Today is Lee's birthday. As I cannot be there for the day, I celebrated the occasion with her a few days early by making a chocolate cake for her birthday. This sour cream chocolate cake is the Australian Women's Weekly Crowd Pleaser Chocolate, and the recipe is online here.
Be warned - this makes one massive cake, so when it talks about a crowd, it means it. My tip is to work with the frosting quickly, as it sets up firmly in no time and requires quite a bit of coaxing thereafter to work with.
Here is a shot of the un-frosted cake:
and a peek inside at the crumb:
Instead of decorating Lee's cake with fresh flowers as suggested by the recipe, I made fondant decorations using silicone moulds, pink lustre dust and pearl glaze:
The tiny little pieces were a challenge to unmould without squashing them:
I think these decorations are so cute and I will definitely make them again.
The verdict on the cake - everyone else seemed to enjoy it, but I found the cake rather dryer than I would like. That said, with the sour cream frosting, it was chocolatey and decadent.
Happy birthday Lee!
