Lucius’s First Birthday Cake (My Maiden Attempt at Frosted Cake) ~ Black Forest Cake 黑森林蛋糕

Lucius’s的小小周岁生日会不知不觉已经过了三个星期，是时候记录一下我为Lucius做的生日蛋糕。

有了Lucius后亲自动手为他的周岁生日做蛋糕一直以来都是我的愿望，我还甚至想过报名上课学习装饰蛋糕（连课程都选好了），但最后都不了了之。日子越靠近就安慰自己说最重要的是妈咪付出的心血和爱，蛋糕美丑不是关键。呵呵。

生日会前我俩都不争气的相继生病，这么一来似乎打乱了我的计划。我甚至还想过要放弃，干脆直接去订一个生日蛋糕算了，不需这么麻烦又担心做得不好。 但是，最后我还是坚持下去。在生日会前一晚我用了手上现有的材料做了生平第一个鲜奶油装饰蛋糕。蛋糕体是黑森林蛋糕。材料是圣诞节前买的，本来想在圣诞节时做的，最后竟然成为了Lucius的周岁生日蛋糕。

之前我在联络所上过一个蛋糕示范课程学习黑森林蛋糕的制作，但这里我没有采用老师的食谱。内陷本来应该要使用罐头黑樱桃，但在制作时我才发现我竟然买错，买成了樱桃pie filling，将错就错，我就直接用pie filling混合打发的鲜奶油，省下煮樱桃酱的时间。

因为是小孩的生日蛋糕所以我没有做成经典黑森林蛋糕的模样。我在橱柜找到了一包本来要用来装饰圣诞饼干的M&M（又是圣诞节未能使用而留下来的材料），看来可以派上用场。

蛋糕夹层弄好后，我把整个蛋糕涂上鲜奶油，再来用齿状的抹刀在周围走一圈，形成纹路。然后，我在蛋糕底部周围用浅蓝色鲜奶油挤上一圈贝壳（我买的星星挤花嘴太小，形状不明显）。蛋糕表面我用同一个挤花嘴挤出名字，我紧张到把LUCIUS拼成LICIUS，左看右看怎么怪怪的，后来才后知后觉发现我竟然把儿子的名字拼错了。抹掉再来。挤上“LUCIUS”后，空洞的地方本来我想用来插“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” 蜡烛，但我又担心看起来会很挤很乱，就干脆挤多两个字 – “IS ONE”，变成“LUCIUS IS ONE” ，中间留一个小空隙来插一号蜡烛。接着，我用白色鲜奶油在周围挤上小圆点，上面排上五颜六色的M&M就大功告成了。

看似简单的装饰，涂涂补补，花了我挺长的时间。在涂鲜奶油前我看示范录影不下数十次，但是到真正自己动手时却发现把鲜奶油涂得平滑很困难，尤其是我用的是小小把的抹刀（记得上课时老师说过要做装饰蛋糕投资一把长抹刀是很重要的)。

这蛋糕尽管有很多不完美，但却包含我满满的爱，在制作时我脑海里满是宝贝儿子的画面。我相信Lucius长大后看了照片也不会介意妈咪只给他准备了一个简单，甚至有点“简陋”的周岁生日蛋糕，对他或是对我来说这都是意义非凡的。

蛋糕体我还相当满意，家人都说很好吃，给了我很大的鼓励。希望接下来我能有时间多练习，那么我就能为心爱的家人朋友制作节庆和生日蛋糕了。：）

隔天才发现忘了给蛋糕内部拍照，从冰箱取出后随意拍了一张照。

最后让大家看看Lucius开心的模样。Lucius，妈咪希望你一路走下去天天都能像你生日当天那么开心。妈咪没有希望你长大后有什么大成就，只希望你能快快乐乐健健康康的成长。

I am sharing my simple version black forest cake (my son’s first birthday cake) recipe.

Chocolate Sponge Cake (make one 10-inch round cake or one 8-inch round cake and 7 small cupcakes)

Ingredients:
(A)
4 tbsp corn oil/sunflower oil/canola oil
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp chocolate emulco
½ tsp vanilla extract
(B)
125g top flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
(C)
5 large eggs
¾ tbsp SP
100g sugar
3 tbsp milk

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180C. Line the bottom of an 8-inch round pan and prepare 7 small paper cups or line the bottom of a 10-inch round pan.
2) Heat oil until visible lines can be seen on the surface, remove from heat. Sieve in cocoa powder and stir to dissolve the cocoa powder. Add chocolate emulco and vanilla extract, mix well and set aside to cool down.
3) Combine and sieve (B) together.
4) Beat sugar and SP till well mixed. Add in (B) and the rest of ingredients in (C), beat at low speed for a few seconds then change to medium speed, beat till ribbon stage (the mixture will drip slowly and form thick ribbon when lift up the beater).
4) Take a few tbsp of the egg mixture to mix with the cocoa mixture. Then return it to the egg mixture, fold from bottom to top, mix till cocoa mixture and egg mixture is incorporated.
5) Pour into the prepared pan/paper cup, bake in preheated oven for about 30-40 mins till the cake becomes springy or a skewer inserted and comes out clean (cupcake should be done in about 20 mins). Cover the top loosely with aluminum foil half way if necessary to prevent over browning.
6) Cool on wire rack upside down. When the cake has cool down completely, loosen the edges with a thin knife and turn the cake out from pan.

Frosting and Filling
500ml non-dairy whipping cream
½ can cherry pie filling
100ml syrup (boil 100ml water with 100g sugar and set aside to cool down)
Some Kirsch/Brandy/Rum (I omitted because I wanted to let Lucius taste the cake)

To assemble
1) Whisk whipping cream till stiff peak.
2) Separate whole cherries from the cherry pie filling. Take a few tbsp of whipped cream to mix with the cherry pie filling till desired consistency. I also added some syrup as I find it slightly tart.
3) Place one sponge later (cut-side up) on a cake board and spoon syrup and liquor on the surface. Spread pie filling whipped cream (keep 1cm from the edges clean) and arrange cherries on top, cover with more pie filling whipped cream.
4) Spoon syrup and liquor on both sides of the second sponge layer and place it over the first layer. Spread pie filling whipped cream (keep 1cm from the edges clean)(this layer is without cherries).
5) Spoon syrup and liquor on both sides of the third sponge layer and place it over the second layer (cut-side down). Lightly press to settle the fillings. Frost the whole cake with the remaining whipped cream and decorate as desired. A typical black forest cake is decorated with chopped chocolate and cherries. I decorated with M&M to make it a kid’s cake.

Note:
Adding the cocoa powder into the heated oil not only brings out the full cocoa’s flavour, this also makes it easier to blend into the batter as compared to premix the cocoa powder with flour.

To end this post, I would like to share these two videos from FoodHouse8. I find the demo very useful. Though I didn’t follow the recipe, I learnt a lot of tips and basic frosting skills through the videos. I hope you can also benefit from the videos.

Click HERE for chocolate sponge cake demo.
Click HERE for black forest cake demo.