I think my sister has had a constant supply of cake in the past few months due to the fact that she had a three tier birthday cake to get through and because I have made cakes for her boyfriend Rabbi and one of her flatmates Laura. Today it is Chandni's birthday, one of Helen's other flatmates who she became close friends with in her first year of university.

Helen told me that the chocolate tier of her birthday cake disappeared the quickest, so this is the cake we decided on for Chandni. I used my favourite rich chocolate cake recipe which my mum has always used for birthdays, but instead of doing the usual chocolate fudge icing I made buttercream instead. Buttercream is a cooked icing with a meringue like texture, quite different to butter icing. I first made chocolate buttercream a few weeks ago and realised how wondeful it is! I find that it is lighter and less sweet than butter icing, but still extremely indulgent.