Lucius 三岁生日蛋糕 Part 1: Very Chocolaty Moist Chocolate Cake

转眼间我们家宝贝又长大一岁了，写这篇前我特地回顾了两岁生日的posts（看这里和这里），感觉就像是最近发生的事。今年我们提早在生日前的周末在麦当劳为宝贝办了一个小小生日会。真的是很last minute，星期六庆祝，星期五才敲定地点，真的非常感谢亲友们在这么短的时间内纷纷答应出席。在麦当劳办生日会可是我小时候的愿望，自己无法实现，就希望实现在孩子身上。 

想到生日蛋糕需要在炎热的天气下周车劳累，我选择了无需冷藏的巧克力蛋糕，至少少了“cream会不会溶掉”的心里负担，也正好让我消耗掉即将过期的烘培巧克力。：P

星期六下午才是生日会，星期四晚上我就把蛋糕做好，然后星期五晚上煮ganache，装饰蛋糕。没办法，全职妈咪只能利用放工后非常有限的时间。

宝贝星期四晚上看我制作这个蛋糕时就说要吃，我跟他说是他的生日蛋糕要吹蜡烛了才能吃。星期五晚上看我拿出来他又要求要吃（很可怜的样子），我让他偷吃了点chocolate ganache，还好现在他已经听得懂人话，没有吵着一定要吃。星期六早上他又对已经装饰好摆在桌上的蛋糕虎视眈眈。可想而知，他想吃蛋糕的欲望已经到了极点。

生日会上他自顾自的骑脚踏车（他的生日礼物），也不和其他小朋友玩，连他最爱的薯条汽水也不要。但一看到我开始准备蛋糕他马上跑过来，终于等到切蛋糕的时候。他狼吞虎咽的吃了两片蛋糕还说要（一定是饿坏了），但因为担心他发热气，所以就不让他再吃了。

比起海绵蛋糕这个蛋糕体是属于比较扎实的，而且口味非常浓郁，所以饱餐一顿后大人们都只是浅尝，倒是在场的每个小孩都和Lucius一样超爱这个蛋糕，算是对准了小孩的胃口。好友的宝贝女儿，一个小人儿竟然可以吃下三片。

蛋糕我只用了饼干棒和M&M来装饰，再加上DIY的Happy Birthday字条和塑胶车子，简简单单的，可以说是很粗糙，但问Lucius要妈咪做的生日蛋糕，还是要妈咪到店里买一个美美的生日蛋糕，他几次都坚定的回答要妈咪做的。嘴巴好甜的小家伙，搞到妈咪心里甜滋滋的。

I made this cake for my son 3-year-old’s birthday. As suggested by the name, this cake is very chocolaty, all the kids including my son like it a lot.

Very Chocolaty Moist Chocolate Cake

    Cake

   Ingredients:
   (A)
   150g butter
   300g brown sugar (I used 225g)
   (B)
   2 eggs
   (C)
   200g boiling water
   45g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
   (D)
   250g plain flour
   1 tsp baking soda
   ½ tsp baking powder

   Ganache
   Ingredients: (the amount in bracket is for my 8” cake)
   250g (200g) whipping cream
   500g (400g) cooking chocolate (chopped)
   30g (24g) butter

   Method:

   Cake

1. Cream (A) till light and fluffy.
2. Add (B) gradually, cream till smooth and light.
3. Mix (C). Add (C) and (D) alternatively, mix until well-blended.
4. Pour the batter into two greased and lined two 9” round pan (I used one 8” round pan and one small paper cup).
5. Bake in preheated oven at 175C for 30 mins (I baked for about 40 mins because my cake was thicker) or until a skewer inserted and comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 5 mins. Unmould and set aside.
6. If using only one pan, slice the cake into 2 layers and sandwich with ganache. If using two pans then just sandwich both cakes with ganache. Cover the whole cake with ganache and decorate as desired.

   Ganache

1. Cook whipping cream until soft boil, pour over the cooking chocolate, stir until chocolate melted.
2. Add butter, mix well. Leave aside to cool and set for at least 24 hours. (I didn’t wait for 24 hours. For the ganache used to sandwich the cake, I just took some put in a separate bowl and let it sit on some ices and keep stirring till it thickened. The rest of ganache I just poured over the cake to cover the whole cake. I used the remaining ganache to pipe the border. )

   Kitchen Note:

• This cake stays well in room temperature. Do not chill the cake else the cake will turn hard and dry.

   (Recipe adapted from Alex Goh’s Baking Code)