Happy Birthday to my husband!! He is my best friend and confidant. He also doubles as my therapist and occasional life coach.
 |
| For the birthday boy, it's Chocolate Cloud Cake with cocoa whipped cream |
My husband knows how I feel about him so I won't get all mushy and wordy again here. I'll just wish him countless more years of good health and happiness. May your life be filled with joy, laughter, good fortune, hugs and kisses (from people you know and love, of course). May all the movies you watch be action packed and gory the way you like it.
My husband and I have celebrated many birthdays together. He always goes out of his way to do up my birthday. We are always jokingly celebrating my birthday "week" or referring to August as my birthday "month." So I hope he doesn't mind my meager offerings of a meal, cake, and small gift on his special day. I know he doesn't; we both appreciate the little things in life and realize how lucky we are.
We're celebrating this birthday with what I'm calling "chocolate cloud cake". I found a version of this cake months ago on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, and filed it away for this occasion. It's a flourless chocolate cake, one of my husband's favorites. The texture is super light and airy and made me think of clouds, hence, the name I've tagged on to it. It's called "lighter-than-air chocolate cake" on Smitten Kitchen - also very appropriate! This cake is far lighter than the Gotham Bar & Grill chocolate cake (also another flourless cake) and more along the lines of the basic flourless chocolate cake I often make without any filling. I think this cake is the perfect "dressed up" flourless chocolate cake. We liked having a bit of chocolate shavings on top, which adds extra chocolate and a little bit of crunch.
While the cake tastes ever so light, it's full of chocolate flavor. I made a 2-layer cake here but you can do it up and make 3 or 4 layers for a larger crowd. Since the cake and cocoa whipped cream are so light, smooth, and silky, it goes down ever so easily and you end up packing it away (in your tummy) rather quickly. It was a little bit of a risk making something new for a birthday celebration but this cake really met our expectations; we'll be making it over and over again in our house, special occasion or not!
