Birthday Cake For A First Birthday Party!

Birthday cake for my one year old Teresa.
Guests- 30 including all the kids and babies.
Should I bake or should I buy?
Of course I will bake.
Next question -what kind of cake?
Vanilla with chocolate frosting?
Chocolate with chocolate ganache?
Or maybe whipped cream, or white chocolate cream?
Decisions, decisions..........





I started my research and decided to go with the devil`s food cake with chocolate ganache frosting, inspired by David Lebovitz`s recipe. For the cream I decided to go with white chocolate whipped frosting as well as strawberry whipped cream. This Bon Appetit recipe looked amazing but I was not willing to use the egg frosting to cover the cake, I wanted it to be chocolate. And the white chocolate cream looked amazing, the contrast of white and dark, I did not have to think about it twice. I still had extra whipping cream and strawberries. I decided to blend those and add them to the whipped cream with some sugar and I had an extra layer to the cake. And something refreshing between the layers of dark and white chocolate. Yum!

Baking a cake with few layers and cream in between and frosting on top is quite a challenge. I baked it three times....First time I used two round pans, but I was out of parchment paper and it was very difficult to take the cake out of the pans. One cake broke in half. I baked it again the same way and another one broke. You would think I would have learnt my lesson by now. The third time I decided to use a proper cake pan, with removable sides an bottom. And this one was perfect. I was able to cut it into three parts and layer it with the creams. I also added an extra layer left over from all those cakes I made. And the chocolate ganache on top looked beautiful. The cake was gone before I could take a snapshot but here is what was left over.

And it was yummy!

For the cake

9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1½ cups cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

½ cup strong coffee (or water)

½ cup whole or low-fat milk

For the ganache frosting

10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

½ cup water (or cream)

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

For the white chocolate cream

12 ounces high-quality white ( I used Lindt), finely chopped

3 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

For the strawberry cream

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup blended strawberries

1/4 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry jam

Preparation

Cake
Mix the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy and add the eggs one at a time. Add half of the dry ingredients, milk with the coffee, mix in and add the rest of the dry ingredients incorporating well.

Place the batter into one cake pan with a removable bottom, I used aluminum foil, so I can easily remove the cake without any accidents :)

Bake for about 40 min in 350F oven. Check with a knife, if it comes out clean it is ready. Let it cool.


White chocolate cream
Place 1 cup of cream in a small pot and bring to boil. Remove from the heat and put the white chocolate inside. Stir until it melts and put aside. You can make it a day ahead and refrigerate. Take out from the fridge about half an hour before using. Add two cups of chilled cream and beat with an electric mixer until it is fluffy. Can be made three hours ahead.

Ganache
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot with boiling water. Add the cream and the butter. Whisk until smooth. Place aside. Can be made 1 day ahead. before using let stand 30 min in room temperature.

Strawberry cream
Place two cups of cream with 1/4th cup of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons raspberry jam, and 1 cup blended strawberries. Beat until fluffy and creamy. Use right away.

Assembly

Take out the cake from the pan an cut into three layers.

Note: I baked three cakes, this recipe is for one. You will have three layers with two creams in between from one recipe. Double or triple depending on how many layers/cakes you need.

Start with the first cake, then the white chocolate, cover with another layer and spread the strawberry cream. Cover with another layer, add more white chocolate cream, cover with the fourth layer. Spread the dark chocolate ganache on top. I use a spatula, it is amazing for that.

Refrigerate until the ganache on top hardens and enjoy!