Chocolate Almond Cake

Back in September, my amazing mother had a birthday. I can thank my mom for many things, including my sweet tooth, and I wanted to bake something in honor of her. I claim no expertise when it comes to baking cakes - I don't have the patience for it, really, and cakes aren't quite as forgiving as cupcakes - but I was eager to make a "proper" birthday cake. 


My mom enjoys almost everything chocolate, but particular enjoys chocolate almond ice cream. Not being able to transport an ice cream cake for her birthday, I attempted to make a chocolate almond cake. Using the double chocolate cake recipe that I posted around the 4th of July (Double Chocolate Cupcakes & Homemade Vanilla Buttercream), and adding a simple twist on the buttercream frosting (instead of vanilla, I added almond extract), I created this cake:

 

The icing itself was white, so I tinted it using coloring gel. I always feel like brown gives the illusion of more chocolate (the only problem with coloring gels is that they change color in about 24 hours, so the frosting eventually looked more peanut-buttery than chocolaty.) I then topped it with almond slivers, chocolate shavings, and chocolate-covered rum balls that my husband has nicknamed "cannonballs". (Okay, to be honest, I was trying to use up some of the extra toppings I had laying around, and fortunately my mother is VERY forgiving about the appearance of cake!) But despite its odd decorating theme, it was delicious and the good balance of chocolate & almond that I was going for. :-)