I made this chocolate butterscotch studs cake as my dad's 75th birthday cake. This was an impromptu design and I managed to bake and assemble the cake all in about 3 hours.
I don't normally quite like to bake and decorate my cakes on the same day, but this cake was special. There was a last minute change in the plan on the party date. We initially planned the party on the birthday itself and found out 2 days before the party that my dad had classes to teach on his birthday (my dad still actively teaches language in our community center). And so we decided we would celebrate one day earlier as it was on a Saturday and everyone was at home.
My sister and I decided to throw a pot luck party, I made some dinner dishes and the cake and she did some other dinner dishes. So that left me with not much choice but to cramp all the cooking, baking and decorating into one day!
That then meant that I had to keep the deco for the cake as quick and easy as possible and so I decided to use ganache and decorated the cake with chocolate buttons and butterscotch chips and fresh strawberries.
Here are the full details of how I decorated this 75th birthday cake for my dad:
75th Birthday Cake - How to Make a Chocolate Butterscotch Studs Cake
These were the main supplies I used for the cake:
- Cake - The cake was baked in 6 inch round cake tins. I used my chocolate cake recipe for the cake, and used the measurements for 5 eggs. I baked a total of 3 layers of cakes.
- Chocolate ganache - The cake was filled and covered with ganache. I used a ratio of 2:1, the 2 parts being dark chocolate and the 1 part being the cream.
- Dark chocolate buttons - I purchased these from a local cake decorating shop. These were made of compound chocolate.
- Butterscotch chips - These were purchased from a local cake decorating supplies shop too.
- Fondant - I used a tiny bit of fondant here for the numbers 7 & 5. I used Satin Ice fondant in White and added Wilton ivory food color to it.
- Number cutters - These were used to cut out the numbers 7 & 5 for the cake.
- Strawberries
And this was how I put the 75th birthday cake together:
Baking the cake
- I started by baking the cakes. I divided the batter into 3 cake tins and once the cake were baked, I cooled at room temperature for about 30 minutes and them wrapped them in cling wrap and refrigerated them to cool them down faster.
- The wrap helps the cakes from drying out in the refrigerator.
The ganache
- While waiting for the cakes to cool down, I prepared the ganache. And again, since it needs time to thicken, I placed it in the fridge too, to fasten the cooling process.
- Once the cakes have cooled down completely, I unwrapped them and leveled the tops. And then I sandwiched and covered the top and sides with ganache too. My ganache, at the ratio of 2 parts chocolate and 1 part cream was in a pipeable consistency and therefore still very soft. To help with smooth sides, I placed the cake in the fridge to chill a bit before giving it one last final smoothing.
Attaching the chocolate buttons and butterscotch chips
- Once that was done, I attached the chocolate buttons and the butterscotch chips. I started with the bottom layer and added the dark compound buttons all around the cake before adding the butterscotch chips in between the buttons. And when adding the chips, I poked the pointed ends into the frosting to make use of the flat bottoms. That way, I had nice flat round studs all around the cake.
- Once the bottom was completed, I moved to the top edge. Again, I started with the dark buttons and then completed with the butterscotch chips.
Adding the numbers 7 and 5 for the 75th birthday
- And then I added the numbers 7 & 5 for the 75th birthday. There was not much space on the birthday cake for any other wordings. So I decided to go with just the numbers. Again, I placed the cake in the fridge to get the ganache to set a little.
- Adding the fondant numbers onto a soft ganache cake is not a good idea especially if you don't get the cutouts placed correctly in the first attempt. So I choose to refrigerate the cake until the ganache has hardened and then attached the numbers. No special glue was necessary, the fondant stayed well in place on the ganache.
Adding the strawberries
- Next to go on my dad's 75th birthday cake were the strawberries. I selected a total of 6 strawberries that were as similar as possible in size. I then cut each into half. To ensure the fruits were well spaced on the birthday cake top, I started by adding 2 exactly on the opposite of each other (in a 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position).
- Then I added another 2, in between the earlier 2 pieces (at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position). At this point, I had 4 pieces on the cake, each in a quarter position on the cake. Next, I added 2 pieces of strawberries in between each quadrant. That way, it was easier for me to space the fruits evenly on the cake.
- For the final touch on my dad's 75th birthday cake, I added one butterscotch chip each in between each strawberry piece on the cake. And with that, the birthday cake was complete.
What do you think?
Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
- Laptop Cake for 71st Birthday - A Decorating Tutorial
- Ganache Recipe
- Strawberry Filling - An Easy Homemade Recipe
- Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cookies
Happy Decorating 🙂
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