Birthday Cake

January 12, 2011 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

This is the birthday cake Big Boy requests every year!

Based on a recipe in the Mrs Field’s Best Ever Cookie Book, it uses the same batter as the chocolate slab cake, but instead of a roasting pan, the batter is baked in two 20cm/8″ round cake tins (the original recipe specified 23cm/9″ tins, but I don’t have any that size).

Prepare the pans by greasing them well and lining the bases (or the base and sides) with parchment paper. Divide the slab cake batter evenly between the two pans, and bake in a preheated 175C/350F fan forced oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the cakes are cooked when tested with a skewer.

The two cakes are then sandwiched together with frosting, iced and decoratively piped. The frosting uses an indecent amount of butter and icing sugar, but it is a special occasion treat. The finished cake is always popular, and feeds a horde of hungry friends!

Chocolate Frosting

315g (1¼ cups) unsalted butter, softened
500g (4 cups) icing sugar mixture (powdered sugar), sifted
110g (1 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (I used dutched)
10ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
65g (¼ cup) milk (or as required)

1. Sift the icing sugar mixture and cocoa together in a large bowl.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter in a large bowl, then beat in a third of the icing sugar/cocoa mixture and the vanilla. Beat in the remainder of the icing sugar/cocoa mixture alternately with as much milk as is required to create a spreadable frosting.

Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged chocolate sandwich cake, devil's food cake, homemade birthday cake, Mrs Field's chocolate cake | 33 Comments

33 Responses

on January 12, 2011 at 12:11 am Suelle

Happy birthday to Big Boy. What a magnificent cake! I love celebration cakes which are really tall – it wouldn’t look quite the same if you made it in larger diameter tins.
on January 12, 2011 at 1:42 am Sally

What an enormous and sumptuous looking cake. Happy Birthday big boy!
on January 12, 2011 at 2:11 am Joanna @ Zeb Bakes

Many Happy Returns to the Birthday Boy ! Save a sliver for me !
on January 12, 2011 at 2:28 am sallybr

Happy Birthday to Big Boy!
One of the advantages of being so young is the ability to deal with indecent amounts of butter! :-)

May he enjoy it to the fullest!

(when I grow up, I want to bake cakes as gorgeous as yours!)
on January 12, 2011 at 6:47 am cityhippyfarmgirl

That is one big cake! Happy Birthday!
on January 12, 2011 at 7:09 am wallofcookbooks

Happy Birthday to Big Boy. Enjoy your lovely cake!
on January 12, 2011 at 7:18 am bagnidilucca

Happy Birthday! Great looking cake.
on January 12, 2011 at 8:09 am Choclette

That cake looks enormous and magnificent too. Lucky Big Boy, I’m sure he enjoyed it and hope he had a good birthday.
on January 12, 2011 at 8:16 am Kitchen Butterfly

Happy Birthday to Big Boy. Gorgeous cake
on January 12, 2011 at 8:39 am Toni Tones

What a massive cake. 315g of butter, YIKES!! But it is a special occasion :D Happy Birthday Big Boy!
on January 12, 2011 at 9:44 am InTolerantChef

Happy Birthday Big Boy! As a professional chef, just let me assure you there is no such thing as an indecent amount of butter, that is my absolute professional opinion, and you can use that as justification. (Just don’t tell your doctor it was me who said it)
on January 12, 2011 at 10:02 am Soy

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

There’s this really famous chocolate cake in spore from Lana cakes. They always sell out and with a combination of bad timing on my part, I havn’t been able to get my chocolate cake fix for years. This chocolate slab cake looks just like it, gonna get honey to make this 8), thanks.
on January 12, 2011 at 10:26 am Gillian

I think birthday cakes should always be 2 or more layers. The more layers for frosting the better!

P.S. Happy Birthday Big Boy :-)
on January 12, 2011 at 10:37 am lifeinarecipe

Wow, does this look good! If I was in your family I would want to celebrate a birthday every week! Best wishes to the birthday boy…I don’t suppose there is any cake left, is there?
on January 12, 2011 at 10:39 am Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

Happy Birthday to Big Boy! And I want to know how the party went too! What a magnificent cake to suit a special occasion like a birthday :)
on January 12, 2011 at 10:43 am Wendy

Happy Birthday Big Boy!….now feeling horribly guilty for farming out the cooking of my big boy’s cake….groan.
on January 12, 2011 at 11:09 am Yvette

What a delicious decadance of chocolate! Bithday Wishes xx
on January 12, 2011 at 11:34 am Anna Johnston

Happy Birthday Big Boy! :0)
Gorgeous Cake lovely, I just ate breakfast, (Im on holidays still) and could go a piece of this beauty for dessert…. Are there any left over? LOL!
on January 12, 2011 at 12:12 pm Jan

I’ve just had a quick recap of your chocolate slab cake and I love the notion that this cake is saying “Forget about your problems, sweetie. Come sit by me for a while.” It’s the ultimate cuddle-cake. Except if I sat by it for ‘a while’ I would be face-planting and telling it all my problems – in between swallows that is. Happy Birthday BB – may you always have a little smear of chocolate that tells the world “I am celebrated’.
on January 12, 2011 at 4:10 pm Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Thank you all for your kind wishes – I’ve let Big Boy know. No cake left, I’m afraid, but it did feed a dozen young men very happily! :)
on January 12, 2011 at 4:47 pm Manuela

Happy Birthday, Big Boy! A beautiful birthday cake. I can understand why there weren’t any leftovers.
on January 12, 2011 at 5:42 pm Christine

Oh my, this looks delicious! No wonder he ‘orders’ it every year! Happy (belated) b’day to BB! :)
on January 12, 2011 at 8:47 pm Craig

Happy Birthday to Big Boy – what a tremendous bake! Cheers, Craig
on January 13, 2011 at 12:30 am heidi

Again- your family is blessed to have you, Celia.
Your sons can’t help but know that they are loved!
That is a beautiful cake- it shines with the loving care that you made it!
Happy Birthday to your son!
on January 13, 2011 at 9:28 am Susan

What an amazing cake! A good chocolate cake is always a crowd pleaser!
on January 13, 2011 at 12:03 pm Sarah @ For the Love of Food

How perfectly birthday cake like this is! Exactly what pops into my head when I imagine a birthday cake (one that I would like any way). I discovered just how indecent the amount of butter is in frosting when I made Lola’s number 3 cake a few months back (first time I had ever made frosting) – lucky it’s not needed most of the time!
on January 13, 2011 at 3:25 pm Tracey

Happy Birthday to Big Boy, fantastic cake Celia!!!! Hope he had a wonderful day!
on January 13, 2011 at 3:34 pm Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

You guys are all so nice! Thank you for your kind wishes to my lovely boy. He’s the light of our lives, and he had a simply wonderful birthday! :)
on January 13, 2011 at 4:31 pm Claire @ Claire K Creations

Yum Celia! No wonder he requests it every year it looks delicious.
on January 13, 2011 at 8:21 pm Anna

Wow!!!! My elder two saw this photo and think this is magnificent! Happy Birthday to Big Boy!!
on January 14, 2011 at 6:23 am Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Claire, Anna, thank you! :)
on January 14, 2011 at 11:38 am Culinarian

WOW. Chocolate lover’s birthday dream! I look forward to trying it out!
- on January 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial
  
  Thank you! I hope you enjoy it! :)

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