9th August, made my birthday cake🎈combined my cake faves, chocolate and strawberries. so made a chocolate cake filled with strawberry puree and strawberry pieces, covered in swiss meringue buttercream. ~chocolate cake recipe adapted from “YeastMode” on youtube✨ ~strawberry filling recipe adapted from “sallysbakingaddiction.com”✨ ~swiss meringue buttercream recipe from “sallysbakingaddiction.com”✨ Recipe— 1. MAKE CHOCOLATE CAKE LAYERS. In bowl add in all wet ingredients and sugar, and mix well. In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Then add dry ingredients mixture into wet ingredients mixture, mix until well combined. 2. Divide batter into 2x 7inch tins, and bake at 170°C (fan) for 55mins. Let it cool in pan for 15mins, then take out of pan to cool. Once completely cooled, cut 4 layers. 3. MAKE SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM. combine egg whites and sugar and put bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk regularly until sugar dissolves and mixture is thin. 4. Then take out of saucepan and, using standmixer, whisk on high speed until stiff peak forms (approx 20mins for me). Then add in soft butter bit by bit, beating well in between. Then add vanilla and salt. beat buttercream for another 15-20mins at high speed to make whiter, then at low speed for few mins. 5. MAKE STRAWBERRY PUREE FILLING. Whisk cornstarch and water until well combined. Then in saucepan over medium heat, add all ingredients except vanilla. Boil for 5mins, crushing strawberries as they soften. 6. Remove from heat and add in vanilla. Cool and refrigerate before use. 7. MAKE SUGAR SYRUP. heat water and sugar in pan until all sugar dissolves. cool and refrigerate. 8. CUT STRAWBERRIES. cut strawberry pieces for filling, and cut ends of whole strawberries for placing on top. 9. ASSEMBLE CAKE. within each layer, drizzle with lots of sugar syrup, then make a dam with buttercream. Add in strawberry puree and then strawberry pieces. repeat for each layer. 10. Crumbcoat with buttercream and place in fridge/freezer until sets (i put in freezer for 5-10mins). Then do final coat and refrigerate/freeze until sets, another 5-10mins. 11. Use R16L nozzle to pipe decoration around cake top and bottom. Then decorate sides with freeze dried strawberry pieces and thyme, then add more strawberries on top. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy✨ Notes: •i made the chocolate cake, strawberry puree, swiss meringue buttercream and sugar syrup the day before assembling the cake. stored the choco cake, strawberry puree and sugar syrup in fridge, and stored buttercream at room temp. •i probs would make the strawberry puree a tiny bit sweeter next time, maybe add 100g sugar in total (?). •when doing buttercream dam, make the dam approx an inch from edges to prevent filling leaking out. •when drizzling sugar syrup, make sure to drizzle plenty on the sides where the dam will be as i found they weren’t as moist as the centre where the strawberry puree was. #birthdaycake #birthday #chocolatecake #chocolate #strawberrycake #strawberries #swissmeringuebuttercream #cake #baking #bake #homebaking - @bakes_by_brea