Black, White & Gold Naked Chocolate Cake

In a last-minute effort to make a birthday cake for my father-in-law, I turned to an extra 6" devil's chocolate food cake and thought for a few minutes how I was gonna pretty it up and turn it into something presentable. My daughter suggested I put some strawberries on top and leave it at that. I don't think my FIL would've been too impressed with a chunk of unfilled, unfrosted cake, with a strawberry on top. Haaaa.

Black, White & Gold Naked Chocolate Cake

I decided to go for minimal effort... naked cake!! I cut the cake into 3 layers and filled it with whipped dark chocolate ganache and crunchy dark chocolate Callebaut Crispearls. Mmm chocolatey goodness. I had to be careful to pipe the buttercream dam nice and round and even cuz this was gonna be naked, so no frosting on the outside! 

To decorate, I decided to keep the colour scheme white, black and gold, and of course put those strawberries on top like my daughter wanted. I pulled out some spare macarons from the freezer, broke a kit-kat bar in half, sliced up some strawberries and arranged them on top of the cake. 

I sprinkled more dark chocolate and white chocolate Callebaut Crispbearls around and added some gold dragées and gold stars for a bit of whimsy. And to glam up the whole thing, I highlighted the items with Rolkem Super Gold. (My husband commented that the kit-kats looked like tombstones!! Yipes. But after I brushed the gold on, he retracted his comment. Phew.)

My father-in-law was pretty happy when he saw the cake, so I'm glad that I managed to whip up something decent for him. Of course, my kids had to go and help him blow out that super tall gold candle on top of the cake. I love their big smiles! Happy birthday to my FIL!

Make a wish!

Big smiles all around!

slice of triple-chocolate decadence