I hit the big four-oh yesterday, so I thought I’d mark the milestone with a cake I’ve been wanting to make for ages. I’m not a huge fan of eating sugar paste (oh, the sacrilege!) so I wanted to make a cake that I’d really want to eat. I’ve been thinking about doing a naked ganache cake that didn’t look naked or dark brown for a while now, and what with the trend for drippy cakes, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. And, while I’m not really into goal setting, I did kind of have a line in the sand regarding learning how to make macarons before my birthday. Tricksy little confections, they are :-)

As it sometimes happens with cake decorating, at about 4.30pm on Monday afternoon, I was having a bit of a panic in the kitchen because the cake just wasn’t coming together. I made a dash to the local farm shop and found the amazing pale green pistachio nougat and the lovely little wafter biscuits. After a little bit of crafty slicing and dicing, it all came together like magic!

(Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with throwing made and bought decorations together – cheating with a little bit of flair!)

Anyway, I hope you like it.

x debs