Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake with Mocha Latte Frosting

I made this cake for my mom's birthday. She loves coffee, so it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a try. There were lots of steps and bowls required for the recipe, but I think it just seemed more complicated than it was because I was making it in my mom's kitchen instead of my own. Also, once I'd started mixing everything, I realized that we didn't have any canola oil, so I substituted olive oil. I was a bit worried that it might add a funny flavor to the cake, but it turned out fine.

The frosting was too sweet for my taste, but everyone else loved it. I do have to say it smoothed onto the cake like magic and looked pretty good with out much effort. The picture of this cake in the cookbook has chocolate curlicues all over it, but that looked a bit ambitious to me. The cake did, however, seem to need something, so I made some chocolate shavings to sprinkle on the top.

This cake tasted great the day I made it, and even better the second day for breakfast. My parents report that, "It tastes better every day, which seems crazy since it was so good the first day we had it!"