Hello foodie friends!

My son just celebrated his birthday few days ago. He really enjoyed the cake tubs I made recently and asked for a "birthday cake" version of it, assembled, designed, and complete with birthday candles on top. I was hesitant though. Assembling a layered birthday cake felt much more challenging than making the stable cake tubs, which are contained and sturdy. I'm just a hobby baker so I wasn't sure if I could do it. Would I be able to fulfill his birthday wish, or would I end up with a baking disaster? Let's find out!

This blog post will be lengthy and detailed, covering four major parts: making the moist chocolate cake, preparing the caramel filling, creating the chocolate ganache, and finally, assembling and decorating the cake.

Alright, let's dive in!

Moist Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 cups granulated sugar (washed or white)
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot water with 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Procedure

• Buttermilk Substitute: In a bowl, combine the evaporated milk and vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes. This milk and vinegar mixture serves as a buttermilk substitute.
• Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 150 °C before mixing the ingredients.
• Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Blend Sugar: Add the sugar and use a whisk to blend all the dry ingredients together.
• Add Wet Ingredients: Pour in the wet ingredients, starting with the milk and vinegar mixture. Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix until blended.
• Add Hot Water and Coffee: Mix in the 1 cup of hot water with instant coffee powder until well combined.
• Prepare Cake Pan: Transfer the mixture to a cake pan lined with parchment paper. Tap the pan to remove any air bubbles.
• Bake: Bake in the preheated oven at 150 °C for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1-2 teaspoons salt
• 30-40 grams refrigerated butter
• 1 egg yolk

Procedure

• Dissolve Cornstarch: Dissolve the cornstarch in the condensed milk, then set aside.
• Melt Sugar: Over low to medium heat, melt the granulated sugar until fully dissolved and it turns an amber color.
• Add Condensed Milk: Reduce the heat to low and carefully add the condensed milk to the melted sugar.
• Combine Mixtures: Mix the cornstarch mixture well before gradually adding it to the melted sugar and milk mixture. Continue mixing until it thickens and is fully incorporated.
• Add Salt and Egg: Add the salt and egg continue simmering.
• Add Butter: Lastly, add the butter and mix until it is melted.
• Cool: Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with cling wrap.

Chocolate Fudge Icing

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter

Procedure

• Combine Ingredients: In a medium pan, mix all ingredients except the butter. Mix well before turning on the heat.
• Simmer and Thicken: Let the mixture simmer over low heat, continuously mixing until it thickens.
• Add Butter and Achieve Consistency: Add the butter and continue mixing until the desired consistency is reached.
• Cool: Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with cling wrap.

Assembling and Decorating

After preparing the cake, caramel sauce, and chocolate icing, and allowing them to cool, it's time for the fun part: assembling! I don't have a turntable or cake board, so I used a sturdy plate as a board.

I baked two 8-inch cakes and then divided each cake into two layers, resulting in four layers of moist chocolate cake for the caramel sauce filling.

My vision for this cake was a smooth chocolate icing finish, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. Manually turning the cake and, I think, overcooking the icing made it stable, but it wasn't the soft, smooth finish I was aiming for.

I was disappointed that it didn't turn out as I imagined, but I couldn't stop there and disappoint my son. I thought of a way to salvage the cake's look, and a spoon came to the rescue. I slowly rotated the cake while firmly holding the spoon outward to create a swirling pattern. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I figured it would have to do—or would it

After cleaning the edges and accepting that this was the best I could achieve, I placed a few tablespoons of caramel sauce in a piping bag and submerged it in hot water to thin it out. I cut a small hole in the piping bag tip and used a cake ring to practice writing birthday greetings. Fearing I would ruin my imperfect cake, I decided not to continue writing 'Happy Birthday' directly on top because my handwriting sucks! lol

Determined to improve my handwriting, I tried again on a separate plate. After several attempts, I finally produced something passably readable, although it was still far from perfect, lol. But I was confident my son would understand the message. Haha

I showed it to him and was rewarded with a smile. 'Your mom put in her best effort, son, even if it's not perfect.' His hug and thank you meant a lot.

Now it was time to blow out the candles. I placed the candle I bought from the store on top of the cake and lit it. We sang him a happy birthday song, he made a wish, and blew out the candle.

To add to our little celebration, I ordered pizza and made some pasta. My son said the cake was delicious and not too sweet. I'm not convinced, though, after seeing the amount of sugar I put into it.😅

I was so surprised I actually finished the cake! My arms were killing me later that night. I had no idea one cake could be so exhausting. A salute to all bakers! I suddenly want to give you all a plaque for your hard work. I believe this will be the last time I bake such a time-consuming cake; I'll settle for easier tub cakes. But hey, it was definitely an experience!

Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me until the end!

See you in my next post!

❤️❤️❤️

All photos were taken by me, unless stated otherwise.

The lead image was edited using Canva.