Like wine through clay,
joy in his blood bursting his heart—the bliss!

Robert Browning, Pheidippides

It is my 26th birthday, today.
More pressing is that my exam, culmination of the last 3 months of my life, is next Friday.
I am therefore resolutely trying to ignore the fact that my birthday has arrived until then.

It has been a marathon, sans doute.

If I’m being frank, it could be any other day of the year and it would have registered about as much. My excitement for the day is the same measure as my excitement for any other day of work. 
I am weary and ready to rest, but much as I remember the actual marathon that I ran years ago, it is those last 0.2 miles that are among the most brutal and challenging.
In these moments, it is by a sheer miracle and whatever meager grit and discipline I have left in my possession that I keep going.
Very fitting that I will finish this clerkship at ~26 and 2 weeks old.

Still, I am anchored on getting through and I am staring fixedly on the light that approaches.
I hope to safely see my friends and celebrate with them soon. And  (maybe even more so) I hope to see my bed and sleep in without an alarm for the first time in 3 months soon.

This cake, this frilly, pink, vintage monstrosity, makes me sooo happy.
It is not a pavlova, however, which is odd given my overwhelming preference for that over “regular” cake. But my heart had fixated on the idea of a big fluff pile of ruby chocolate + lemon curd, and I had to answer its siren call.
The cake base is a moist buttermilk cake with a light but fully formed crumb, filled with tart lemon curd and frosted with swaths of ruby chocolate buttercream, which flits across the tongue as a mere suggestion of cacao with a pleasant fruity note.
If you’ve never had ruby chocolate before, it is certainly an experience. It has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that tickles the brain through the taste buds. Would I choose it over milk chocolate? Never, not ever, not once. But it is a fun novelty, and it is a natural way to pair cacao with lemon, which in my opinion can sometimes clash and end up less than the sum of its parts.

The cake layers and lemon curd can easily be made ahead and saved, wrapped well.
The cake stays well in the fridge fully frosted; if slices have been cut, make sure you press plastic wrap on the cut face of both sides to prevent it from drying out.
Also, it should go without saying, this cake is essentially 50% frosting, so if that’s not your thing, scale back the buttercream.

Birthdays, previously:

25
24
23
22
21
20
18

Lemon and Ruby Chocolate Cake
makes 1 3×6″ layer cake

ingredients:
450 grams (2 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons (1 1/2 tablespoons) baking powder
8 grams (1 teaspoon) salt
450 grams (3 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
225 grams (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
450 grams (16 ounces) buttermilk, room temperature

for the lemon curd:
60 grams (3 large) egg yolks
60 grams (1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar
pinch salt
60 grams (1/4 cup) lemon juice
40 grams (3 tablespoons) butter

for the ruby chocolate buttercream:
225 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter
480-600g (4-5 cups) confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon salt
80 grams (1/3 cup) heavy cream
120 grams (1/2 cup) heavy cream
120 grams (4 1/4 ounces) ruby chocolate, chopped

directions:
Make the cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter, flour, and line with parchment 3 6-inch pans.
Mix sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Mix eggs, extracts, and buttermilk together.
On low speed, mix the butter into the flour until 75% incorporated.
Slowly stream in room temperature buttermilk.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on low speed until fully incorporated.
Portion into your prepared pans and bake for 25 minutes until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely.
Make the lemon curd: whisk yolks, sugar, salt, and juice together and cook over very low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and glossy, about 8 minutes.
Remove from heat and whisk in butter; allow to cool completely.
Make the ruby chocolate buttercream: warm 120 gram (1/2 cup) measure of heavy cream to simmering.
Pour over chopped ruby chocolate; allow to sit for 3 minutes, then whisk briskly until incorporated and shiny and smooth.
Set aside and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes (do not refrigerate).
Beat butter and salt together in a stand mixer.
Slowly add confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, while scraping the bowl often.
Add the ganache into the mixture in two additions.
Mixing on medium speed, slowly add in the remaining 1/3 cup cream; add 1 tablespoon at a time and be sure to continue to assess spreadability (you may not need the whole amount, or any of it at all, depending on the temperature of your kitchen).
To assemble, tort the cakes; pipe a barrier around the edges and fill the center with lemon curd.
Decorate with vintage, girly ruffles, and enjoy!