birthday cake

Well, birthday week 2007 has just about come to an end, I think. But I'm okay with that because I've got cake in the fridge to last for a few days more (maybe) and a bountiful supply of fresh lemon curd and a delicious dark chocolate ganache to keep those birthday memories kickin'. The cake I made was outstanding. As planned, I followed the Martha Stewart yellow cake recipe to the letter. It turned out wonderfully moist and flavourful and I'd make it again in a heartbeat. I did make a lemon curd filling, but decided not to use Martha's recipe because I prefer recipes using whole eggs rather than just yolks. Instead, I found this version which not only met my whole egg requirement, but it was sweet, sweet perfection. Tart, lemony and way too easy to eat up with a spoon! And for the rich chocolate topping, I halved the Martha recipe, subbed in my favorite Dark Ritter Sport bars for the chocolate chips, and even after topping the cake, still had enough ganache to last a long, long while.

If you are putting this together, you can make everything 1 day in advance...just make sure everything is tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. Just don't put everything together until the next day.