Three-Layer Strawberry-Filled Chocolate Cake

Wednesday is Fritz’s birthday!

We have a tradition every year in which I make a new kind of birthday cake–it’s a fun occasion for me to bake something extravagant and decadent, and to try something new.  This year he requested a black forest cake, but since I know he doesn’t like cherries I adapted his idea to something similar (but probably more delicious)!

For his past birthdays I’ve made:

22nd–Reese’s peanut butter chocolate cake;

23rd–Cheesecake with strawberry topping;

24th–Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting;

25th–Pineapple upside-down cake;

…and now:

It’s a ridiculous three-layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling (and fresh strawberries) covered in whipped chocolate ganache–and it was so much fun to make.

I wasn’t going to blog it at all, but once I saw the three cake layers just sitting there, I couldn’t resist.  I didn’t adapt the recipe at all (except that I whipped the ganache, didn’t puree the strawberry filling, and added a layer of fresh strawberries into each strawberry layer), so I’m not going to repost it–but here’s the original site from Baking Junkie.

And here, my friends, is where it all began:

Now let’s add some strawberries:

Another cake layer:

And some more strawberries:

Of course we need that last layer of cake:

And then we slather it all over with whipped ganache:

Top it off with some sliced strawberries and chopped chocolate:

I’m pretty excited to try this cake–but we are waiting for Fritz’s actual birthday to slice into this bad boy.  For now, it’s sitting in the freezer ready to be defrosted Wednesday afternoon (hopefully it’ll be just as good).  That’s not to say that Fritz didn’t get to enjoy an early birthday present–he got to lick the bowls.

We also received a box from my parents with presents!  Needless to say, it did not contain an evil cat when it arrived.

What’s your favorite kind of birthday cake?  I used to hate cake when I was a kid so my mom always made me “dirt cake” with pudding, Oreo crumbs, and gummy worms.

Hmm…maybe that will be next year’s cake for Fritz!