mocha pocky layer cake

For my mom's 70th birthday last year in March, I made this mocha cake decorated with chocolate Pocky (thin biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate). It actually just started out as a mocha cake - chocolate cake layers filled and frosted with espresso whipped cream - and since I had a 2-week old newborn at the time (plus a then 5-year old and 3-year old), I only had time to decorate it with a quickly piped shell border and chocolate sprinkles.

But then the chocolate sprinkles got out of hand. I couldn't stop! I added more, and more, and more, until it started looking like ... stubble. Very NOT attractive!

So the next day (the day of the dinner party), I sent my husband out to buy as many boxes of Pocky that he could find, because the only thing I could think to do was hide the chocolate sprinkle stubble.  And that's how Pocky saved the day!

I cut off the undipped ends of the Pocky sticks, and began to stick them along the sides of the cake, inserted into the bottom shell border. And slowly by slowly, my chocolate sprinkle stubble problem became a thing of the past.

And at the end of it all, I was left with a bowl of tasty snacks :)

The cake ended up tasting great, and the kids went around to all the adults asking for their Pocky sticks!

Stay tuned for this year's birthday cake for my Mom - I already know what I want to make!