My birthday cake: Devil Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Actually I wanted to make a torte for my birthday....but changed my mind last minute to make this supposedly more festive cake. The recipe is taken from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and I actually saw her making it on TV once. I was quite worry that it would be too sweet to our liking, but was pleased with the final product. Maybe because I used the 72% chocolate in the ganache, it somehow counteract the sweetness from the cake.

OCT said he wanted to make me a cake initially. But I decided to let him help with the brainless work, like sifting the flour; in case his endeavor failed, I would end up having no cake for my birthday. Not good for a woman suffering from PMS on her birthday. So, I took things on my hands, and make myself a birthday cake.

It was supposed to be a layer cake, but I figured that 2 layers will be too big for the two of us. Hence I decided to use only one cake instead of two to make a single layer chocolate cake. But destiny has it that I accidentally made too much ganache, which was enough to frost 2 cakes....so we ended up having 2 chocolate cakes. I let OCT frosted one and I frosted another one.


Frosting one-two-three: Pour ganache onto the middle of the cake with steady hands and slowly spread out to the sides.

Colourful candles to dress-up the classic looking cake.

A bittersweet cake to remind me of the nature of life.