Cake #77 - 16 Cats

Thursday Cat Theme Cake -  16 Cats. Birthday Cake for my son who turned 16 years.

Mystery Box ingredient used: licorice bars with lemon filling.

A 16-year-old is not quite a man yet but he will soon be. Nearly as tall as his dad, 20 cm taller than me. He can be talkative and again, from time to time, very quiet. He goes to the barber's by himself and decides on his hairstyle. He even changes his socks regularly. His room may not be the tidiest of all but he always knows where to find his glassed. He might have lost his bus card or earphones once or twice but they can be easily replaced. He does not hug but he loves being hugged. He does not show his feelings a lot but he has them, a lot.

He does not cook or bake but he loves my cakes from the bottom of his heart. He actually may be the reason why I started my 365 Cakes / 365 Days challenge. Last summer when he had his Junior Cert exams I promised to bake a cake each day he had an exam and so I did. I baked seven cakes.  And then he started asking for more.

16 Cats Birthday Cake

You can find the chocolate sponge and ganache recipe here.

I did not put any ganache between the layers, only on top. Between the layers I put banana slices (3 small bananas) and spread caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Caramel Sauce

200 ml cream

100 ml  dark brown sugar

100 ml muscovado sugar

2 tbsp butter

1. Place cream and sugars into a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugars have dissolved.

2. When the mixture starts bubbling, lower the heat and keep mixing until it thickens. Usually this takes 10-15 minutes.

3. Add butter and let cool down just a little - the sauce spreads better when still warm.

For decorating the cake I chopped the lemon filled licorice bars for the cats' eyes, and to form the ears, I piped melted milk chocolate with a piping pen.

A very nice, rich cake with dark and deep flavours!