Its an excuse to make something a little bit bigger and more spectacular than you would normally attempt on, say, a Sunday afternoon when you fancy trying something new in the world of cake. After all, you have guests and are therefore in less danger of locking yourself in the bathroom with the thing and only surfacing when a few crumbs are all that remain. It just wouldn't be polite. And trust me, if I made this cake alone I would be at very high risk of doing just that, such is my greed and capacity for cake consumption.
So, safe in the knowledge I had company I elected to make a great big filthy mammoth of a cake.
I'm not talking just any big cake, I mean a triple layer cake. One with two types of filling and several toppings. It seems that every time I have a gathering of some sort I try out a new triple layer filth cake. This one in particular, I must say, has to be one of my absolute favourites.
The magic of this type of magestic cake with its multiple layers, is that its impossible to cut yourself a small slice, no matter how thinly you attempt to slice it. It demands that you indulge yourself. You may comment that you will share your portion with a friend, as you try to attempt to slice away a wafer and then find that instead, you have a rather large doorstop portion of cake (despite how avently you had attempted to create a thin sliver of cake) but in reality, there just ends up being nothing left after a minute or two. Oh well, they can get their own. No one noticed.
Its also the sort of cake that you really must eat with a cake fork, you simply can't pick up this monster and take a bite, as you would a cupcake. It demands respect and to be enjoyed in the correct manner and in large portions. Just as cakes should be consumed.
The recipe for the cake in question I discovered in 'Make, Bake and Celebrate' by Annie Rigg. This book is crammed full with these dirt bag three layer sheer indulgence cakes. The sheer presence of a three layered cake crammed with two different types of frosting and piled high with popcorn really is something to behold and a true centre piece!
I started off with the cake mixture, a moist sponge filled with crunchy peanut butter and chocolate chips. There was so much mixture that even my large mixing bowl struggled to cope with containing the ingredients when I stirred in the final cup of chocolate chips. The peanutbutter made the sponge very moist indeed and melted in the mouth.
The smell of the cooking sponge was utterly mouth watering. As the layers cooled on a rack in the kitchen an aroma like baked snickers and moist vanilla sponge wafted through the house.
I then set about making the two types of frosting. One was a cream cheese, maple syrup peanut butter frosting. It wasn't quite peanut buttery enough for me so I added a few more tablespoons of smooth peanut butter. Then a large bar of melted chocolate, butter and icing sugar made up the chocolate fudge frosting.
I assembled the cake on the day of the party. It was like a construction project.
A layer of peanut butter cream cheese frosting was topped with chocolate fudge frosting in between the three layers.
Then the top was smothered with the remaining chocolate fudge frosting and piled high with toffee popcorn, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a blob or three of the chocolate frosting drizzled on top.
Ta Da!
The star of the show!
A truly spectacular looking and tasting cake. Moist chocolate and peanut butter sponge gives way to creamy peanut butter frosting and melts into sweet and rich chocolate frosting. All components melting deliciously into each other in your mouth. The popcorn works wonderfully with the sponge and frosting with its extra edge of sweetness and fluffy crunch, all set off with the odd bite of mini marshmallow and chocolate chips. I had three slices of this little beauty on the day and then was unable to move for approximately an hour.
It was worth it.
For me, nothing says celebration like a cake with that extra layer that towers above everything else on offer.
And what was the occasion you might ask? Well, my kitten was roughly 1 in cat years, so we had to throw him a kitten tea party. His contribution being to hang off the bottom of my apron at regular intervals during the baking process. I also made Alice in Wonderland cheshire cat cupcakes, mouse shaped jelly and finger sandwiches for the occasion but everything paled into the background next to the triple layer cake!
And although little Edwin the kitten didn't indulge in a slice of cake himself, he did make sure he was suitably dressed for the occasion with a fittingly decorated cake collar...
