Mum's Birthday Cake

A week ago it was my birthday, now it is mum's turn.

I have always thought that it is so cool that our birthdays are only a week apart, however, in my adult life, I feel like I've done less and less for my mum's birthday. For a while there I totally forgot a couple, which is silly considering mine is only the week before. I remember taking some late night drives to Night Owl or 7/11 to get day old flowers and a box of chocolates in preparation for the next morning......what a horrible surprise that must have been for her. Last year she forgot my birthday though, which is clearly much worse so I think that makes us even!!!

This year I wanted to keep with the "simple" theme of my birthday. My mum has also had a pretty hectic year. Having us shack up with her, our dogs causing all kinds of issues in the neighbourhood, massive changes with her job....2013 has really been one of those years. I wanted to do something basic for her but also nice. After the success of my chocolate cake last week I thought I would try the butter cake option and paired this cake with a lunch cruise on the Brisbane River and a gift voucher. Birthday Gifting Win.

Basic Butter Cake
1 cup self raising flour
1 tablespoon custard powder (or corn flour)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
125 grams butter
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix for about 5 minutes until the mixture if fluffy, smooth and super creamy. Spoon the mixture into a prepared tin (20cm square tin or 24cm round). Place in the oven for 30 minutes (check with a skewer and remove from the oven when the skewer comes out clean).

This cake is quite fragile so be careful when removing from cake tin and when icing.....or moving it in general!

I added some finishing touches just so it wasn't SO simple. My very steady hand and skilled husband was able to slice the top layer off this cake. I then whipped up some cream and mixed through some finely sliced strawberries. I finished the top layer off with some white chocolate ganache. Added some birthday candles and it was birthday-tastic!

White Chocolate Ganache & Strawberry Cream Filling
1/2 cup pure cream
handful of strawberries, thinly sliced and diced
250g white chocolate (I used "melts" instead of "chips" as chips have a bad rep with ganache)
125ml pure cream

Whip the 1/2 cup of cream until fluffy and stir through the strawberries. Spread this on the bottom layer.

In a large saucepan bring the 125ml of pure creme to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted into the cream then refrigerate until mixture is a firm and spreadable consistency. Spread over top layer. This ganache thickens very quickly (it is basically all chocolate) so when you come to eat the cake take it out of the fridge for about 10 minutes to let the ganache melt slightly before serving.