# Cake idea needed



## Janet H (Sep 17, 2019)

I need some help from the DC hive mind.  I've been tasked to bake a birthday cake for 3 people who share the same birthday - one cake, 3 birthdays.  They are BIG Birthdays with 0's and so the cake needs to be special.

It will be served at a smallish dinner party and the 3 celebrants have unique tastes.

One loves chocolate
One dislikes chocolate and almond flavors and prefers citrus flavors or carrot cake (but no raisins)
One likes berry, almond and caramel flavors
They all dislike fondant

I am up for making something out of the ordinary - maybe a 3 tiered cake; but need to ideas for flavor combinations.

Any ideas?


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## Andy M. (Sep 17, 2019)

Sounds like a riddle! "A man has a goose a sack of wheat and a fox he has to get across the river in  boat..."

Make a cheesecake with a variety of toppings including chocolate, orange, caramel and blueberry. Everyone's happy.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 17, 2019)

Janet H said:


> ...I am up for making something out of the ordinary - maybe a 3 tiered cake; but need to ideas for flavor combinations.
> 
> Any ideas?


I don't know about three tiers. You wouldn't be able to please each "curmudgeon" without displeasing another's taste buds.  Those are rather distinct "don't likes".

Maybe three individual one-layer cakes, artfully arranged on one cake board. Like three leaves of a clover. They'd all be lucky for you to make something that would suit each of them individually.

I'd make one cake a deep, rich chocolate. Another could be a light lemon or orange chiffony kind of cake. The third one? Maybe a dense cake with berries mixed in? Or an airy white or yellow cake flavored with almonds (maybe include chopped almonds in the batter) and topped with a varieties of scattered fresh berries.

Good luck!


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## GotGarlic (Sep 17, 2019)

I've been watching "The Great British Bake-Off" a lot lately  Here's an idea - make a tiered cake that looks like a pile of presents and make each tier a different flavor. Maybe lemon for the top, chocolate in the middle a berry flavor with a caramel drizzle for the bottom. Then you could decorate around the bottom with fresh berries.


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## GotGarlic (Sep 17, 2019)

Janet H said:


> One loves chocolate
> One dislikes chocolate and almond flavors and prefers citrus flavors or carrot cake (but no raisins)
> One likes berry, almond and caramel flavors
> They all dislike fondant





GotGarlic said:


> I've been watching "The Great British Bake-Off" a lot lately  Here's an idea - make a tiered cake that looks like a pile of presents and make each tier a different flavor. Maybe lemon for the top, chocolate in the middle a berry flavor with a caramel drizzle for the bottom. Then you could decorate around the bottom with fresh berries.
> View attachment 36722



I just ran to the store and I've been thinking about this some more. Here are some more detailed ideas.

Tier 1: chocolate cake with smashed cherries mixed in and a chocolate ganache topping. 
Tier 2: lemon cake with blueberries mixed in and a lemon buttercream frosting.
Tier 3: almond cake with strawberries mixed in and a caramel drizzle decoration. 

Berries and chocolate curls around the bottom to decorate. 

I've never made a large cake like this, but I'm imagining something like a wedding cake with a cake board under each tier so you can take it apart for serving after you get your ooohs and aaahs [emoji2]


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## Silversage (Sep 17, 2019)

I was thinking that a lemon cake with raspberry filling would cover 2 out of 3.  Maybe a white chocolate buttercream? The non chocolate person might not object, and the chocolate person could be satisfied.


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## GotGarlic (Sep 17, 2019)

Well... white chocolate isn't really chocolate... just sayin'...


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## Silversage (Sep 18, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> Well... white chocolate isn't really chocolate... just sayin'...



Yeah.  That was the point.


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## Kayelle (Sep 18, 2019)

Andy M. said:


> Sounds like a riddle! "A man has a goose a sack of wheat and a fox he has to get across the river in  boat..."
> 
> *Make a cheesecake with a variety of toppings including chocolate, orange, caramel and blueberry. Everyone's happy.*




I'd never attempt such a challenge Janet, but someone with your baking talent will make whatever you choose spectacular.
I really like the idea from Andy above. It could be both beautiful and a nod to each special birthday.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 18, 2019)

Silversage said:


> ...Maybe a white chocolate buttercream? The non chocolate person might not object, and the chocolate person could be satisfied.



This "chocolate person" would feel cheated out of chocolate. Just sayin'...


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## taxlady (Sep 18, 2019)

If someone especially made something chocolate for me and then I discovered it was white chocolate -- I would be very sad and "put on a brave face" to be polite.


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## medtran49 (Sep 18, 2019)

Make cupcakes to please each one and buy or make one of those cupcake trees like they do on that cupcake competition show to present them.


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## taxlady (Sep 18, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Make cupcakes to please each one and buy or make one of those cupcake trees like they do on that cupcake competition show to present them.



Ohhh, that reminds me of something I saw recently on Facebook. This might give you some ideas. In the picture on FB, you could see that some of the cupcakes were chocolate and some were something else.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Sep 18, 2019)

White cake, white frosting, with an inscription that reads "Happy Birthday to the Picky Eaters!"

Really, how about a spumoni inspired Italian cheesecake? I made this while consulting for Amoretti and it disappeard so fast I had to make a second one!


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## ShellyCooks (Sep 18, 2019)

I think medtran’s idea is great!  Cupcakes in three flavors to fit each taste.  You could even get three small cupcake trees so each person has his/her own personal cupcakes! Good Luck!  Let us know what you decide to do.


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## Janet H (Sep 19, 2019)

Love the peacock but I am not up to it.  There are some great ideas here however!

I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake.  Still wrestling with flavors however...  I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?


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## medtran49 (Sep 19, 2019)

Janet H said:


> Love the peacock but I am not up to it.  There are some great ideas here however!
> 
> I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake.  Still wrestling with flavors however...  I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?



I had to send the peacock picture to DD as she's a fan.  I think the "eyes" are probably fondant anyway, though could be modeling chocolate.

You mean small like 6 inch ish?  You just have to adjust baking times.  

If you want some height, angle variation, think about cutting the top layers like Mad Hatter/topsy turvy cakes.  You could even do 6 inch and 4 inch layers and make each one a tiered or Mad Hatter cake to give them visual variation.  The Mad Hatter cakes aren't hard to do, it's in the way you split the layers and there are loads of tutorials on them.  I was really surprised at how easy it was when I did the first one.


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## Just Cooking (Sep 19, 2019)

Janet H said:


> Love the peacock but I am not up to it.  There are some great ideas here however!
> 
> I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake.  Still wrestling with flavors however...  I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?



While not an baker, I do bake a lot of 6" cakes.. I have not had them dry out..
Disclaimer: Small cakes don't last long enough to dry out in my house..  

As always, I suggest Christina Lane as a good source.. There are other good blogs for small cakes too.. Eliminates ingredient quantity and baking time concerns.. 

https://www.dessertfortwo.com/

Ross

Ross


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## Janet H (Sep 20, 2019)

I ordered a couple of 6 inch pans yesterday - time for some test baking.

here's my current thinking:

Cake 1:
lemon cake layers
Interior: blueberry jam
Exterior: berry scented cream cheese icing
Decoration: piled up sugar frosted fresh blue berries

Cake 2:
Chocolate stout cake layers
Interior: penuche whip between layers 
exterior: Baileys laced Cream cheese icing
Decoration: ??? 

Cake 3:
Yellow cake layers
Milk Chocolate frosting
Chocolate curls on top

Cake 3 option b:
Coconut cake
Toasted coconut icing
Chocolate butterfly on top

I've been looking for an excuse to try this out:


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## medtran49 (Sep 20, 2019)

Is option 3 the one that likes caramel?  If so, you could do a caramel icing (one of my fave cakes, yellow cake and caramel icing) or do a decoration with caramel, maybe a dome for the butterfly to sit on?


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## Janet H (Sep 22, 2019)

Do you have a good recipe for caramel icing?


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## CakePoet (Sep 22, 2019)

I have done this.  
https://howtocakeit.com/blogs/recip...pe-redirect&utm_source=redirect&utm_term=none 

She also have good recipe for caramel buttercream.


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## FrankZ (Sep 22, 2019)

Janet H said:


> I ordered a couple of 6 inch pans yesterday - time for some test baking.



I'm happy to help with test tasting...


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 22, 2019)

*, and 1/2 Nutella.  Place parchment paper into the cake pan, ,making eigher three lar*



Janet H said:


> I need some help from the DC hive mind.  I've been tasked to bake a birthday cake for 3 people who share the same birthday - one cake, 3 birthdays.  They are BIG Birthdays with 0's and so the cake needs to be special.
> 
> It will be served at a smallish dinner party and the 3 celebrants have unique tastes.
> 
> ...


Take your largest cake pan, or even a roasting pan, and prepare it by buttering, and flouring the bottom and sides.  Make three separate cake batters, i might suggest pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate mayonnaise cake, and carrot cake, each with appropriate frosting.  For the chocolate frosting, mix as 1.2 chocolate buttercream

Cut .parchment paper to divide the pan, rectangular, o circular, into 3 equal sections.  Fill each section with cake batter and bake until done.  Invert cake onto suitable serving dish and frost with the right frosting for each, cream cheese frosting for the carrot cake, chocolate-buttercream/Nutella for the chocolate, and no frosting required for the pineapple upside-down cake.  

Hope this helps, or at least inspires.  Oh, remove the parchment paper before frosting the cakes.

Seeeeeeya; Chief longwind of the North


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 22, 2019)

*, and 1/2 Nutella.  Place parchment paper into the cake pan, ,making eigher three lar*



Janet H said:


> I need some help from the DC hive mind.  I've been tasked to bake a birthday cake for 3 people who share the same birthday - one cake, 3 birthdays.  They are BIG Birthdays with 0's and so the cake needs to be special.
> 
> It will be served at a smallish dinner party and the 3 celebrants have unique tastes.
> 
> ...



Largest cake pan, round or rectangular.  three cakes, carrot, chocolate/Mayonnaise, and pineapple upside down cake.  Divide pan into three equal sections, and fill each section with one of the cake batters,  bake until done.  Invert onto suitable serving plate/platter.  Frost the chocolate cake with chocolate butter-cream tha has been mixes with an equal amount of Nutella.  Cream cheese frosting for the carrot cake.  No frosting required for the pineapple upside-down cake.    There you have it, cakes to meet every person's taste, and fairly easy to make.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## medtran49 (Sep 23, 2019)

Have to admit I like the look of CakePoet's link with the drippy caramel over the white icing.  



Here's the recipe for the caramel icing I use.  It's from The Cake Doctor cookbook, though I added the pinch of salt.  Makes about 3 cups. 



8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
good pinch of salt
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups 10x sugar, sifted (very important to sift, lumps otherwise)
1 tsp vanilla extract


Over medium heat in a medium-size sauce pan, melt the butter, salt and both sugars.  Bring to a boil, stirring slowly constantly, then boil for 2 minutes.  Stir in the milk and bring back to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Beat the sifted 10x sugar and vanilla in with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth.  Frost cake immediately (while frosting is still warm) or the frosting will harden.  If it does harden, place the pan back over low heat and stir until it softens.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 24, 2019)

Butterscotch icing is great on yellow cake, spice cake, and of course, on butterscotch cake.  If there are leftovers, it's great as a topping for parfaits, ice cream sundays, and added to vanilla ice cream and milk to make shakes ad malts.

Another option for your cakes is to make a trifle, with multiple layers of different cakes, and toppings.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## LPBeier (Sep 26, 2019)

My former church has a banquet every year to honour all the graduating students who attend. For several years I made the cakes for these banquets. One year I decided to do things differently. I made a large (15-inch x 4 inch) cake for the guests and one 6 inch x 4 inches for each of the six grads. They could either share it with their family table or take it home and eat from the large cake. They were thrilled to have their own cakes with their names on them in small cut-out letters on toothpicks so they stood up on the cake.

You wouldn't want to do 3 cakes and a big one but could certainly get away with the 3 6 inch cakes with each person's name on it.


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## Janet H (Sep 30, 2019)

After some stewing I have a new plan and need a little help...

Cake 1 (as before):
lemon cake layers
Interior: blueberry jam
Exterior: berry scented cream cheese icing

Cake 2:
Chocolate stout cake layers
Berries and icing between layers
Chocolate icing, topped with fresh raspberries

Cake 3:
This: https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2019/05/strawberry-cake-roll.html
I did a test bake over the weekend and it's amazing except for the recipe for the decoration which was dry and chewy.

The roll was delicious and the filling is also wonderful.  The piped decorations are spectacular but they taste awful.

How can I improve this?

The recipe calls for:
1 large egg white 
2 tablespoons  powdered sugar
1/2 cup  cake flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
food coloring

I had to double the egg white to make it pipeable - there has to be a misprint in the proportions above.    Even with this change the decorative bits were not tasty and they were texture violators...

Any ideas?


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## LPBeier (Sep 30, 2019)

It isn't the same effect, but how about using strawberry fruit leather and cut them out of that? I am sure you could still bake them onto the cake in the same fashion.


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## medtran49 (Oct 1, 2019)

What kind of food coloring did you use?  Liquid, gel, paste?  Maybe use the gel or paste, cut down on the flour and vege oil?  That seems like a lot of flour.

Or you could simply do it like she did her pumpkin roll, use the same batter, pipe it, freeze the design, then add rest of batter and bake.  I even kind of like the mascarpone filling, strawberry cheesecakey like, yummy.


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## Janet H (Oct 1, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> What kind of food coloring did you use?  Liquid, gel, paste?  Maybe use the gel or paste, cut down on the flour and vege oil?  That seems like a lot of flour.
> 
> Or you could simply do it like she did her pumpkin roll, use the same batter, pipe it, freeze the design, then add rest of batter and bake.  I even kind of like the mascarpone filling, strawberry cheesecakey like, yummy.



I used gel coloring.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 2, 2019)

Recipe sites with decorator frosting:

*Decorator Buttercreqm:* https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7486/decorator-frosting-i/

*Soft Whipped Fluffy frosting:*https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15265/fluffy-white-frosting/?internalSource=staff%20pick&referringId=2419&referringContentType=Recipe%20Hub

*Marshmallow Icing:*
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/2...ingContentType=Recipe Hub&clickId=cardslot 13

Filled Cakes:  For these, you could substitute with white white chocolate, add food coloring, and make a fruit butter for the center.  You could make a butterscotch, or camel, or nut-butter filling as well.  You could fill it with a Maraschino cherry, or apple chuck, or custard, anything that can be froen befor baking. - https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/2...ringContentType=Recipe Hub&clickId=cardslot 9

Just a few more options.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 2, 2019)

Fondant is often used to make cake decorations.  Here is a link to a video showing how t make it.  Add paste food coloring to the liquid ingredients to change the color.  Add different extracts to change the flavor.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/218682/chocolate-fondant-a-la-maille/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringId=2417&referringContentType=Recipe%20Hub&clickId=cardslot%209


Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## taxlady (Oct 3, 2019)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> Fondant is often used to make cake decorations.  Here is a link to a video showing how t make it.  Add paste food coloring to the liquid ingredients to change the color.  Add different extracts to change the flavor.
> 
> https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/218682/chocolate-fondant-a-la-maille/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringId=2417&referringContentType=Recipe%20Hub&clickId=cardslot%209
> 
> ...



The first post states that all three celebrants dislike fondant.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 3, 2019)

taxlady said:


> The first post states that all three celebrants dislike fondant.



 Here is a sight for modeling chocolate recipes.  Just know htat modeling chocolate, when left out at room temp will become hard.  But you can cut it, sculpt it, or shape it to anything you want while it's pliable.

https://hungryhappenings.com/chocolate-making-tips/modeling-chocolate-recipe-candy-clay/

Another option might be to experiment with adding dissolved gelatin to a buttercream, and let it set up after spreading it flat on parchment paper.  The gelatin just might allow it to be cut into shapes.  I would try that as well.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Janet H (Nov 4, 2019)

Circling back on this - a few days ago we had the big B-day bash.  (you may recalls - 3 birthdays celebrated at one event and all of them important b-days turning over a new decade).

I made 3 smallish cakes:

Chocolate stout cake with fresh raspberries and a little jam between the layers.
The icing is made with cream cheese instead of butter

Strawberry roll - a jelly roll style cake with hints of lemon.  The cream filling is whipped cream with ground up dehydrated strawberries and stabilized with a little gelatin

Lemon cake with blueberry jam between the 4 layers.  The icing is cream cheese and the jam is added to the icing to change up the color.

some quick phone pics...


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## medtran49 (Nov 4, 2019)

Looks great!  I was wondering about this the other day and what you ended up doing.  What method did you end up using to make the imprinted strawberries?


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## Just Cooking (Nov 4, 2019)

Lovely and I have no doubt so delicious.. 

Please move into our apartment complex.... Next door, in fact..  

Ross


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## GotGarlic (Nov 4, 2019)

Those are beautiful, and I love the presentation with all the fresh berries


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## Janet H (Nov 4, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Looks great!  I was wondering about this the other day and what you ended up doing.  What method did you end up using to make the imprinted strawberries?



The original recipe called for a thin paste made from cake flour, a little sugar, egg white and oil as well as a lot of food coloring.  It was tough and chewy when cooked. I cut the flour way down and added whole egg.  it improved the texture a lot - not perfect but better.   The design is piped onto parchment and frozen, then the cake batter is poured over to bake, then invert. 



GotGarlic said:


> Those are beautiful, and I love the presentation with all the fresh berries



The berries were an afterthought because we had a couple of gluten intolerant folks at the bash AND because I needed to gussy up the tray.  There was ice cream to go with.  win/win.

The cakes were made in 6 inch pans (chocolate), 7 inch pans (blueberry) and a small jelly roll pan.   They were tall but not very big.


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## Kayelle (Nov 4, 2019)

All three cakes are just stunning Janet. I hope there was a well deserved round of applause for your hard work and thoughtfulness. Well done!!


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## dragnlaw (Nov 5, 2019)

Kayelle said:


> All three cakes are just stunning Janet. I hope there was a well deserved round of applause for your hard work and thoughtfulness. Well done!!



Ditto, Ditto, Ditto

Just stunning Janet -  Love that they are smallish.


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## Cooking Goddess (Nov 13, 2019)

Your cakes turned out stunning, Janet! I'm just now getting to view the images - for some reason most photos on DC stopped displaying on my phone or tablet a few weeks ago. Today was the first chance I had to sit and play on DC on my laptop.


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## profnot (Nov 14, 2019)

OP - cakes look fantastic in your pics!  Congratulations!

Although late to this party, I would like suggest a cake board (like a charcuteries board).  I would offer carrot cake, chocolate, and flourless almond cupcakes.  Plus I would offer toppings of nuts, berries, icings of flavoured buttercreams, cream cheese icing, lemon curd, and liqueurs including Frangelico, and Grand Marnier.


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