So last week I posted a letter to my baby boy who is now 2! I'm still in denial about it; looking back I thought his first year went fast but this past year has just flown by!
We didn't have a party as such this year as with being 6 months pregnant the last thing I wanted was a house full of people and stressing about catering and cleaning etc. Instead we had a little playdate with his chums on the Friday and on the Sunday before his birthday (which was on a Wednesday) we invited family over for a slice of birthday cake.
I was working away in Birmingham the day before and I knew I wouldn't have time to create a sugarpaste showstopper so instead opted for a simple chocolate drip cake. Unfortunately we had two mini disasters - one; it snowed that week and the toppers Tom had ordered were sent to his work but school was closed for 3 days so we couldnt get to them and two; I made the ganache too thick so it wasn't as "drippy" as I would have liked. It didn't matter though, the birthday boy loved it and didnt take long to wolf it down.
As always I used my go to chocolate cake recipe for speed and used ganache rather than buttercream to decorate. It really is the easiest of recipes and is always a hit when we have visitors.
A Second Birthday Cake
2.5 cups SR Flour
2 cups soft dark brown sugar (although any sugar will be fine)
1 cup cocoa
1 cup veg/sunflower oil
1.5 cups of milk
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Preheat your oven to 160C (fan)
Grease and line two 20cm cake tins
Pop all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth
Divide between the two tins and bake for 40mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Tip onto a wire rack to cool
To Decorate
300g milk chocolate
300ml double cream
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
Selection of chocolate chips and shavings
Melt the milk chocolate and double cream together in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted, smooth and glossy
Repeat in a separate bowl for the dark chocolate and double cream
Pop in the fridge to cool and firm up
Level both cakes and once the milk chocolate ganache is cool sandwich the cakes together and pop back in the fridge for 15 minutes
Take the cake out and cover it in the remaining ganache
Once covered place back in the fridge to firm up
Take the dark chocolate ganache out and if it's too hard give it a 30 second zap in the microwave or until its at a pourable consistency
Pour over the cake and decorate with the chocolate shavings and sprinkles
Enjoy!
2 cups soft dark brown sugar (although any sugar will be fine)
1 cup cocoa
1 cup veg/sunflower oil
1.5 cups of milk
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Preheat your oven to 160C (fan)
Grease and line two 20cm cake tins
Pop all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth
Divide between the two tins and bake for 40mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Tip onto a wire rack to cool
To Decorate
300g milk chocolate
300ml double cream
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
Selection of chocolate chips and shavings
Melt the milk chocolate and double cream together in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted, smooth and glossy
Repeat in a separate bowl for the dark chocolate and double cream
Pop in the fridge to cool and firm up
Level both cakes and once the milk chocolate ganache is cool sandwich the cakes together and pop back in the fridge for 15 minutes
Take the cake out and cover it in the remaining ganache
Once covered place back in the fridge to firm up
Take the dark chocolate ganache out and if it's too hard give it a 30 second zap in the microwave or until its at a pourable consistency
Pour over the cake and decorate with the chocolate shavings and sprinkles
Enjoy!
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