Triple Chocolate Birthday Cake

Triple chocolate birthday cake

Keeping things simple with this cake.  It's a moist chocolatey sponge with chocolate buttercream filling and topped with a generous helping of chocolate ganache.  It's decorated simply with white chocolate. 

The message has been piped on and the blue chocolate buttons are just melted white chocolate with some food colouring mixed in, piped into button shapes on parchment paper, left to set and then added to the cake.

BAKING TIPS

• When colouring chocolate always use food colouring paste or dusting powders, as liquid colourings will not mix well with the chocolate.  Adding liquid to chocolate will cause the chocolate to seize. 
• Be careful with how much food colouring you use too, the more you put in, the stronger the concentration, which may result in a nice bold shade but your tongue will show the evidence of what you've been eating!!
• Add the colouring a little at a time using a cocktail stick, food colouring pastes are quite strong so a little goes a long way.
• When piping with chocolate, allow the melted chocolate to cool first, that way it won't be quite as runny, you won't burn yourself and it won't melt your cake topping.  Don't worry about it setting before it's cool enough to pipe with, it will take rather a long time to set completely at room temperature.