A Raspberrry Chocolate Birthday

I don't make cakes often (mostly because I insist on full fat, organic and/or fair trade ingredients and things can get pretty pricey and pretty fattening pretty quickly,) but once or twice a year I have fun creating something special for a loved one's birthday. Last Friday was one of those occasions. Brother Dave turned 25. I had been anticipating his birthday and my cake baking adventure for quite some time. Sometimes I get nervous that so much anticipation will make things anticlimactic, but I had no need to worry in this case. The cake was fabulous!

This was my secret weapon - chocolate cheese fudge. I spotted some of this heavenly stuff at the cheese factory in Monroe, WI. It's mostly fudge, but a little cheesy with some chopped walnuts thrown in for texture. By itself it's divine, and I couldn't help but wonder what other uses I could find for it..... Dave's birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity for some experimentation.

I decided to use the fudge as a frosting. Since it's really really rich, I wanted a light-ish cake for the base. I found this recipe online for a buttermilk chocolate cake that seemed like it could work. It says that it makes two cakes, but I decided to make one big one. I cooked it in three pans - a 10 inch round pan, an 8 inch round pan, and my cute little 4 inch round pan. I thought I might do three layers, but ended up sticking with just two and freezing the tiny cake for later.

For the frosting I simply mixed the chocolate cheese fudge (two packages of it) with some of the leftover buttermilk from the cake until it seemed spreadable. The fudge was just a little too dense to use on its own.

The cake and frosting chilled for a few hours, and then I put it all together. Here are the assembly steps.....

Step one - frost the biggest (10 inch) layer. The frosting spread beautifully!

I added a bunch of raspberries from our front yard (they've been so GOOD!) to the top of the first layer....

....and then placed the second layer on top.


The second layer got a nice coating of frosting. I didn't think I'd be able to use all the frosting, but it ended up being the perfect amount.

Then lots of raspberries on top.

It was amazing to me how many raspberries I ended up using - it was more than a full pint by the time I was done.

Here it is with 25 candles on top! We had dinner at Ben and Erica's and I got to use their Fire and Light cake stand that I had gotten them for a wedding present. It was the perfect base for this beautiful cake.

Not only was it beautiful, but the flavors all worked together incredibly well - chocolate, cheese, fudge, raspberries.... it's really impossible to go wrong when you combine ingredients like these! As you can see, the birthday boy was pleased indeed!
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