Happy (belated) cakes

Per my New Year's Resolution, I've only been making cakes from scratch. Lately though, the chocolate-cake-with-buttercream-frosting has gotten a bit old. I branched out with two new cakes just in time for my birthday a few weeks ago.

I'm 512 years old. Thanks for asking!

The first cake was totally new to me:  Chocolate Hazelnut Cake.  I found on Tasty Kitchen, and it's from the blog Eat, Drink and Be Merry.  If you like those Ferrero Rocher candies, then you are going to LOVE this cake.

My only problem with the cake was the cream filling.  If I make it again, I will cut down on the amount of whipping cream and mascarpone cheese. As you can see, filling was all over the place and it was a bit much. 

I did cut back on the amount of Nutella the recipe called for.  I only used one medium-size jar for the whole recipe and it was fine--I didn't feel like I was missing out on any chocolate-hazelnut spread goodness.  As it is, this cake is EXTREMELY rich. Seriously, it should come with a warning.  I am a major dessert-chocolate-sugar-aholic, and this was almost too much for me.  Do yourself a favor, and serve small slices. You can always go back for more!

My second birthday cake was a yummy favorite that I hadn't made in ages. German chocolate cake is almost my favorite cake in the whole world, and this recipe from Hershey's is absolutely amazing.  It's so amazing, in fact, that I ate almost all of it before I got around to taking a picture...

...but that's how life is sometimes.  Happy 512th birthday to me!