Last week, one of my closest friends turned 25. She didn’t plan any sort of celebration, so I knew that I had to whip something together, complete with birthday cake, naturally. Only problem is, I had no idea what to make. She always requests a red velvet cake from me, but she had just made it the week before for her Mom’s birthday. I poured through my cook books looking for something to bake that made use of ingredients that I had readily available. While looking through my Hershey’s Recipe Collection, I found the winner: European Mocha Fudge cake. My friend loves coffee just as much as I do, and you can’t go wrong with chocolate. 
I started off with high hopes, but lost all enthusiasm once the first layer was pulled out of the oven. I decided then an there that I wouldn’t blog about this recipe. In the book, there’s a picture of the cake, and it looked delicious. My cake looked nothing like the picture. Now, I’m not naive. I know that whatever I bake will not come out looking like the picture in a cookbook, but when a recipe tells me that I’m going to get a layer cake, I’m expecting fairly substantial layers. I pulled out two measly little layers that really should never had been split apart. I should have just poured it into one pan and baked it that way. At a loss for what to do, I continued assembling the cake anyway. Thankfully, the cake turned out to be a big hit. The cake was dense and fudgy, rendering large layers useless. I’m glad I persevered and served the cake anyway. People went back for seconds. 
European Mocha Fudge Cake
Adapted from Hershey’s Recipe Collection
Cake:
1 1/4 cups butter
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used regular cocoa powder)
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans (I only added 1/2 cup) 
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 9 inch springform cake pans (or one if you don’t want layers.) Line with parchment paper, wax the paper.
2. In a small pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add in cocoa until blended. Cool.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add in salt and vanilla. Add in sugar and beat well. Stir in cocoa mixture. Fold in flour and pecans. Pour into cake pans.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Coffee Flavored Whipped Cream:
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp instant coffee (I used 1 tsp instant espresso)
1. Combine all ingredients and beat until stiff.
Spread the whipped cream between the layers, and over the top of the cake and up the sides. I garnished it with chocolate ice cream sundae syrup, but the book suggests garnishing with chocolate curls.
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