For the birthday boy (chocolate and raspberry cake)

Last weekend it was The Photographer’s birthday. One of his favourite things is to lie in bed on his birthday morning and eat birthday cake.

So, even though the amazing cake artist, Anita, from Kok ‘n Geniet (www.kokengeniet.co.za) was making The Photographer a cake for a little gathering in the evening, I decided that I should bake something small to tide him over.

Unfortunately it was a surprise (and I have some difficulty with all the settings on the camera) so there are no process photos. But the end product was so pretty, I had to share.

Probably serves four but tastes better for only two

Ingredients

Cake

(Easy-mix Chocolate Cake from Bill Granger’s Simply Bill – I quartered the recipe)

70g cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

15g cocoa powder

55g caster sugar

60g very soft butter

1 egg

45mL milk

A pinch of salt

Extras

100g milk or dark chocolate

100ml cream

About 300ml ready made chocolate mousse (or you can make your own if you are not laai-zy like me)

About 4-5 tablespoons raspberry jam

3 tablespoons frozen raspberries (optional)

1 punnet fresh raspberries

(you also need a wooden skewer, baking paper, cartridge paper)

 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Grease 3 ramekins with a little soft butter. Cut out small circles of baking paper (the same circumference as the inside if the ramekin) and place into the base.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar together into a bowl. Add butter, egg and milk and mix with an electric mixer for 1-2 min on low until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins. They should be about 1/3 – ½ full. You may need to grease and line an extra one if they are too small.

Bake for 15-20min until a wooden skewer poked in the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

Leave in the ramekins for 5 min and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

If the cakes are quite pointy (as mine were) then use a knife to cut off some of the top so the cakes can balance on each other. Then cut the cakes horizontally so each cake yields two round disks

Place the frozen raspberries in a pan and heat on medium heat until melted (you can do this in the microwave too). Add raspberry jam a teaspoon at a time until the berry mixture just looses its tartness.

Place the first disk of cake onto a plate (preferably the one you plan to serve it on). Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of raspberry mixture onto the cake. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate mousse onto the cake and spread gently over the surface. Add the next disk of cake and repeat the raspberry and chocolate mousse mixture until you have placed the last disk on the cake. Cut (or break) the wooden skewer to the height of the cake and insert it vertically into the centre of the cake.

To make the collar: take a piece of cartridge paper. Cut it to the following size: the width should be long enough that you should be able to wrap it around the cake with about 1cm overlap. The height should be about 4cm above the top of the cake. Cut a piece of baking paper the same size and staple them together at the top edges.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave 1 minute at a time on medium power until the chocolate is melted.

Spread the chocolate onto the baking paper side of the paper collar in a rectangular shape leaving a 1cm border around the edges. Place in the freezer until the chocolate is set slightly. Remove from the freezer.

Wrap the chocolate collar around the cake (chocolate side should be against the cake). At the seam, pull away a centimetre of the baking paper at the start of the collar and lay the other edge on top. Staple the top(above the chocolate line). Cover if possible and put in the fridge for an hour (or overnight if you want to serve the cake for breakfast ….)

When you are ready to serve, place the cream into a bowl. Whip with an electric beater until stiff peaks form. Add raspberry jam a teaspoon at a time until the cream has a slight raspberry flavour but isn’t overly sweet.

Remove the cake from the fridge. Carefully peel off the baking paper from the chocolate. Try not to touch the chocolate as your hands will leave marks.

Spoon the cream onto the top of the cake until it is ½ cm away from the top of the collar. Arrange the raspberries on the top and around the sides.

Bring to your husband in bed on his birthday…..he will never leave you (or so I hope).