I here by pronounce the 4th of September of each year to be Mr Bao Day because it is my Mr Bao’s amazing birthday 
He is turning the BIG 25 today ~ and I’m giving him a hard time saying he’s going to have a quarter of a life crisis soon hahaha I’m so mean!
Happy Birthday Mr Bao 
Celebrations started on Saturday when we went over to a friends place and I bought the cake I finally got the chance to make the epic Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake I saw in the Jamie Oliver magazine a while ago. I will be sharing the recipe at the end of this post, but let me tell you ~ this was by far one of the best cakes I’ve made to date YAY! It was moist, soft and light and surprisingly not overly sweet because I was worried that Mr Bao was going to find it too sweet hehe
Mini 3 layer chocolate ganache cake
The next day at 7pm Mr Bao told me oh-so-casually “Oh yeah by the way, it’s my manager’s birthday tomorrow, maybe it would be nice if I bought a cake”. I was immediately shocked! “WHAT and you’re telling me now?!?” we were going out for dinner that night with the amazing bloggers, so we weren’t going to get home till later! ARGH! So as soon as we got home, I quickly made my favourite and most reliable chocolate fudge cake, halved the recipe and put them into two mini cake tins. 45 minutes later, I had two mini cakes, quickly sliced it up, made some chocolate ganache put it between the layers, and finally sprinkled some shaved chocolate to make it look nicer It was a made rush! Thank gosh Mr Bao’s manager and colleagues liked it YAY!
Chocolate Mug Cake with Coffee Ice-cream
Then last night just before Mr Bao went to bed, poor guy works at 6am so he went to bed before midnight, I made him a chocolate mug cake and topped it with coffee ice-cream because it’s his favourite and because I felt bad because I wont have the time to make him another proper cake tonight ~ Thank you Lorraine (Not Quite Nigella) for the amazing recipe!
Celebrations will continue today and all the way through tonight and I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dearest Mr Bao! I can’t believe this is the 4th birthday I’ve celebrated with you! I’m losing out of ideas and you are always outdoing me 
But I still wish you an amazing birthday and may all your wishes come trueeeeeeee xox
Recipe – Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake from Jamie Oliver Magazine
Yield – A double layer 23cm cake (serves 10 to 12) or for one (ME)
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
250 grams Unsalted butter, cubed
250 grams 70% cocoa chocolate, broken to small pieces
150 grams Espresso
225 grams Self-raising flower
250 grams Raw caster Sugar
250 grams Light Brown Sugar
2 tablespoon (15ml) Cocoa powder
100 ml Buttermilk
4 eggs, beaten
White chocolate and Milk chocolate for shavings
Salted Caramel
200 grams Sugar
75ml Thickened cream
50 grams butter, cubed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
50ml Water
Chocolate Ganache
100 grams 70% cocoa chocolate, broken into small pieces
100 ml thickened cream
Method
1) Start with the salted caramel. Place the sugar in a large saucepan with 50ml water. Gently heat on low, swirling the pan but don’t stir, until just melted. Be careful it is very hot! Turn up the heat a little and simmer gently, swirling regularly, until you have a clear, very dark golden caramel. *Warning* very easy to burn your caramel so watch it carefully ~ I burnt mine and had to redo it 
2) Remove the pan from the heat then carefully and quickly whisk in the cream and butter. It will splutter a bit, but don’t worry about that. Keep whisking and beating until smooth, then beat in the salt. Let cool. It may set a little so reheat before spreading over the cake.
3) For the cake, preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and line the bases of 23 cm cake tins. Plan the chocolate in a saucepan with the butter, coffee and a pinch of fine salt. Melt until combined.
4) In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugars and cocoa (I sifted mine) until well combined.
5) Beat the buttermilk into the melted chocolate mixture, then mix in the beaten eggs.
6) Pour this mixture into the flour-sugar mixture and mix well. Spoon into cake tins and bake for 45 minutes, and check if cooked if not return to the oven checking every 5 minutes. Cool cakes in the tins for 10 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7) Meanwhile make the ganache. Place chocolate into a bowl. Pour thickened cream into a small saucepan and gently heat. Just before it starts bubbling, remove the cream from the heat and pout it over the chocolate (Never add chocolate to the cream it will seize up). Leave the ganache to sit for a minute, then stir with a wooden spoon until completely combined.
8) Place the cool unfrosted cake on a board or plate, you may need to trim the top a little to make it flat and then drizzle with a 1/3 of the chocolate ganache and then drizzle with salted caramel.
9) Top with the other layer of chocolate cake and repeat with the chocolate ganache and then salted caramel and finish with chocolate shaving or any other decorations.
* You can make your own chocolate shavings by grating a block of chocolate with a cookie cutter.
This cake was actually easier to make than I anticipated, it was mainly melting and mixing one ingredient with the other. And the best thing is, you don’t need to wait for the butter to soften and cream it with the sugar
