The birthday cake is usually a spice cake, and in keeping with the theme made this!
It's a 8 inch by 6 layer cocoa spice cake with pecan creme filling and brown sugar meringue buttercream with DeRuyter dark chocolate sprinkles and Eclat Reserve blend mendiants.
I tweaked a recipe and added Ghiradelli cocoa, cinnamon, ginger and a smidgen of nutmeg. The cake is moist and has a good crumb texture, and since I love spiced hot chocolate, thought the chocolate would be a great addition to all the cake flavors.
Oh, those mendiants! Eclat Chocolates in one of my favorite chocolatiers, that is close to home. It is artisanal chocolate at its best.
"I love the story behind mendiants: the word means "beggar" in French, and is related to mendicants - religious orders that relied on charity, or begging, for income. Mendicant orders originated in Europe in the Middle Ages; it is from there that the classic image grew of the poor friar who has given away all his earthly possessions and lives off the charity of the faithful. The original chocolate mendiants had as their toppings four fruits and nuts meant to symbolize the colors of the robes of the four major mendicant orders of the Roman Catholic Church: almonds (Carmelites), hazelnuts (Augustins), dried figs (Franciscans), and raisins (Dominicans).
Further fascinating information: those four fruits and nuts are part of the 13 Desserts of Christmas, part of the Christmas tradition in Provence. At the end of the big Christmas dinner, thirteen sweets representing Christ and his 12 apostles, are served to finish off the meal. Honestly, 13 Desserts sounds a lot more appealing than the 12 Days of Christmas! The thirteen sweets can vary but usually include the four aforementioned fruits and nuts, dates, nougat, and more recently, a Yule log. (It's delightful the delicious information you dig up while doing research for a book on candy!)"
( thank you, Anita Chu @ http://dessertfirst.typepad.com )
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