Damnit, I almost made it to the one month mark of since I last posted haha.

Well my brother’s birthday was yesterday, the 23rd of March, and he turned 30!

He’s the oldest in our family, my sister is the middle child (27) and I’m the baby, turning 25 in August.

He is really obsessed with this chocolate chip cake for some reason. It’s just a simple white cake studded with mini chocolate chips, brushed with a birthday cake vodka soak, filled with pastry cream, and frosted with a standard Canadian buttercream also studded with chocolate chips!

Look how smooth the batter is. Mmmmm, dat battah.

I threw some birthday cake vodka into the pastry cream as well because, well, why the hell not? It’s a birthday cake. And it’s vodka. And they are friends.

The silkiest, yummiest pastry cream. I suggest throwing flavoured vodkas into all of your pastry creams. Or rum. Or any other liquor. Yep. Also, this bowl. I know your mom has this bowl.

I’ve literally never been to a friend’s house where this bowl is not present. The ever classic Mom bowl.

Anyway, back to the cake.

Yes, this cake. I just used the classic white velvet cake recipe and threw in some mini chocolate chips, like I stated earlier.

Then I accidentally went crazy with some sprinkles. I figured, hey, it’s his 30th birthday so his cake should be playful and fun so he doesn’t feel too old. SPRINKLES! SPRINKLES FOR DAYS! I fucking love sprinkles!

Gratuitous top shot of my sprinkle-covered cake.

It went over well, everyone loved it, and the whole thing was gone when I woke up the next day. Boo yah!

The cake recipe can be found here, just omit the hazelnut oil if you want.

and here is the pastry cream recipe I used!

Birthday Cake Pastry Cream (adapted from Tartine)

2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla paste
1/4 tsp salt
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup Birthday Cake flavoured vodka

Heat the milk, vanilla, and salt just to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch into the sugar, and then add the eggs. Whisk until all smooth and whatnot. Temper the egg mixture into the hot milk, and whisk constantly until it thickens and boils for about 45 seconds. Remove from the heat, and stir in the butter and vodka. It may seem runny but will thicken up to a perfect consistency for filling the cake! Pour into a bowl and cover directly with saran wrap so it doesn’t form a skin, and allow it to cool fully. Yum!

For the buttercream, all I did was whip up a pound of butter, and slowly beat in 4 cups of icing sugar. I added about 4 tablespoons of buttermilk, and whipped the ever loving shit out of it until it was very fluffy. I added about 2 tablespoons of cake vodka, and folded in 2 cups of chocolate chips. Makes it a little hard to frost the cake, but it’s all worth it. It’s a rustic cake!

 

I’ll end this with a picture of this handsome fellow.  His name is Kain, and he likes italian meringue and prosciutto. We are best friends.