Birthday cakes, New Year’s Day n’ stuff…
Today is my husband’s birthday and every year, I try to find a recipe we haven’t had before for his birthday cake/dessert. He is my agent, my financial advisor and the man behind the imprint, Darlington Press, which publishes my books and a couple of other titles.
So he deserves to be spoiled…
I came across this latest by accident the other day when looking for something else and it seemed such a great spin on an Australian staple, that I decided to make it. It’s sinfully rich but so easy, I swear you’ll love it!
Black Forest Chocolate Ripple Cake:
Take a packet of chocolate ripple biscuits, a bottle of some cherry liqueur, 2 bottles of whipping cream, 2 teaspoons of icing sugar, a heaped tablespoon of cocoa, a drained tin of black cherries.
Whip one bottle of cream with icing sugar, cocoa till firm, fold in ¾’s of a cup of finely chopped cherries.
Wipe a slick of the choc cream mixture along the plate.
Fill a bowl with the liqueur.
Dip a biscuit into the liqueur, wipe a slick of the choc cream on the back of the bikkie and stand on edge on the plate.
Dip another biscuit and swipe with cream and join to first and so on until you have a whole log.
Cover the log with the remaining choc cream and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
Before serving, whip the other bottle of cream with vanilla and ordinary sugar and cover the cake smoothly.
Decorate with the remains of the cherries, chocolate curls or a Flake and a bit of greenery.
Refrigerate until needed.
Delish!
And while waiting for dinner, go to the berry house and pick 750 grams of blueberries, 600 grams of boysenberries and silvanberries and 500 grams of raspberries. Bemoan the way the loganberries and red currants have dried on the vine in the inordinate heat. Pick a couple of bowls of apricots – the kamikaze green parrots are back and it’s them or us in the apricot tree which with Mum’s illness, we had no time to prune and which is enormously tall and we can only net two or three branches.
C’est la vie!
And then cheer up after finding that gooseberries have fruited for the first time since planting three years ago. I have a tiny handful. I wonder if they should be pale shiraz in colour…
Happy birthday to your OH Prue, and what great pickings of the fruit bushes
Cheers, Libby. As he says – he doesn’t feel a day over 17 most times. After this last few weeks, the poor darling feels a hundred.
I’m delighted with the fruit – despite what the heat has done here and there. I am surprised actually.
Looks lovely except I hate cherries and anything cherry flavoured. Happy Birthday to your OH 🙂
You could always substitute strawberries, a berry liqueur or even just plain sherry or brandy. Trust me, whatever you used it would be delish!
Thanks for OH’s birthday wishes!!!