My children have fallen into the habit of telling me what sort of cake they'd like for their birthday a year in advance. I made this square madhatter cake at a class with Jackie Thompson a week before my daughter, Ashley's, birthday. So this is what she got instead of the chocolate meringue stack she requested.
I still made the chocolate meringue for her later on, layers of gooey chocolate meringue and creme patissier (mm-mmm...), when she invited a few close friends over for a slumber party.
That stack of chocolate-goodness made up for a sleepless night ;-p