With luck we each have a birthday every year.  As it happened, this year mine was Major (or so it seemed to me) so the Captain pulled out all the stops on the birthday cake.

I love chocolate, although probably not quite as much as the next person. A chocolate bar in the fridge is likely to be nibbled to death over time, but it will not disappear suddenly. My idea of perfect chocolate is rich, but in small doses, and preferably with something other than chocolate as a foil. This elaborate cake is just right in all regards.

The picture makes it look a little gloppy, and I guess it is – but it’s gloppy in the best sense of the word. It fills your mouth with flavor and your heart with gladness. I didn’t get around to taking the photo until it had been nearly all eaten, so it is not a beautiful picture. But it was a magnificent cake.

The neighbors were nice enough to come over for a couple of hours and help us out – this is definitely NOT a cake for two people to try to eat: too rich, too much of it. Most of us washed it down with Prosecco, Italy’s answer to champagne. It’s a sweet, but not too sweet, wine with bubbles that keep desserts from being cloying. A sweet dessert wine would not be good with this cake I think – too much sweetness.

It’s not the easiest cake in the world to make, but it’s not complicated. It just takes a while. And it is one of the best cakes you will ever eat. You can find the recipe here, or over on the right under good recipes.

Buon appetito!