Celebrating With Chocolate Cake

Today is my husband's birthday- an event that excites me much more than it does him. After relentless prodding, he agreed to a low-key, simple celebration yesterday evening. I cancelled the dinner reservations I made early last week (Marea, I will take advantage of your tasting menu and wine pairing someday soon...) and instead attempted to dazzle him with a homemade cake. I sandwiched sweet orange flavored cannoli cream between two layers of moist chocolate cake, and topped it with chocolate frosting and additional cannoli cream for maximum birthday goodness. After a rough start, I learned one essential lesson- everything can be fixed with a little bit of frosting.

I piped cannoli cream everywhere I could squeeze it- between the cake's layers, on top of the cake, and ultimately in my mouth

Cannoli Cream (yield, approx. 5 cups)
Ingredients:
30 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest from 1 medium orange
1 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice (or more to taste)
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation:
1. Mix all ingredients until combined.
2. Refrigerate.

This is when I realized I needed more frosting- it hides all mistakes (including my uneven layers)


The end result (covered with loads of milk chocolate frosting and cannoli cream) was delicious


My second piece


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!