There was an order for an egg less chocolate cake for a sweet girl who was turning nine. Given that my artistic skills are quite pathetic, I was wondering how to decorate the cake. A dark brown chocolate cake with an equally dark chocolate butter cream is not that easy to decorate!

I spent two whole days browsing the net, looking for a pattern that I could use. Chocolate butter cream tastes awesome, but it leaves a dark and dull looking cake if not dressed up and presented nicely.

I was out the whole morning and that meant less time for thinking about decoration. I had almost decided on the easy ‘kitkat cake’. The thing that stopped me was that I couldn’t get enough kitkat for this cake.So I picked up some random items that could go into the cake : some cherries, Cadbury’s Gems (similar to M&M), gift chocolates from Amul etc.

And finally with a bit of sprinkles and the birthday message on top (yes, you are right : that’s a straw!) and I was as happy as the birthday girl :-).

You can check out this post for the eggless cake and for the mocha syrup as well. Scroll down for the butter cream recipe.

Source: Maria’s menu 

Enough for covering a 6″ cake

Ingredients:

• 100 gm butter, softened (1 stick of butter)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (1/3 cup for deeper chocolate flavour)
• 2 – 2.5 cups icing sugar
• 1/4 cup hot water (more or less)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 Method: 

 In a bowl, add the softened butter and cocoa powder. I wanted a lighter shade, so took only 2 tbsp. You can go upto 1/3rd cup for a deeper colour and more chocolate-y buttercream.

 

Mix with a smooth until no chunk of butter remain, adding a tablespoon or two of hot water for this. 

Sieve the icing sugar and add it to the mix. Start with 2 cups and add another half cup, if required.
 Mix again, adding a tbsp or two of hot water, until you get a smooth and shiny butter cream. You can add more sugar after a taste test.

I doubled this amount for the cake in the post (Two 6″ cakes)