Layered chocolate cake (she did ask for chocolate...)

It's not a new obsession, my fondness for a layer cake (remember previous posts on dreamy vanilla cake and black forest?) 

Even on a Sunday night after my high school reunion and a week working interstate, I couldn't resist making a version of the Donna Hay layered chocolate cake from her book Simple Essentials Chocolate. After all, it was to celebrate my new boss' birthday and her only hint on the cake front was CHOCOLATE. She said it, I listened. Weary as I was, a deep enthusiasm for these decadent layers kept me going as the clock ticked again and again to remind me of the late hour.

In the end, I had to give up on icing it and resume in the morning due to the warm weather we are getting in Melbourne right now. The truffle icing was very runny and needed longer to cool. Here's what it looked like after pulling it from the fridge in the morning...

Then after the icing was complete (I love the height of two cakes on top of one another in four layers - so grand. Please excuse the smears on the plate)...

And ready to be eaten...

I'm usually an advocate of following a recipe closely for the first time and making my own "improvements" and variations the second time around, but not this time. The recipe called for 750 grams of mascarpone and as much as I like like the stuff, I swapped this for 500g of light cream cheese beaten in the MixMaster because my local supermarket was selling 250 gram tubs of mascarpone for more than $6 a pop... nearly $20 right there before you even think of the other ingredients including 400 grams of chocolate. I also omitted the liquer and I would like to say that was a conscious thrifty move on my part but the truth is I've only just re-read the recipe and realised I forgot it! Oops. This is what happens when you bake so late and before work (unfortunately, this is when I mostly have to do it). The good news is that it didn't seem to stop my workmates hoeing in and that's the main thing.