Happy Anniversary!

My spirits were deflated like my chocolate sponge after it failed to rise (See Chocolate and Lamingtons) but once I'd decided to do something, I'm determined to make it happen. I wanted to bake another cake that very night but by the time I put all the kids to bed, it was already 10pm and I was pretty bushed. So I did it the next morning, on the actual day of our anniversary.

This time round, I changed the recipe to a chocolate pound cake. Till I determined exactly what went wrong, I don't want to try the sponge cake again as I couldn't afford to fail that day. The chocolate pound cake took quite a long time to make. I think it could be my cold butter and the cold environment of the house, the butter and sugar took ages to be 'light and creamy'. Other than that, everything went smooth - KK was in school - and the cake turned out well in the loaf pan.

When KK came home, he was supposed to help me with the icing and decorating. He did pour the cream and icing sugar into the mixer but his greatest contribution was cleaning out the bowl that held the cream and licking the beating hooks spotless. I'd let him try some of the cream by dipping his finger into it. After that, he liked it so much that he kept 'stealing' it from the stand mixer. I'd to stop him or I'll not have enough for the cake.

Cream Filling

• 3/4 cup Thick Cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar (I used the icing mix since it's almost all icing sugar anyway)

Method:

• Beat with mixer until stiff peaks form.

I successfully cut the cake into 3 layers and spread cream onto it. Then I put sliced strawberries on the botton layer and cover it with more cream. I did the same for the next layer but used kiwi instead.

The chocolate icing for the whole cake was made using this icing mix that I got from Coles.

Chocolate icing

• 1 1/4 cup icing mix
• 20g butter, softened
• 3 tbsp hot water

Method:

• You just melt the butter in the hot water and add it to the mix. Then you stir until it became glossy and smooth. Easy! But it was damn sweet.

Hubby and I personally don't like this type of icing as it's too sweet for our tastebuds but I needed some kind of icing to hold on the decorations on the cake. I was really proud when I added the sugar flowers to the sides and the bright red strawberries in the centre completed 'The Look'.

The cake was meant for dessert but KK couldn't wait and kept asking if he could eat it. So we cut it at about 5pm. Me and Hubby held the knife together, as if we're cutting our wedding cake years ago....haha...except this time he was carrying XX in his other arm.

The cake was kind of hard to 'break through' at first and I was going like 'arrgh' as I sawed on it. Luckily, it was just the top crust that was hard. The rest of the pound cake was moist and soft. As it's a pound cake, it is heavier and not as fluffy as a sponge. This recipe, from My Kitchen, My Laboratory, is very chocolatey and the cream strawberry and kiwi fillings was wonderful. Next time I'll put in even more fruits and a lot more cream. That would be heavenly! Just don't think about the fat and cholestrol.

I'll end off with a joke to encourage all bakers and would-be bakers out there with failed attempts. Don't be disheartened if you fail once, just press on!

It's in Chinese though:

Q: 蛋糕跌到了, 谁鼓励它站起来?

A: 小猪. 猪鼓励蛋糕．（朱古利蛋糕）

Get it? Duh!