What a clever boy I am

Last weekend I celebrated my 54th birthday by baking my own cake. I am so proud of myself as it was my first successful attempt and it was a winner.

You ladies out there and at the risk of upsetting some men, you domesticated males, will be aware of the cake baking process and I will not insult you by explaining in depth the mixing and preparing. Some of you might even be ho hum about this report but for me it was a momentous achievement.

It started as a basic chocolate cake.

However as it was to be my birthday cake and I was totally in charge I decided to make a densely chocolaty extravaganza. I know I'm talking it up but it was a work of art and finesse and quite labour intensive.

After the mixing I added 250g of broken up dark chocolate pieces into the mixture and baked in the oven.

After the 2 cake mixtures were baked and had cooled down I added chocolate icing to one and caramel to the other.

Bianca put my age on the cake with chocolate buttons.

To add to the decoration and to provide some variety and colour I put pink and white marshmallows around the outside.

All that was left now was to place the candles and light them. Lea in her wisdom decided there was an easier way to deal with the advancing years of the birthday boy.

Of course I had the honour of cutting the cake and serving to the expectant and excited recipients of my labour of love. We garnished it with cream!

The cake was a hit and as you can tell I am extremely pleased with myself and can't wait until the next birthday for another opportunity to show off my prowess in the kitchen.

Stay tuned for further birthday reports.