February Birthdays = CAKE

February is a full month of birthdays for our family.  (Darren, Kathryn and Landry, me).  Throw in Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, and several other family members and friends’ birthdays, and we have a full month of celebrations, which, of course, includes cake!

We celebrated Darren’s birthday last weekend, and I made two of his favorite cakes.  When my mom was alive, she always made Darren an Italian cream cake for birthday or any special occasion.  I don’t make her exact recipe, but I did find a great one from the Pioneer Woman.  I used the instructions from one of her cookbooks, but you can find the recipe here.  Since I don’t like coconut, I can’t attest to how it tastes; but everyone, especially Darren, seems to like it.

The other cake that I made, and usually make every year, for Darren was a Wacky Cake.  I believe it’s called that because the cake does not have any milk or eggs in the batter.  So, if you have food allergies, this would be a great option.  It’s a very moist, chocolate cake.  I put a buttery, cream cheese icing on it; but other icings would also be good (especially if you need to avoid dairy).  My mom usually did just a powdered sugar type chocolate glaze icing.

The cake is really easy to make.  Just put in all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl, and mix together.  I believe the original recipe said that you can mix it in the same pan you bake it in.  (I prefer to mix it in a mixing bowl and bake it in a 9×13 pan or baking dish.)

Mix together.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).

• 3 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. cocoa
• 2 tbsp. vinegar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 10 tbsp. oil
• 2 c. water

For cream cheese icing, blend ingredients until smooth and creamy.

• 1 pkg. cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanillla

Spread the icing on the cooled cake.  Enjoy!