It was my nephew's 4th Birthday on Friday and he requested a chocolate and strawberry birthday cake. Strawberries are hardly in season but you can't say no to a birthday boy, especially when it's a great flavour combination.
I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe and filled it with strawberry jam, strawberry slices and chocolate buttercream icing. I then used more buttercream to cover the sides and top of the cake, put dipped milk chocolate and white chocolate strawberries on top and placed strawberry slices in the centre and around the edge of the cake. I glazed the slices with strawberry jam to sweeten them as the strawberries were a bit on the sharp side.
I was really pleased with how the cake looked and tasted. I also enjoyed the sheer amount of chocolate involved in making it: chocolate cake batter, buttercream icing, molten milk and white chocolate for dipping strawberries. Lots for me to pig out on! I even melted the left over white chocolate to make an amazing white hot chocolate.
Most importantly, the birthday boy (and his little brother) absolutely loved the cake. The chocolate covered strawberries in particular were a great success. I think making birthday cakes for family has got to be one of the best things about baking.
That cake is a beauty and looks very well received!
ReplyDeleteLucky nephew! What a piece of art!
ReplyDeleteThat looks amazing!! I was just wondering what to do with my box of strawberries but this is definitely a cake for a special occasion so I'm just going to eat mine and drool at your cake! Happy birthday to your nephew!
ReplyDeleteThis cake looks amazing and the strawberries remind me of summer - plus the white hot chocolate sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteWow. That cake looks amazing. Your nephew looks very happy to see it as well! x
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious! I love that you left the tops on the strawbs, very professional :)
ReplyDeleteHome-baked is always full of great thoughts and goodness. You must be happy seeing that your little nephew loves his birthday cake. That...I would say it's priceless :D
ReplyDeleteLike you, I love baking and shopping and would love to follow your blog for more!
Oh that looks so good!
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Hi Jo, just wanted to let you know that I've passed on a blog award to you over at my blog. I've used a photo of this delicious cake, hope that's ok. Happy New Year! x
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing! I love the dipped strawberries especially. What great taste your nephew has already, I wouldn't have wanted strawberries anywhere near my birthday cake when I was 4!
ReplyDeleteI seriously just said wow out loud to this cake! So beautiful and I love the dipped strawberries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my caramel cupcakes. I recently made the vanilla ones from the hummingbird book and they were crispy on top too. The butter I added wasn't completely room temp so the batter was a bit lumpy. I felt the crispy tops seemed a bit oily so I thought it was due to the butter. For the caramel ones, I made sure the butter was really soft and that I got tiny breadcrumbs at the first stage. Maybe it was that?
Now that is one very impressive cake - beautifully decorated. Very lucky birthday boy.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the lovely comments!
ReplyDelete@Cakefairyblog Ah I had never considered that it might be the butter. I must admit that I am prone to forgetting to take my butter out to soften fully before I bake. I'll definitely try that next time, thanks!