The Birthday Cake

I know its been a lot of baking lately........ But that’s what I’ve been in the mood for.......  But trust me savouries will be back soon....... So I call this the perfect birthday cake for someone you love. . So this was for my sister in law.......... I thought it made a beautiful cake. And it was the easiest to decorate.

Started with baking a chocolate cake .

You will need:

 4 eggs

½ cup cocoa

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

¾ cup oil

1 cup maida

1 ¾  tsp baking powder

¼ tsp soda bicarb

1 tsp vanilla essence.

So start with beating the eggs and sugar till the mixture is frothy. I used an electric beater. If you plan to do a lot of baking, buy one. It saves a lot of time and effort, and the results are good.

Sift the maida, cocoa, baking powder and soda bicarb. Keep aside.

Add the oil gradually to the egg mixture and continue beating slowly. Add essence. Mix. Fold in the maida . Put in a greased tray and bake at 180 C for about 35 mins.

When the cake is done, let it cool before taking it out of the tray.                

For the icing and decoration:

300 gms fresh cream

3 tbsp sifted sugar

Red roses

Sugar beads

Rum/ tang.

When the cake has cooled, you can even out the top using a serrated knife, a knife with teeth. I used a mixture of rum and water to soak the cake, but you can also use tang. Use a chilled vessel and beat the chilled cream with the sugar till it forms soft peaks. Cut a round in the centre of the cake, this is where the roses will go. Coat the cake with some fresh cream and put in the fridge for about half an hour. Then decorate the cake with the rest of the cream. I kept it simple, by just coating out the cream evenly and a circle of piping. You can use a flat knife and spatula to spread out the cream. Decorate with sugar beads and put a bunch of roses in the centre.