Actor Ian Somerhalder is set to make his directing debut by taking charge of an upcoming episode of his Tv drama The Vampire Diaries.

The star stepped behind the camera for the first time on Thursday (22Jan15) and his rumoured fiancee, Nikki Reed, celebrated his achievement by baking him a cake with a sweet message on the eve of his big job.

Somerhalder shared a photo of the treat, which had been decorated with strawberries and chocolate chips to spell out the note, "Good Luck I (love) U".

He captioned the snap, "The best thing to come home to! Wow, thank you you amazing @iamnikkireed -it's true. I start Directing episode 616 of The Vampire Diaries tomorrow!!! I definitely need all the luck I can get!"

He added, "Send me great vibes tomorrow everyone...Also, Thank You to all that made this happen: Warner Brothers, The Cw (network),our producers all of you-thank you.

"Thank you also to the most amazing group of artisans that is the Crew of The Vampire Diaries-you are the Unsung Heroes of what people see on their screens! You are my brothers, my sisters-my family. I Love you all. Wow. I'm a lucky lucky boy."

Somerhalder's episode will serve as the current sixth season finale, titled The Downward Spiral, which is due to air in the U.S. later this year (15).