Birthday Cake: Heavenly Chocolate Cake

This was the portion of the birthday food weekend that did not live up to my standards.  I found the recipe over at Smitten Kitchen and I thought it looked cute, whimsical, and delicious.  And I don't bake - I just don't follow direction well, and you MUST for baking recipes.  It's just not my thing.  But I tried.  Yet, to my credit, I think the directions in the recipe threw me off a bit.  Smitten Kitchen suggest rolling the cake up in a towel as it cools - this supposedly makes it easier to roll back up later.  That did NOT work for me.  Instead, the towel sucked all of the moisture out of the cake, and it STILL broke apart.  Thankfully I was able to save it and turn it into a layer cake - but the cake portion was a little too dense for me.  I also had to double the whipped topping/filling - as well as double the sugar content in it (3 tablespoons of powdered sugar is NOT enough for the frosting of an entire cake).  And I did finish the cake by shaving some semi-sweet chocolate over the top, which was a nice touch.

So since I don't think I'll ever make this again, and since I'm sure there are tons of other cakes out there that would work better (like those I can buy from a bakery!!) - I'm not posting the recipe.  Instead, I'll just give you a link to the recipe at Smitten Kitchen:  Heavenly Chocolate Cake Roll.

Maybe it will turn out better for you?!  But here's mine, none-the-less.  keith still loved it - but he likes anything sweet.  I mean, he likes me, right?  :)