Mom's Birthday Cake-That's a Wrap!

Well, people, I've kept you in suspense for a whole week, haven't I? I knew this post would contain a lot of progress photos, and I wanted to get them just right, plus, have a quiet sit-down where I could write this all out and not be distracted. Well, the time has come. The hubby is asleep. The dog is outside in the morning sun. And I am here, quietly pounding on the keyboard (and hungry, might I add, since I haven't had breakfast yet).

So, without further adieu, here are the step-by-step photos from my mama's birthday cake. After the whole doubling-the-recipe-which-was-already-doubled fiasco, I got my kitchen under control enough to cut my cakes into semi-stackable slabs, chop up the chocolate for my ganache, throw some boiling hot heavy cream onto the chocolate to melt it, then put the first layer of ganache on the bottom cake layer. I carefully put the top layer on and snapped this photo:

Let me pause here to say that my husband and I were watching "Saw IV" while I was assembling these. Not a very positive cake-making atmosphere, but I was running out of time as my mother's birthday party was in less than 20 hours.

After making sure the top layer had adhered nicely, and doing a bit of damage control with toothpicks, I poured some more ganache on top of the entire cake. Initially, I was going to try and keep the ganache from touching the cake circle, but that was impossible, so I went with a more drippy look. It turned out nicely, sort of following the scalloped edges of the cake circle, which I found to be kind of ironic.

Here is one of the cakes ready to go in its very own cake box. I came prepared!! There were two cakes total, but I figured I'd just photograph one so you could get as much detail as possible. I love how shiny the ganache looked, and it didn't lose any of its lustre prior to the party, so it was equally impressive coming out of the box as going in. I used real flowers, rather than artificial or pastillage flowers, which I think gave them more of a Spring-like feeling. I sent my sister a sneak peak via camera phone, and she replied with "Very pretty!". When I showed them to my brother, he said they looked pro! I was very flattered, to say the least.

At the party, everyone was so looking forward to digging into the cakes. I probably should have warned them that they would need a glass of milk, since the birthday girl wanted a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake for her birthday. While some complained of it being "too chocolatey", it still went over well, and my mom informed me that people at her work were still raving about it during this last week.

And here's my slice of the cake. Nice and soft, with a rich ganache filling. It was the perfect ending to the wonderful meal I had at the Black Forest Steakhouse in Everson, WA. While spendy, the food is worth every last penny. So delicious. I had to keep myself from gobbling down my meal, so I'd have room for dessert! The food there is very top-notch, I highly recommend it if you're in the area.

And, my mom was not the only birthday girl we celebrated on Saturday! My niece was also having her 3rd birthday earlier in the day.

We went to Jungle Playland in Mt. Vernon, and the kids had a blast. Here she is, ready to blow out her big-girl candles. She's growing up so fast! (And no, I did not make that cake! LOL!)

Well, folks, you came, you saw, you got hungry with me. It's a new weekend, with new adventures. Only three weeks till Spring! Let's go have some fun!

~Mehgan~