The Cake.

I posted a picture of the cake that I made for my birthday last Thursday on Facebook and I had so many requests for the recipe that I figured I'd share it here.  Mom and Lisa gave me the day off from work so I got to stay home and cook and bake a birthday feast for a few of my friends - which was EXACTLY what I wanted to do!  I'm in heaven in the kitchen and I LOVE to feed people so it was an absolutely lovely day.  So, here's the cake:

The cake is a super yummy gluten-free, chocolate cake.  And I mean the kind of yummy that if I didn't tell you it was gluten-free you probably wouldn't know.  The recipe for the cake is from Silvana Nardone's cookbook, "Cooking for Isaiah".  My husband has health issues that have completely changed the way we eat and we're almost completely a wheat-free, soy-free, cow's milk-free household now and Silvana's cookbook has CHANGED OUR LIVES!  If you eat wheat and diary-free this is the cookbook you want for normal, wonderful tasting food that you can actually eat!  Okay, back to the cake - it's a two layer cake with a layer of chocolate frosting in the middle (also from Silvana's cookbook), but you could just as easily put the white frosting in between the layers.  And, here is the frosting recipe:

Whipped Cream, Mascarpone Frosting:

1 half-pint of whipping cream

1 8oz container of mascarpone

Powdered sugar

Vanilla extract

I poured the whipping cream and mascarpone into the bowl of my stand mixer and whipped at medium speed until it started to thicken.  Then, with the mixer at a lower speed, I added the vanilla (about 1 tsp) and powdered sugar (about 1-1/2 cups) until I was happy with the taste.  I continued to whip until it was a frosting consistence (it didn't take very long).

Frost the cake, add strawberries and enjoy!!