Tuna Toast

Berry Chocolate Cake


We recently celebrated a friend's birthday and I was in charge of making the cake. With my office moving location and a friend visiting from out of town, I was short on time but wanted to make something special.

Nifty cake slicer from Japan.........

Now, for those of you who know me, I am usually pouring over cookbooks and trying to pick THE PERFECT recipe to make on any given special occasion. I ogle photos of triple-layered towers oozing with lemon curd, daydream about creating that sinfully decadent truffle cake or impressing guests with the how-did-you-make-those-frosting-flowers creation. After going through all of that, I will carefully choose the recipe and get to work. Very rarely do I make the same thing twice, because people- life is too short and there are too many recipes to try!

Strawberries for the middle of the cake.....

For once, however, I knew I wouldn't have the time nor energy to start from scratch so I decided to *gasp* try and just go by instinct. I have a tried-and-true chocolate cupcake recipe that I decided to make a cake from. The rest would be decided by whatever inspired me on a trip to Trader Joe's. Could it be, Ms. Follow The Recipe was going out on a limb? Don't get me wrong- I throw dinners together all the time without the aid of a recipe, but I rarely make baked goods without one. Of course I did use the cupcake recipe but the rest would be by my own devices!



I baked the cakes and leveled the top of one of them with a nifty cake cutter I bought on my last trip to Tokyo. I had spied what were probably the last strawberries of the season at TJ's and sliced and macerated them. Next, I carefully fanned out the strawberry slices between the two cakes and poured a rich chocolate ganache over the whole thing. After topping it with a circle of fresh berries and a crown of shaved chocolate, my creation was complete.

Oozing with ganache........

The cake was really refreshing and delicious- I purposely did not put any sort of icing in the middle of the cakes so that it wouldn't be too heavy with the ganache on top. No wonder strawberries and chocolate are such a classic combination- they really compliment each other so well. I must say, I was quite happy with the cake and will make more of an effort to be more creative and less technical in the kitchen.

Crown of chocolate shavings.........

Is it Friday yet???


Cake