A gentleman’s cake

So I’m working at a new office with new colleagues and new challenges.  And they came to realise pretty quickly just how handy it is to have me around, since every Friday is now known as Cake Friday.

So far I’ve baked for an office baby shower and birthday, and it was subsequent to Mr G’s birthday that he asked me to make something special for his son-in-law.

Now, what’s a girl to do when she has free reign over the cake she’s about to make and the only instruction is to use EXACTLY the same recipe as the one used for Mr G’s own birthday cake?  You make a Gentleman’s Birthday Cake, of course:  three-layer buttermilk chocolate cake with dark chocolate buttercream frosting and the entire top surface of the cake covered with malted puffs.  Pure decadence.

Amarula Cake

Dang, this was a fun cake to make.  First, I had quite a large order to fill for a birthday party.  It was on the catering side though, so no cake was planned.  Until hubby called and gave me a top secret assignment to make Gill a really cool birthday cake – something different.

So I took my old tried and trusted chocolate cake recipe and added an Amarula zing to it.  Topped it off with Ferrero Rocher balls, an Amarula butterscotch sauce (which was a reall challenge to make) and added some rose petals.

Of course, I had major performance anxiety about this cake as I have never tried it before and didn’t even know what it would taste like.  But everybody came back saying it was fabulous, so I’ll be on the menu for this coming Saturday when it’s my kid’s birthday.