AC/DC Bakes: A Birthday Cake for Davey

Each year for Dave's birthday I make him a jello chocolate pudding pie. It is wonderful and special because it is only a birthday treat. This year I planned ahead a little and decided to make a cake for Dave this weekend and the pie next weekend because his birthday is in the middle of the week.

In the past year he has really fallen in love with mountain biking so I make a mountain bike cake. I was even able to find a mountain bike toy to put on top! Dave was incredibly surprised and loved his cake! It was also quite delicious.

The grass is coconut that has been died green and the trail is Oreo cookie and graham cracker. I made an incline with a graham cracker and frosting as glue. It was a fun project!

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 Cocoa ( I prefer Nestle)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I generally use skim)
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

The directions for this cake are for a 9 inch round. In the mountain bike cake I used a 13x9 inch pan but baked it for 30 minutes instead of 35. I have also done cupcakes with this same recipe and generally bake them about 19 minutes at 350 degrees.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla then beat with a mixer on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in boiling water, batter will be thin. Transfer batter to prepared cake pans.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the enter comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans and place on wire rack. Cool completely. Frost with perfectly chocolate frosting or peanut butter frosting.