A birthday cake for my boy

Got a good excuse to bake a cake, for my boy turning 5.


He did the deco himself cos I cannot manage to have it done
up before he is back from school.

Initially I thought the cake I have in mind is a non bake
chocolate mousse (ya wanted to bake this cake in mind for
some time liao) but after looking at the recipe, realise it isn't
 and was having difficulty finding one last night, so stick with
this recipe.

The recipe looks simple enough, melt ingredients, mix dry into
wet, no need mixer, I am happy. However, it took me the
whole afternoon from 1 plus to 6 to have it completed.
I can only say it might be faster if I have a bigger oven to
bake the two layers together and probably have more mixing
bowls so that I do not need to do wash up in the middle of the 
session.

Every step smooth going, no hiccups till the melting of white
chocolate (first time using) and blending it into the melted
butter for the white layer. Took quite sometime for the white
chocolate to be dissolved (ya the chocolate harden) into the
butter mixture.

The cake batter is not watery. I baked it one layer at a
time instead of 1 and 1/4 hour for two layers together as
stated in recipe, so I am lost at how long should my cake be
baked. Anyway the skewer came out clean after ard 35
minutes for both the layers.

This recipe (see below) uses little self raising flour and 1 egg
(per layer) so the cake did not rise too much, and maybe I
bake a little too long? cos the chocolate cake cracked. It even
break into several pieces when i transfer the layer to another 
base. Anyway I piece the pieces back like jigsaw puzzle and
luckily there is a frosting to be done so all can be covered up.

The most tricky part is the frosting. I whipped up the cream
to stiff stage then blend in the melted white chocolate. The
frosting changed into watery state, so I had a hard time
"applying" the frosting. The frosting did not harden even
after 2 hours in fridge. What has gone wrong? How should I do
this part? Maybe I should add the melted chocolate into the
cream then whipped it up? Any advices?

Anyway, the frosting should also apply in between layers but
I am worried that it is not enough to cover the whole cake
(must hide flaws mah) so you can only notice the little white
trickles of cream down the chocolate layer.


This cake is too sweet to my liking, and I did not even measure
my cup of sugar to the brim! Maybe it is also "sweeten" by the
frosting. My dh says the frosting taste like condensed milk. I 
suppose you can call this a very rich cake cos chocolates are
used in the layers.

有了个很好的理由让我尝试新食谱。今天做了个生日蛋糕给
儿子。食谱看似不难，但我还是第一次用白巧克力，所以还是
花了我大半天。这蛋糕有点太甜了，而且两层都有用巧克力，
所以不能多吃，会腻。我看，还是物以稀为贵。

Celebration Cake
Preparation time : 45 minutes
Cooking time : 1 1/4 hours
Makes one double 20cm round cake

Dark layer
3/4 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons self raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
125g butter, cubed
125g dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup hot water
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder (I forgot abt this)
2 tablespoons brandy (I omited this)
1 egg, lightly beaten

White layer
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
125g butter, cubed
125g white chocolate, chopped
3/4  cup caster sugar
1/2 cup hot water
2 tablespoons brandy (I omited this)
1 egg, lightly beaten

White chocolate cream
125g white chocolate, chopped
1 cup cream (I used 200 ml pack for convenience)
chocolate curls, for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 160Dc. Brush two deep 20 cm round cake
tins with melted butter or oil, line base and sides with paper;
grease paper.

2. To make dark layer :
Sift flours and cocoa into large mixing bowl. Make a well in the
centre. Place butter, chocolate, sugar, hot water and coffee in
basin or top of double saucepan. Stir over barely smmering
water until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth; remove
from heat. Cool and stir in brandy.

3. Add chocolate mixture and egg to dry ingerdients. Stir wth
a wooden spoon until just combined; do not overbeat. Pour
the mixture into one of the prepared tins.

4. To make white layer : Sift flours into large mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre. Place chocolate in basin or top of
double saucepan. Stir over barely simmering water until
melted; remove from heat. Combine butter, sugar and water
in a small pan. Stir over a low heat until butter has melted
and sugar dissolved. Gradually blend into chocolate. Cool.
Stir in brandy. Continue as for step 3.

5. Bake both cakes for 1 1/4 hour or until skewer comes out
clean when inserted in centre of cakes. Stand cakes in tins 10
minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

6. To make white chocolate cream : Melt chocolate as for step
4. Cool. Add cream, beating constantly with an electric mixer.

7. Sandwich cakes together with half of the white chocolate
cream. Cover top of cake with remainder; decorate with
chocolate curls.