30 Cakes In 30 Days | 1. Dark Chocolate Espresso Mud Cake {GF, DF}

It's my birthday and boy do we have a cake to celebrate in style. Happy Birthday to me!! This Dark Chocolate Espresso Mudcake screams decadence and makes the perfect cake to celebrate one's birthday with. I mean for a chocoholic like myself this cake is my new best friend, well until I've eaten it all and there are only crumbs left and I am looking for more. This is the first cake in the line of cakes that will be making their way to the blog starting in early June. 30 in fact and that number feels a little daunting as I write that number and I am only on the first one. Why oh why would I be so looney and crazy to set myself such a crazy challenge? Well, I can't really say exactly but I wanted to set myself a challenge of sorts to complete for the blog. I feel like I've been in a bit of a rut with blogging lately and I thought a challenge might help get me back into regularly blogging again and I can shower you in cake along the way. Plus at the end of this challenge, I am going to put together an ebook with all 30 cakes and send it to all my lovely email subscribers. If you have not subscribed to my email list yet then make sure you do so you can be one of the lucky ones receiving this gorgeous ebook at the end of the challenge month. 

Let's get back to talking cake. When my birthday rolls around my first thought always turn to what type of cake do I feel like for my birthday and most of the time it is always chocolate. Chocolate cake for me brings a feeling of celebration, decadence and what better treat to eat on they day you celebrate your birth and reach another milestone in life. I am pretty good about turning a year older this year. I am 34 and have no qualms about that fact. Ask me again when I am turning 39 and pushing 40. That will be another matter I think. This year and most years I have a small family gathering with immediate family and cake are always involved. This Dark Chocolate Espresso Mud cake will be the star of this birthday and I am so very pleased with how this beauty turned out. My specifications when making this cake was that it had to be gluten and dairy free as well as refined sugar free. While it still contains sweeteners I wanted to steer away from the refined type. 

Sandwiched between the layers of this chocolate and espresso beauty is delicious layers of chocolate mousse icing made up of a secret ingredient...... avocado!! Yes, you read that right. Hidden in the silkiness of chocolate mousse goodness is avocado. Trust me you and your guests won't even know that it is the base of such a to do for icing.  It is the most delicious mousse filling that fits perfectly with this espresso cake. I would recommend making this cake a day ahead so you can let the cake sit and the flavours meld together. It will stay moist and firm and the crumb on this cake is fine and the perfect mud cake consistently. Slight gooey but firm and oh so deliciously full of chocolate and coffee goodness. There is a hint of coffee in this cake and won't overpower the chocolate flavour. I would say it compliments it and elevates the chocolate flavor to another level. 

Make sure you pin or bookmark this cake for future birthdays or any type of celebration because it will certainly become a family favourite. I made this and all the 30 cakes I will be making are going to be allergy friendly from simply gluten and dairy free to ones that are egg and nut free to suit those suffering from those allergies. Everyone should be able to eat cake even if you suffer from a specific allergy. So pin this one, send it to your friend and spread the work that I am going to drop 30 cakes that will fill those tummies that need a little help with something allergy friendly. Keep your eyes peeled in early June for the series of 30 cakes coming to the blog. If you want to see a behind the scenes process of me making each of these cakes then make sure you follow me on Instagram and check out my insta-stories. You can laugh and cry with me as I ride the roller coaster of developing and cooking a lot of cake.