Mocha Cake with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

When Blake was visiting I had a double-birthday occasion to make cake--after a little collaboration we decided on this combination. I split the full recipe into a dozen cupcakes and a 9 inch single-layer cake.

For the cake I used the same recipe I posted here, and the buttercream recipe is the same as well, except for the addition of a heaping tablespoon of espresso powder with the vanilla.


(I managed to convince some other grad students to help me finish these...)

What made this cake extra special? I got to make it with my truly amazing (not to mention gorgeous!) birthday present:


I am either horribly spoiled, or incredibly lucky, or both. I'm also very thankful, and really impressed with how fantastic the cake came out because of this!