It was my birthday a week ago today!  I know its a little unusual for the birthday girl to make her own birthday cake but I couldn’t resist! I’ve had this image in my head for some time now and I was waiting for an occasion to be able to recreate it.  So when C said he wanted to make a birthday cake for me, I wouldn’t allow it!

If I could be any cake in the world, this would be it! I don’t know why, it just would be! I guess it’s because its pink and topped with pretty little pink meringue drops and fresh raspberries.  It’s no secret I love any dessert that is pink with raspberries!

The cake is topped with a dark chocolate ganache which I never anticipated to have given me so much grief! I’ve made ganache numerous times, so I couldn’t figure out why it took me 3 attempts to get it right, and even then, I failed to get it right! I later discovered it was a combination of factors – using 70% dark chocolate and pouring it over a chilled cake, which turned the ganache into some kind of gluggy mess.  

When I had this cake in mind, I was hoping to be able to show off the ganache dripping beautifully and elegantly down the sides.  Instead, I ended up with big chunky, clumpy, uneven chocolate drips. I had no choice but to try cover up the ganache so I covered the cake using meringue drops, fresh raspberries, strawberries and crushed meringue!

This cake is made of a simple sponge cake followed by layers of raspberry buttercream and crushed meringue. I am a huge fan of 70% dark chocolate, the bitterness of the chocolate together with the tartness of the fresh berries really offset the sweetness of the buttercream and meringue. 

So with another birthday gone, I’m feeling no less wiser, just a whole lot older! Happy birthday to me! 🙂