Ozlem Cake and the Birthday Party!

It was a hard decision not to bake my own birthday cake, but I gave in to Sera's offer to bake for me on my 30th birthday! She created this super delicious Chocolate-Espresso cake and I took the liberty to name it Ozlem Cake! We were able to save only two slices by the end of the party:)

Sera used our bible, Williams and Sonoma Baking Essentials book for all the parts of the cake and sent me the steps to assemble it below. This is one book that you must add to your library if you bake more than once a year! Try it and email me if you need additional direction on any of the recipes, would love to help!



Here are the steps to make Ozlem Cake:

1) Bake 1 recipe of Classic Chocolate Genoise and cool completely.
2) Prepare 1 recipe of Espresso Buttercream.
3) Prepare raspberry sauce (made from raspberries, sugar, meyer lemon juice), you can outsource this task to a significant other (!)
4) Prepare the 1 recipe of Chocolate Glaze.
5) Slice genoise into three even layers.
6) Lay the first layer on a flat surface. Brush with raspberry sauce. Layer half the buttercream on top.
7) Lay the second layer on top of the first and repeat the raspberry sauce and buttercream.
8) Lay the third layer on top of the second and brush with raspberry sauce.
9) Ensure the glaze is a proper temperature and pour over the cake. Tilt the cake from side to side to evenly distribute the glaze. Refrigerate the cake until the glaze is set, about 30 minutes.
10) Pour additional glaze over the cake. Refrigerate the cake again until the glaze is set.
11) Decorate and enjoy! For an original Ozlem Cake, use Orchids in purple color:)



Brunch was a lot of fun, a little overwhelming to spend time with my close friends and family together, I already miss the attention:) I got the most beautiful flowers and very thoughtful gifts, including my first ever painting named "Seven Trees" from Rod! Thank you!!! Although I didn't bake the cake, I still had to bake something:) So, I made Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cranberries from Susan's Bible. It was super easy and yummy! I will have to reach out to her to publish the recipe here, so stay tuned!

Pictures of the party are on Flickr! (of course), the event had its own tag: "ozlem30th" he he he:)