Blog party: It's a birthday!

Not only do we get to celebrate during this blog party, but today is my beloved JP's birthday. Happy birthday! (For the record, JP hates the name "JP," but it's kinda too late to change his name now, huh? Sometimes he calls himself "the husbland," so that's what I'll label him when posting about him from now on.) He's a great guy, a loving husband and my best friend, and I'm lucky to be married to him.

JP loves chocolate cake. It's something we have in common. So today, I baked him a kick-butt cake using the recipe on the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa container. Oh, man. This cake is almost black. It's so good! (I had leftover batter and sneaked in a cupcake, so it passes the taste test.)

And here's my special cake tip: Instead of frosting or icing, make a cake special by melting chocolate chips or baking chocolate, and frost that cake with that instead. It hardens up as it cools, of course, creating a nice finish that always impresses people. It's like getting candy and cake in one slice!