Birthday Cakes {pinned there, done that}

Whew...we made it.  Three birthdays + Mother's Day all within 7 days...and it's a party year too.  We had A LOT of cake this week.  And since there is so much cake in one week, we try to choose cakes that are a little fancier or different flavors, instead of just a traditional birthday cake.  Some years we don't have cake at all, we choose a pie or other dessert.

Pinterest is a great resource to find any birthday cake your heart may desire.  I have a whole board just dedicated to birthday cakes we may want to try one day.

Here is what we had this year...

 I chose Chocolate Angel Food cake with Nutella Ganache.  It turned out great.  It was light and fluffy and not to rich.  My only complaint was that it could have had a bit more Nutella flavor in the ganache, when I make it again I'll adjust the chocolate-Nutella proportions.  Also, add some strawberries on the side, I thought of this after we had eaten it--it would have been sooo good :)

My Son had a Buckeye Cake.  He loves, LOVES anything chocolate + peanut butter.  While this was really good, it was also really, really rich.  You could easily feed 16 with this tiny cake.  To me, the base is more of a brownie than a "rich chocolate cake".  The filling is to die for, and chocolate-peanut butter ganache was rich and silky-smooth.

My Daughter chose a basic chocolate cake, which was then shaped into a mustache for her party {more on that later}.  It was everything chocolate cake should be...moist, dense, rich and so good.  It held up well when decorating, which was nice...nothing is worse than a crumbling cake. I didn't try the chocolate frosting they have with it though, I stuck with a tried-and-true recipe from my old Better Homes & Garden cookbook.

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