I been quite busy haven't had time to bake; not even for the 4th of July :O! It's been frustrating since I'm bursting with baking project ideas. Last week, I decided enough was enough. I was craving cake so I decided to find some time in my schedule to bake one.

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But because, as you all know, I can't just let things be, I took it one step further and decided that I'd make it a chocolate birthday cake, like the one Hagrid gave to Harry when they first met, but uh, much better tasting (remember Hagrid's rock cakes? haha). I tried to keep the appearance much like the one in the movie though: a bit messy, strangely pink and green, and in need of spell check.

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This cake recipe totally rocks. It's easy to mix together, a one bowl recipe. The cake comes out wonderfully moist, and it isn't too sweet, which is good because then it doesn't compete with the frosting and become overwhelming. The frosting is also easy to put together and it is perfectly creamy and chocolatey. After making this, I've decided that this is now my go-to chocolate cake recipe. If by chance you're one of THOSE people, who doesn't like Harry Potter, do make the cake anyway, just skip the pink and green frosting.
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Harry's Birthday Cake (large)
adapted from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Chocolate Frosting
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
5 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Frosting

Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir in eggs one at a time. Add the milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and mix. Now add the boiling water and mix. Spray two round 9" diameter baking pans with nonstick spray. Pour your batter into the two pans, splitting it equally between them. Place pans in oven and bake 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then, carefully transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to finish cooling. When the cakes are totally cool and you're ready to decorate them, take a knife and slice them in half like a hamburger bun so you end up with four circular cake layers.

Chocolate Frosting: Mix the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together. In another bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Mix in 1/3 of the cocoa/sugar mixture. Add about 1/3 of the milk. Repeat this until all the cocoa powder, sugar, and milk are added. Mix in the vanilla extract. The frosting should be spreadable at this point. If not, add in more milk or powdered sugar as needed.

Vanilla Frosting: Cream the butter until fluffy. Mix in 1/2 of the powdered sugar. Add 1/2 of the milk. Repeat with other 1/2 of sugar and milk. Add in the vanilla extract. The frosting should be spreadable at this point. If not, add in more milk or powdered sugar as needed. Now scoop out a portion of the frosting to a separate bowl (enough for the frosting letters).

Add a few drops of red food coloring to the remainder of the frosting and mix to get pink frosting. In the other bowl, add green food coloring to get green frosting. Keep bowl covered until ready to use.

Assembly:
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1. Cover your work surface with a sheet of plastic wrap. Cut out a circle from a piece of cardboard and cover it with foil. Place it on your plastic wrap, followed by your first layer of cake.

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2. Dollop some frosting on the cake and then smooth it out.

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3. Place another cake later on the first, dollop frosting, and smooth.
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4. Repeat process with third layer of cake.

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5. Place final cake layer on top. Press down on top of cake to make sure firmly sandwiched. Wipe off the crumbs dotting your plastic wrap.
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6. Take your pink vanilla frosting and start your crumb coat by thinly coating the top of the cake.
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7. Continue the crumb coat on the sides of the cake, making sure to get it fully covered. Don't worry if it looks ugly at this point. You can carefully move the cake onto a plate if desired.

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8. Clean off your knife and apply a second layer of pink frosting.
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9. Put your green frosting it in a piping bag (or plastic bag) and cut a hole at the tip. Pipe on "Happee Birthdae Harry" and you're done!

P.S. If you were wondering, my cake was not 9" in diameter, it was 5 3/4". Here are the instructions for making a smaller cake:

Harry's Birthday Cake (small)
Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/8 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg + 1 yolk
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup boiling water

Chocolate Frosting
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, room temp
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2-2 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Frosting
3 tbsp butter, room temp
2-2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/6 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
red food coloring
green food coloring

Follow recipe above, except instead of using two 9" cake pans, use one 12 1/4 x 8 1/8 inch (31.1 x 20.6 cm) rectangular sheet pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on metal rack. Once cool, flip the cake onto a clean, flat surface covered with plastic wrap.

On a sheet of paper, print out a 5 3/4" diameter circle (easy to do with MS Word using the circle shape) or draw one using a compass. Cut out the circle stencil and use it and a knife to cut out two 5 3/4" circles from your rectangular cake. Cut both circles in half hamburger bun style and then decorate as indicated above.

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