Clayton - Coming of age!

Clayton Fernandes, born 29 July 1992, a.k.a Chubby Cheeks came of age this July! 

Phew! Finally! lol :) ;)

I met Clayton this January through Meli. We had seen each other before but were never really acquainted. But in the short while that I have known him, its been crazy fun! Hes a good friend and a really fun guy!

It was pretty easy to figure out what to bake for a 21st Birthday - Chocolate J.D Cupcakes. Yes, Jack Daniel cupcakes. After all he was finally allowed to drink legally!

I found this recipe a couple of months ago and kept it in mind for such an occasion. Well, I couldn't just make cupcakes. So I decided to make a Chocolate Cake with a Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache and Chocolate Whiskey Cupcakes with a Chocolate Whiskey Buttercream.

The end product was quite nice and everyone really liked it! So yay for me! :)

We decided to surprise him at twelve and it was a crazy surprise. We gathered below his building at twelve. All of us called him up to wish him, just to throw him off guard. Cliffy (his brother) had kept their house door open for us. We were ready with our gift basket and in-his-face cake!

We went into his room and cut the cake. But the fun part came next! As tradition goes, birthday bumps had to be given. So we took him downstairs and the boys took care of that!

While he was getting his bumps, the in-his-face cake was brought out from its hiding space and what happened in the next few moments will go down in history as one of the most epic cake smashes! Cliffy quite smartly has a video of the moment when Benston smashed the cake into Claytons face so hard that he flew backwards! The end product of it - Look below!

Behold the Cake Monster!

He then spent 20 minutes chasing us just so he could wipe the cake off on all of us!

All in all - it was a fantastic surprise! 

Happy Birthday Chubbs! Have a great one! And May God Always Bless you! Love ya!

Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

CAKE
(Source: http://www.confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2013/04/mounds-layer-cake/)
2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup boiling water

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour the cake pans. In the bowl of your mixer, combine sugar, cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, oil and buttermilk and beat on medium speed for two minutes. Scrape sides of the bowl and stir in boiling water. Divide the batter into the cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow the cakes to cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to cool completely.

DARK CHOCOLATE WHISKEY GANACHE
(Source: http://fieldsofcake.com/jack-daniels-dark-chocolate-cupcakes-recipes-archive/)
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate. chopped into small pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unslated butter, softened
1/4 cup Jack Daniels Whiskey

Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set aside. Heat heavy cream until just boiling and pour over chocolate. Cover chocolate and cream for 2 minutes to allow chocolate to soften. Uncover and stir with whisk until smooth and silky. Stir in butter until fully incorporated. Stir in Whiskey until fully incorporated, cool completely.

Chocolate J.D Cupcakes with Chocolate Whiskey Buttercream

CUPCAKES
(Source: http://fieldsofcake.com/jack-daniels-dark-chocolate-cupcakes-recipes-archive/)
1 cup all purpose flour
1.87 ounces cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup super strong coffee
1/4 cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
1/2 buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, stir the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, coffee, whiskey, buttermilk and oil. Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Spoon mixture into prepared cupcake cups. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 18-20 minutes. Cool completely.

CHOCOLATE WHISKEY BUTTERCREAM
(Source: http://www.thekitchenprepblog.com/2012/08/chocolate-whiskey-cupcakes.html)
1 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons Jack Daniels Whiskey
4-5 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
2-3 tbsp heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and whiskey with the paddle attachment until light and creamy. Slowly add confectioner's sugar one cup at a time until fully incorporated, but not too dry. Beat in melted chocolate. Add cream one tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Notes:

• The cake recipe is for three cake layers. I made only two thick layers.
• You can use any whiskey you want. 
• The temperature and time to bake differs from oven to oven. So you would need to set the temperature as per your oven and keep a check on it.