happy birthday to meeee!

i'm thirty today.  technically, i am thirty today, but wednesday was my birthday.

(i tried to finish this post on wednesday...then on thursday...but i passed out both nights).

thirty means i have to seriously start taking calcium.

anti-wrinkle day cream.

anti-wrinkle night cream.

eat more fiber.

exercise more.  excluding the shake weight.  (at least not let anyone know when i buy one).

do i need reading glasses now or am i getting reading glasses confused with the over 40 crowd?

sigh.

since i don't like people making a big fuss about my birthday, i made my own cake.

you don't understand how amazing this cake is.

back when i had the dessert cafe, the one way to have great cakes without much testing, was to find recipes with great ratings.  and i'm not talking allrecipes.com or recipes.com.   i'm talking epicurious.com.  this is where the bon appetit and gourmet crowd hang out.  the above average home cook.

if i discovered this recipe sooner, it would have been without a doubt, my best seller.

double chocolate layer cake.  i make it into 3 layers using 9" pans.

the recipe has a little blue ribbon next to it.  that's gotta mean something?!

1431 reviews.  4 fork rating.

this is as epic as any chocolate cake can get.

first thing is first.  follow directions, thoroughly.

i've made this cake about 15 times.  even if i feel like i know it by heart, i still read it.  even if it is to remind me to pre-heat the oven to 300, not 350.

sift.

don't skimp on chocolate.  this is a special occasion cake.  it requires great chocolate.

think scharffren berger.  callabaut.  you can probably get away with using ghiradelli.

 

stick with semi-sweet.  i did 50/50 semi-sweet and bittersweet. i gotta tell ya, as much as i love bittersweet...it needs to be all semi-sweet.

be sure to use real buttermilk.  i skimped this time around, i used lemon and milk.  i can tell it made a difference, the cake was less moist and abundantly crumby.

the ganche for this cake is super shiny, just pour it over the cake and let it drip...with the help of a spatula.

tip:  cover your cake stand with plastic.  pull out from underneath once ganache has solidified.

i opted to mess around with it and create lines on the side.  it looses its shininess if you do what i did:)

i had friends come over last night to celebrate my birthday.  a little pasta, a little prosecco, a little cake is all i need...and my people, of course!

(psst.  $hell and amanda. i'll show you guys the pic of us 3.  lets just say it was not a flattering pic).

i wasn't sure if my friends liked it, but i can say my downstairs neighbors ate over half the cake.  no joke.  and they called me a little while ago to see if there was anymore left over.  and they asked where i bought it:)

my loving hubby gave me the best gift i could have ever asked for...and no, i'm not pregnant.  

i am sooooo excited about this class.  i am going to opt out of the sugar paste class and go with the fondant and royal icing amateur course.  i need to up my skills before i go onto sugar flowers.  it's 25 hours of training with some of the best cake designers around.  and it's in nyc.  

score.

i seriously love my hubby.  he will be getting a kick-butt birthday cake, for sure!!  

my girlfriends gave me some really sweet gifts, too.  $hellbug gave me earrings from behind the glass display case @target...so you know they're classy!!  seriously, the girl knows my taste better than i do.

@mandi gave me my very first pimp chalice!  

love these girls:)

this was a wordy post, hope you made it all the way down here.  

give the cake a try.  even if you make a chocolate cake from a box, try making the ganache for the icing.

have a super day and an even better easter weekend. 

jill