A 21st Birthday Cake

Nah... It is not my birthday cake. I wished I am still 21 years old!

By this time as I blog, I would have completed a REAL Birthday Cake for a fabulous girl who is throwing her 21st birthday party today! Whee~

When I was first asked to do a birthday cake for a party, I felt stressed and honoured at the same time. But, I think I was more stressed. LOL. I am still baking as a hobby. Baking for a big event was a big challenge. What’s more, it is her 21st birthday. I must say, her simple request really boosted my confidence.

Well, luckily, the birthday girl already knew what cake she wanted. She wanted the Devil's food cake with chocolate frosting I did for Dear on his birthday. This made my job a lot simpler. All I needed to do was to practice more and think of suitable cake decorations.

Devil's food cake frosted with Ganache by itself is already presentable. It has the "whatever goes" kind of feel... the frosting need not be perfectly smoothed out, as long as it is not too messy.

Yes, the devil's food cake is the same devil's food cake as my previous blog entry. This time, I made two recipes - two stacked layers with chocolate frosting between the layers.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

• 10oz ------------- bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Hershey's. a cheaper alternative is Van Houten but it is sweeter) 
• 1/2 cup ---------- water or cream (I use water as cream would make the Ganache too rich) 
• 170 grams ------- butter, softened

Method

1. Melt chocolate and water in a heat proof dish over simmering water. Stir occasionally until all chocolate is melted. 
2. Stir in chopped butter until the chocolate-butter mixture is smooth. 
3. Leave it to cool until spreadable. This could take 1-2 hours, according to recipe. (But given Singapore's warm climate, I had to chill it for half an hour even after cooling at room temperature) 

 Given my worse-than-amateur cake decorating skills and using "whatever goes" Ganache frosting as leverage, I decided not to take risk for today and kept the design simple. I needed to deliver my promise to the birthday girl.