Birthday Season!

Family birthdays decorate the winter months and my son, Uri, who turned eight this year, is always the first to open the season with his infectious and uninhibited laugh. He was born right before hannukah, the festival of lights and his name, meaning my light in Hebrew reflects the joyful holiday spirit which he radiates throughout the year.

Together with laughter, traditional Israeli birthday cake is the main ingredient for birthday celebrations. As I am from upstate New York, I didn’t realize how particular and conservative Israeli children are about birthday cakes and when I tried to add some variety by introducing a vanilla/chocolate marble cake the children simply boycotted it.   They removed every bit of the yellow butter cake and stuffed it in their napkins or simply dropped it without pretense as kids do at age four. I ended up cutting the cake in very weird ways to give each child a vanilla free piece of cake. That was several years ago and since then I don’t argue with tradition but make chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and lots of rainbow sprinkles.

My mother in law, Yehudit, the family pastry chef made an eight layer birthday cake with alternating chocolate and iced sugar frosting. She definitely has more talent in the baking arena than I do and even the vanilla layers were eaten.  Now I am thinking if I can ask Yehudit to make me a birthday cake like that, a different layer for each year.

Traditional Israeli Birthday Cake

Based on a recipe by Danit Solomon

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1 cup boiling water

100 grams butter, cut into small chunks

100 grams dark chocolate (I use 70% chocolate), broken into small pieces

3 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons sweet wine

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder

Ganache frosting

250 ml heavy cream

200 grams dark chocolate (I prefer 60%), broken into small pieces

Preheat oven to 180 C. In a small pot, add one cup of sugar, cocoa, instant coffee and boiling water. Mix until there are no lumps. Add the butter and chocolate and mix until they melt. Heat gently on low if necessary.  Add the wine and vanilla. Set aside to cool. Temper egg yolks with a tablespoon of the chocolate mixture (if it is still warm) and then add the tempered yolks to the chocolate while mixing constantly.

Whip the egg whites with the remaining 1/2 of sugar until soft peaks are formed. Transfer the egg whites to a bowl.

Sift the flour and baking soda in a large bowl and transfer to mixing bowl.  On low, slowly add chocolate mixture to the flour, a little bit at a time so no lumps remain. Using a spatula add 1/3 of the egg whites, folding them into the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites, trying to avoid over mixing.

Add the batter to a greased baking pan (about 25 cm in diameter) and bake until a toothpick comes out clean about 45 minutes. (I used 3 English cake pans)

Meanwhile make the ganache:

In a bowl add chocolate pieces. Heat the heavy cream until it begins to simmer and pour over chocolate. Mix from center until the chocolate melts. I use the ganache in its liquid form.

When the cake comes out of the oven, I poke it all over with a wooden skewer and pour the liquid ganache all over it. Sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles!