Simple and Delicious Birthday Cake

Obviously it's a Cake season! :) Cake here, cake there...
However, this one is a simple cake for a Birthday boy.



      It's not some colorful cake with sparkling decoration. This one is more like to be eaten in the mountain with some of your closest friends in a raining day, so you can feel the aroma symphony of the lavender, lime, chocolate and fresh mint.
When you take a bite, you will take a magical trip from the fields in Provence, quick journey to Paris with its smell of chocolate and you'll end up in the mountain house out of the city with your friends with the fresh relish of the mint.

So do you wanna make a trip? :)


Ingredients:
For the cake:

• 1 cup flour;
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa;
• 1/4 cup olive;
• 2 eggs;
• 1 tbsp instant coffee;
• 1/2 tsp baking soda;
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder;
• 1/2 tsp salt;
• 1 cup sugar;
• 3/4 cup milk;
• 1 extract rum;

Preparation of the cake:
This mixture will be enough for the whole cake so you can prepare two circles of baking paper with the size of the pan.
In a bowl combine all dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix the eggs, the olive oil, the milk and the rum.
Stirring occasionally, add the dry melange to the egg mix until homogeneity.
Pour 1/2 of the mixture into the pan, covered with the baking paper and bake into a preheated oven to 170ºC /340ºF/.
Bake until the stick come out dry. It takes about 20min in a oven with fan.
Leave it to cool onto metal grill and repeat the process with the second part of the cake mixture.



For the Yolk cream: I used the one from the Black cake.
For the topping:

• 0.55 lb mascarpone;
• 0.22 lb sour cream;
• powder sugar by your taste;
• lime zest;

Preparation of the topping:
Mix all the ingredients and leave into the fridge to cool.


For the syrup:

• 1 cup milk;
• 1/2 cup sugar;
• 1 tbsp instant coffee;

Preparation of the syrup:
Heat the milk and add the sugar and the coffee /like you are making coffee/ and leave it to cool.

For decoration I used chopped raw pistachios and fresh mint.
Assembling the cake is easy. Syrup one of the chocolate layers, smear the yolk cream, add the second layer and syrup it too and spread the topping.


Leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
Bon appetit and until next time!