Simple Birthday Cake

For my birthday a few days ago (finally 21!), I made a delicious cake, featuring some of my current favorite tastes. The first layer is a brownie like cake, covered in a very tart lime mousse, and then with a pile of strawberries on top. This cake takes a little while to make, mostly because everything has to cool and set in between layers. It’s very simple though, as long as you’re gentle with the mousse. It would be a good idea to make the brownie cake the night before and the mousse in the morning.

For the brownie cake you will need:

• 100 grams butter
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 deciliters granulated sugar
• 1.5 deciliters flour
• 2 eggs

Set the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Melt the butter. While it cools slightly, mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the eggs one by one and then the butter. Transfer to a buttered springform pan (24 – 28 cm diameter), dusted with cocoa powder, and bake for approximately 35 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should still be sticky. This cake needs to cool completely before the next step. I would recommend removing the edge of the springform pan and cleaning it before making the mousse, to end up with a nice, clean cake.

The mousse is a little bit harder to make, but still fairly simple. You will need:

• 2 gelatin leaves
• 2 deciliters heavy cream
• 2 eggs, separated
• The juice of 3 limes
• 3/4 deciliter granulated sugar

Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg yolks into the cream. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until hard peaks form. Heat up the lime juice mixed with the sugar, but don’t let it boil. Stir the gelatin leaves into the lime juice. Fold the lime mixture into the whipped cream. Finally, fold in the egg whites, a little at a time, very gently. Spread this mixture on the cake and let it set in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

• 2 cups of sliced strawberries
• (Powdered sugar)

To serve, cover the top with sliced strawberries and (depending on how sweet they are) dust some powdered sugar over the cake. Enjoy!