a long scheduled all day event on Saturday and some other plans on Sunday as well in the opposite direction, but I will try. I miss seeing them.
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Gorgeous hiking pics Betsy. And warm and happy birthday wishes if I neglected to do so earlier. I’m glad that you’re really into hiking because we get to see so many gorgeous parks. Lucky Jason, that’s a beautiful cake.
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Thank you, Eva! I had a spectacular birthday….and I think Jason probably did, too, LOL. We are loving hiking. Will be back up in the mountains this weekend. Hope you have a great weekend!
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Oh, these pics make me miss the Fall weather so much! What a wonderful outing for your birthday. Looks like it was an absolutely perfect day all around. I’m very impressed with your cake decorating. I’m so not the frosting decorator; I wish I was as I love the beautiful things people do. And I’d be extremely happy if I could pull off a cake like this!
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Yes that’s the thing for me…I love Fall so much and I love the sea, but I’d miss the change in seasons terribly. We were hiking in North GA yesterday and it was spectacularly gorgeous. Thank you, Linda for your lovely comments. You guys are making me feel a lot better about my cake decorating skills! 😀
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What a fabulous birthday you had with such thoughtfula nd perfect presents! The shots o your hike are glorious and I am in awe of your cake and the decorating – I too tend to fear the icing bag but never get as far a you and actually ice a cake 😉
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Lol, Tanya, I know what you mean about icing a cake…this was a RARE occasion. Thanks for your compliments, it was fun if not a little intimidating. And I am a lucky girl…it was a fabulous birthday and birthday month! 🙂
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Betsy, I’m so glad I finally took the time to stop by…I just learned of a new place In N.C. to go hiking. Since we moved to NC from Texas, almost a year ago we’ve been taking day trips or weekend jaunts to see our new state. It is pretty fabulous – don’t you think? Love the cake recipe but especially love your new Keene boots and your long stem pumpkin pics!
p.s. my new site is up – check it out if you have a sec…I can’t tell if my followers from before are still linked or not. Thanks!
http://www.theorangebee.com
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Hi Linda! So glad you stopped by. Yes, NC is a great state…so many places to go and things to do. If you haven’t yet checked out Asheville, you need to do so, as well as the Highlands and Cashiers areas. Glad you like the cake, thanks! I’ve re-followed and re-subscribed to your site and thanks for letting me know. I wasn’t getting your notifications and I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been keeping tabs lately. 🙂
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Thank you Betsy! We will check out those areas – I’ve already told my husband about them.
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What a lovely way to spend your birthday. I’m sure that Jason was thrilled with your beautifully decorated cake…really professional looking.
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