Giraffe Print Birthday Cake

First off, I know. This is a cake, not cupcakes. However, my best friend, Samantha, turned 24 on August 4th. She LOVES giraffes, and wanted a cake for her birthday. I had never made a print cake before, so I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out. I used chocolate fondant to make the big pieces, and stuck them onto the already frosted cake. It worked really well, and I'll probably use that technique again.

I rolled the fondant out about 1/4 inch thick, and then just freehand cut out a bunch of pieces. I purposely made more than I would need so i could pick and choose the ones that looked the best.

The cake was chocolate inside with coconut buttercream. I wasn't 100% happy with the flavor of the frosting, so it's still a work in progress. The cake was tasty, but it didn't have as strong of a chocolate flavor as I would have liked.

Chocolate Cake (edited from HERE)

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot coffee

1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and coffee. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated, scraping dow
4. n the sides of the bowl as needed. Don't over-mix the batter.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, then turn on to wire racks to cool completely.

I'm not going to include the frosting recipe since I wasn't happy with it. Hopefully the next time I make it, it will be better!

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