The belated and imperfect square chocolate birthday cake!

Given the title of this post, I made this cake two days after little J's official natal day. This was unexpected. I never planned to make cake because:

1. Lolo Pepe and Ninang Abi gave cakes last Sunday. Thank you! :)
2. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to baking. Especially cake!
3. I planned to make chocolate truffles again

Let's talk about # 3

The supposed truffle mixture did not cooperate that Sunday afternoon simply because there's lack of time and I have put too much cream in it. I was thinking, "pwede naman gawan ng paraan!". I was quite wrong. Bigo. The mixture did not turn firm at all. It was rather sticky. The mixture was back and forth in the freezer and chiller but to no avail. It just did not work. So come Wednesday I finally decided make use of it as chocolate cake frosting and to have more space back in the fridge.

Here's the recipe I used for the cake, courtesy of the back of the package of Gold Medal All Puporse Flour. Just click photo to enlarge:

I do not have 2 round pans, so I used my square pans. Lookie!

The cake on the left was the one on the first photo. It was gone in the afternoon of Wednesday. Javie's playmates enjoyed it. May nag take home pa! ;-)

And then, come Friday morning, I played with the 2nd cake (on the right). This was actually more moist than the first cake. Is it because the first cake was thicker?

Anyway, I cut the cake in half to make 2 layers and removed the bumpy parts. And because I want to achieve a dark chocolate caramel cake, I tried my very best to make a thick caramel filling. The taste was good! But the filling just reached a certain extent of thickness. I even put the pan in a bowl of ice water and beat it with my electric hand mixer. Pauline said it needs something to make it thick and firm enough for a cake filling. Maybe I should have prepared/used Dulce de Leche instead (?) Will research.

Tips and suggestions on how to make a very very thick caramel filling? I would very much appreciate it! Like the one of Red Ribbon's chocolate cake or whichever cake shop! Thank you! :-)

Meanwhile, below, my mini two layer chocolate caramel cake. Hehehe:


Here's the choco frosting and caramel falling down! I do not have toasted almonds anymore so I used the semi-sweet chocolate chips as topping. Hubby said it tastes good and better with the caramel! Whew! That's what matters to me most!

I hope in my next attempt, planned or not, it will be a perfect one, or maybe close! ;-) Wish me luck!


Update: the rest of the chocolate frosting were stored in the chiller and surprisingly became firm today, Saturday, July 11 at about 4pm - real time. So it took 6 days for it to get firm huh? Now they are officially truffles and are situated in the chiller waiting for their master. my husband. ;-)

P.S. I said before that I am a not-so chocolate lover. I still am. It's my choco freak hubby that gets me going about this whole recent love affair with chocolate. But one thing's for sure, I can say I am bingeing again.

I think my pigging out is endless.

Our boracay team building is a few days away. Good luck!!! :P