A colleague of mine (also with an October birthday) approached me with the idea of a “super birthday” recently. In his family, everyone’s birthday is celebrated with one extravagant dinner (the person who gets to choose the establishment is picked by drawing names from a hat). I haven’t seen or gotten together with some of the staff at school for a few years, so I thought it was a great idea. The meal and the date have not been decided yet, but obviously we needed to start cake testing ASAP! Originally, I thought about making a cake that I had tested many many many times in my pre-selection for Canadian World Chocolate Masters, but instead decided I wanted to try something new. I ended up with what Megan is calling the “super chocolate cake for your super chocolate birthday”, inspired by a version of this that I saw on Instagram.

This cake is pretty simple to make. First you start off by baking the crumble (gluten free) inside the ring, then layer on a gluten free chocolate sponge a la Heston, then finish with a layer of dark ganache on top (slight modification from the original recipe) to ensure it is sliceable. It’s simple, easy to make and perfect for chocolate lovers.