A very Buffy birthday cake

I'm going to sound really self-centred here but I LOVE my birthday! For the month leading up to it, I'm like a small child on a long car journey that spends the whole time repeating "are we there yet?" in an increasingly frantic voice.

Yesterday, I decided to bake my own birthday cake ready for today and even though I haven't attempted this before (and hadn't, in fact, baked a cake for at least 12 months), I had great fun trawling the net for inspiration.

One cake in particular caught my eye, and in spite of my novice baker status, I felt confident I could make something similar to it:

I chose a Mary Berry chocolate cake recipe, as I thought the chocolate would look suitably dramatic against the red icing, and away I went!

There were a few hiccups along the way - medium eggs rather than large, a toddler that was scared of the electric handmixer, a hungry baby and a dog that decided to engage in a barking war with the Jack Russell next door. I also had a crisis over the ganache, as I opted to use milk chocolate rather than plain so I was worried it wouldn't have a lovely glossy finish.

I'm really proud of the outcome and I think you'll agree there's very little difference between my cake and the googled cake :

For those who want to make their own chocolate cake, I found the recipe here and honestly, if I can make it, anyone can! Plus, it was truly delicious! In fact, I'm off to finish off the last couple of slices now!