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My dream birthday cake

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 3 cups plain flour
  • 3 cups caster sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
  • 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 5 medium eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups hot strong coffee

For the icing

  • 500 g unsalted butter
  • 750 g icing sugar
  • 213 g jar marshmallow fluff
  • 200 g crunchy peanut butter

For the ganache

  • 300 ml double cream
  • 300 g plain chocolate

For inside and on top of the cake

  • 10 Reece's peanut butter cups
  • 2 Reece's nut bars
  • 1 box Reece's pieces
  • Reece's peanut butter ice cream topping

Instructions

To make the cake

  1. Preheat your oven to 170c/150c fan oven and grease and line three 23cm cake tins.
  2. Add your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix until combined then in another bowl add your eggs, buttermilk and oil and mix together.
  3. Pour the wet ingredients into your dry and slowly mix together. Once combined slowly add the coffee and mix.
  4. Divide your cake mix evenly between the three tins and bake them for 30-35 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

For the icing

  1. Put the butter into a bowl or the bowl of your mixer and beat until soft then add the icing sugar and beat for 5-10 mins. You want to make the icing as light and airy as possible. Put the marshmallow fluff into the bowl and beat it in well. Finally beat in the peanut butter.

To make up the cake

  1. Put your first cake layer onto a cake board and add a layer of icing, spread 3 peanut butter cups, chopped up, evenly over the icing. Lay your next cake layer on top then again, ice, spread peanut butter cups and put last cake layer on top.
  2. Scoop enough of the remaining icing, to make the swirls on top, into an icing bag fitted with a large open star nozzle. This way you now know how much of the icing you have left to cover the cake. Cover the whole cake as evenly as you can with the rest of the icing then put it into the fridge to chill.

For the ganache

  1. place a glass bowl over a pan off simmering water and add your cream and chocolate to the bowl. Slowly stir until the two have completely melted together.
  2. Remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool for 10-15 mins stirring it every minute or so. You need it to cool enough that it won't run straight off the cake but not too much that it isn't pourable.
  3. Place a cooling rack on top of some baking parchment (to catch the drips)then get your cake from the fridge and place it on the cooling rack.
  4. Next you are going to pour the ganache on top of the cake so it runs down the sides. You will need to guide it with an offset spatula to make sure all the sides get covered.
  5. Put it in the fridge to set.

To finish the cake

  1. Once your ganache has set put the cake onto your serving dish. Squeeze your ice cream topping all around the outside edge so you get drips all the way round.
  2. Next get the icing bag you got ready earlier and pipe a ring of swirls around the outside edge. Using the remaining Reece's sweets and chocolate arrange it all on top of the cake. I added some bars and cups standing up and laying down then sprinkled the Reece's pieces in the gaps.
  3. There you have it. My Dream Birthday Cake. Enjoy!