I baked this one for my husband’s 30th birthday. You know, the milestone where you’re officially coming into the older millennial that you are, but also have the joy of knowing you have disposable adult money to fulfill unrequited (and often stupid) childhood desires. That’s what this cake celebrates - a little bit of new age adulthood mixed with childhood nostalgia. And no wisdom in sight ;)

A few recipe notes:

• The chiffon sponge measurements yield two 5” cakes, about 2” in height.

• The ganache yield is enough to thickly layer the cake and coat it twice. Leftovers can be frozen for up to 3 months - thaw them overnight before whipping for use again.

• Do not hand crush the Maltesers for the buttercream, they will jam up your piping tip. Blitz them in a blender.

• The buttercream yield is slightly more than required for the squiggles. Feel free to use it up in between the cake layers or go a different decoration route instead of the squiggles. Leftovers can be frozen for up to 3 months - - thaw them overnight before whipping for use again.

• I recommend making all the components 1-2 days ahead of your assembly/serving day. The flavours get deeper, but most importantly, it’s just efficient.

ingredients

GROUP A: CHIFFON SPONGE*

• 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

• 80 g granulated yellow sugar

• 68 ml sunflower oil

• 50 ml plain kefir (undiluted)

• 54 ml whole milk

• 24 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 128 g cake flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature

• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• 60 g granulated yellow sugar

GROUP B: SOAKING SYRUP

• 1/4 cup chilled espresso

• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder

• 2 1/2 tbsp granulated brown sugar (add more if you’d like it to be sweeter)

• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

• 2 dashes angostura bitters

• 2 dashes orange bitters

GROUP C: GANACHE

• 300 g whipping cream

• 300 g 70-75% dark chocolate, minced into bits

• 15 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 tbsp (0.75 oz) of your favourite bourbon

GROUP D: BUTTERCREAM

• 90 g unsalted European style butter

• 1 tbsp powdered sugar

• 1 tsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 2 cups Maltesers

method

Chiffon sponge

• Preheat the oven to 325 F. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Cold eggs can be brought to room temp. quickly by soaking them for 5-7 minutes in warm water.

• In a mixing bowl, beat the yolks and 80 g sugar until the mixture turns light and fluffy. Add the oil, kefir, and milk. Continue mixing.

• Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt) in two batches and mix to combine. Set this aside.

• In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking. Gradually add the sugar, and keep whisking until stiff peaks form.

• Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture till it’s completely mixed. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the yolk mixture (in 2 parts).

• Pour the batter into an ungreased pan of choice. Bake for 30 minutes to begin with. You will need to adjust the baking time because every oven is different. If the top gets too brown, place some aluminium foil over it and continue baking. Cake is done when a skewer inserted into its center comes out clean.

• Once baked, cool the cake in its mold, upside down on a wire rack, for 20 minutes. Unmold carefully and continue cooling upside down on the wire rack. Repeat for cake #2 with the remaining batter.

Soaking syrup

• Add all group B ingredients to a jar and shake vigorously to combine.

• Once the cakes have completely cooled down to room temperature, slice each into 3 parts horizontally. Place the slices on a baking sheet and pour the syrup in small doses till the sponge feels damp. Leave the slices outside to soak in the syrup if assembling the same day. Refrigerate if assembling later.

Ganache

• Add the finely minced chocolate and cocoa powder to a medium bowl.

• Heat the cream till tiny bubbles start to form at the edges (till it scalds). Pour this in batches over the chocolate, stirring continuously with every addition, till there are no more lumps left. Pour in the bourbon and whisk well to form a smooth ganache.

• Cover with plastic wrap by pressing the wrap against the surface of the ganache. Refrigerate to chill and thicken, preferably overnight.

Buttercream

• Beat the butter, sugar, and cocoa till its slightly fluffy and creamy.

• Blitz the Maltesers in a blender till there are no chunky bits at all. Add to the butter mix. Beat on high speed till it’s light, fluffy, and pipeable.

Assembly

• Take out the ganache and buttercream from the fridge AT LEAST 3 hours prior to assembly.

• Beat the ganache on high speed to make it light, slightly fluffy, and easy to spread.

• Smear a little ganache on your serving dish. Place a layer of soaked chiffon cake, then dollop as much ganache as you’d like and spread evenly. Repeat for every layer till the top. Crumb coat the layered cake and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

• Once the crumb coat has set, frost the cake all over with the whipped ganache and spread with a bench scraper/knife/offset spatula to even the coating.

• Pipe fun, random squiggles with the buttercream all over the cake and decorate with more Maltesers, some chocolate truffle shavings, and glitter dust. It is a party, after all!

*Chocolate chiffon cake recipe adapted from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe’s Cocoa Chiffon Cake.