Chocolate Kahlua Cake with White Russian Frosting

Like my last couple of posts, this recipe comes from about a week to two weeks ago. There was a lot of food going on for about four or five days and I'm still not quite sure how I got through all of it without gaining a billion pounds. At least I don't think I gained a billion pounds. If I did, it was totally worth it.

My friend Patrick had a birthday at the end of November, and the SEC Championship game happened to be the next day. So he decided to have a little birthday/game watching party with some friends and family. I knew it was going to be a crazy fun time, so I wanted to make a crazy fun cake.

Last year for my friend Jacob's birthday, I made him a Kahlua cake. My friends are awesome because they always tell me my cakes and things are good no matter what, but secretly I was really unsure about that cake. I always kind of felt bad about it. (Sorry, Jacob!) So I thought I would give it another shot.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through the new Christmas/Holiday edition of Southern Living, and found a recipe for White Russian frosting. One of Patrick's favorite movies, which he introduced me to over the summer, is The Big Lebowski. If you haven't seen it, the main character goes by "The Dude", and pretty much only drinks White Russians. Apparently this movie is so popular there are Big Lebowski convention things each year and guess what kind of drinks they have there? White Russians. So, I knew when I saw the frosting recipe, I had to make it. It was really the only option.

I adapted this recipe from my Black Magic Cake and just played around with it until the batter tasted right.

CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup Kahlua
3/4 cup milk

• Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Spray two 8 or 9 inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line with parchment paper.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Carefully whisk them together.
• In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, Kahlua, and milk. Mix until combined. 
• Add the dry ingredients one half at a time, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Then mix for another minute. 
• Divide the cake batter evenly between the two pans, and bake for 25 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

WHITE RUSSIAN FROSTING
For the White Russian Frosting, I used this recipe from Southern Living.
It was so, so good. I had some left over, so I tried very hard not to eat it by the spoonful. And then I stored it in a tupperware bowl in my refrigerator and still tried not to eat it by the spoonful.

What makes this cake better than the last Kahlua cake I made is that it's chocolaty-er. Apparently "chocolatier" isn't a real word, but it totally should be. If you want more of the Kahlua taste, you can use less cocoa powder. I experimented with this recipe a little bit, and my original recipe didn't have milk in it, but I think the milk/chocolate/Kahlua ratio is pretty close to perfect with this one. Plus the frosting and the chocolate curls. Mmm.

Look out for some Christmas posts next! I have so many I want to make. :)