three times twenty

My friends (two of them, and one of them is a set of twins) had celebrated a birthday last week. I wanted to surprise them at midnight with a cake and got the rest of the group to join in. To make life easier, the three of them happened to be living in the same house, with the fourth housemate also being part of the friendship group. Generally the birthday people sleep quite early but Amy was still up as it got closer to midnight. Worried that our surprise may be ruined, we decided to wait until after midnight so they wouldn't suspect anything.
For the cake, I decided to make a triple chocolate mousse cake, which I had prepared the day before. Generally I'm not very adventurous with my cakes, only around birthdays that I put in the effort, but I love a simple vanilla or chocolate with butter cream or whipped cream, simple but so satisfying. This was the first time trying the cake and I did not want to fail because I hate wasting not only food but also time. The first layer is a dense flourless chocolate cake which had to be baked first. I followed the recipe exactly and when I had left it out of the oven to cool down, I found it was still gooey inside. By this stage I couldn't put it back into the oven otherwise it would cook uneven. I just prayed that it would set in the fridge overnight, or at least the outer edges which was cooked would be enough to support the cake. The layer is dark chocolate mousse, and boy this part was very fun to lick the spoon and bowl afterwards, although I did end up feeling a bit sick from consuming all that chocolate! I poured the mousse, and left it in the fridge to set overnight. The next day, I made a simple whipped cream layer on top because I didn't want to do the white chocolate mousse layer which would have taken a lot more time, and involved using gelatin which I haven't used before. The first batch of whipped cream, ended up being curdled even though I specifically whipped it by hand so that I wouldn't over whip it. However the problem was easily solved because I whipped up another batch of cream to spread the top of the over whipped and the cake looked amazing again. For the decorations, I just melted some cooking chocolate and did the writings and random drawings. I was very happy with the look of the final product, I know this cake was relatively straight forward to make, but it's always nice when something turns out alright. I was so worried cutting into the cake that middle has set yet, but fortunately it had, and it looks amazing! The taste was also delicious, very chocolate and creamy and just melted in your mouth. I would have eaten the whole thing, if it weren't my diet! Oh dear, I just ended up writing a lot more about the cake than the actual surprise bit.
Anywho, we all met up outside and waited for Harkiran to let us in. She has the most comical silent walk ever, she uses her whole body with exaggerated arm movements and everything. We couldn't help but burst out silent laughing! Rosa was holding the cake and we decided that she should come in later with the cake, while the rest of us went into the house and shouted "Happy Birthday" to draw the birthday triplets from their rooms. Luckily they were surprised and hadn't suspected anything, goal accomplished. Then Rosa walked in with the cake and we sang 'Happy Birthday'. We took some photos with my camera and the handy remote, before digging into the cake. It was an awesome night, I'm glad they were surprised and happy that my cake was a success.