Three Weddings and A... (Birthday) Cake! {B-Day Cake At Last}

I try to publish something on this blog at least once a month - and my biggest motivator is my lovely MIL who asks me regularly when my next post will be up :-) Even though I've ended up on Oct 31sh with a not very Halloween-y post, I'm glad for the inspiration from my family to keep blogging regardless of the season! 

For my MIL's birthday last year (celebrated along with two other family members' birthdays), I made my first two-tier cake.

For the trifecta birthdays this year, I made three spring-themed tiers (slightly early, as it was the end of July). Finally, here is the birthday cake that brings this seriously long-spanning four post series of 'Three Weddings and A... (Birthday) Cake! to an end - just in time for the next wedding season...

 

Bursting into spring on a sunshiny day...

I'm pleased to say that the design for this cake was my own, with a lot of inspo from a set of craft stencils that I scored from a newsagents' in Fairlie.

 

I'll keep the details as to-the-point as my detail-loving brain will allow: the top tier was chocolate (I think, although my notes say carrot...) with Swiss meringue filling and icing, and decorated hand-painted fondant clouds - thanks to my happy helper E!

The middle tier was red velvet, poorly covered in white choc ganache - I say poorly because the red velvet leakage that ensued could have been prevented if I had been more careful and not left any gaps! The escaped moisture also made the outer layer of fondant soft and prone to mishaping (as seen in image below)... My near-despair was topped off by my lack of consideration for the thickness of the fondant in the overall design, meaning this tier was almost the same size as the bottom tier.

Well, I guess if everything was done right the first time then the world wouldn't be such an interesting place ;-) At least the hand-painted little birdy looked happy with his outlook! I traced the stencil design onto baking paper which I then stuck onto the fondant surface and lightly traced over to leave an indentation for painting. Gel paints mixed with cake decorator's fluid did the trick to colour between the lines. 

Lastly the bottom tier was made of delicious preserved ginger cake covered in chocolate ganache with green grass done with royal icing (by eye).

 

Whew! It was a big effort, and the unseasonably hot weather on the day of the birthdays celebration was an unexpected challenge for the buttercream to keep its shape. But sunshine like that and a cake like this, how could we not have been hopeful for an early spring?!

 

 

I'm looking forward to next year's birthday cake challenge - though in future I'll try not to challenge them all to eat so much cake (sorry guys, quality not quantity!) ;-)

 

Three Weddings And A... Birthday (Cake!) {Wedding No. 1}

It's been a bit quiet on the blog-front for the past month or so - which means that it's been busy in the kitchen! I'm finally able to share with you what I got up to slightly secretively in December and give an update of what I've been baking recently - namely a bunch of lovely but challenging wedding cakes for friends plus my bestie E's special birthday cake. There's been a lot of cake (understatement of the century!), so I'm spreading them over four posts altogether.

As much as I like to share with the virtual world, I'm looking forward to reading (and re-reading!) these finished posts myself to remind myself of what I've learnt during the past six months in baking and caking :-) I've also been taking fledgling steps in food photography, which you'll see in some of the posts, although where the images are not mine (mainly this post) I have given credit to the photographer(s).

Wedding No.1: S + J = Fondant Frills

Seeing as I was enjoying getting into cake decorating for the first time in 2014, I figured I would need a challenge to flex my new skills on by the end the year. S and I had flatted together before I got married, and then I got wind that her own engagement was near (having a unique vantage point because of J's request to hold the fort at the church bookstall while he took her out to a 'surprise' weekend retreat!).  I asked (as soon as it was proper) who would be making their cake, and was met with "we weren't even thinking of having a cake!" 

Well, that was all I needed to see my mission in life as their personal wedding cake-r. In my enthusiasm, I didn't ask how many people they were inviting, which meant a wee bit anxiety, a lot of thinking and a fair bit of consulting other more experienced cakers. The loans of my parents in-law's freezer and a colleague's massive perspex cupcake stand - to store and then display 370 cupcakes - convinced me that this epic first wedding caking could indeed succeed. 

Cupcakes a-plenty (photo by NOPHOTO)

Beautiful photos by Dru and Talia of NOPHOTO show the outcome: a day that drizzled until the last moment (the tent covering threatened with tiny drips to unleash a torrent of captured rain onto the cake table) cleared up for the ceremony then opened up into sunshine for bridal photographs. The bride and groom made a handsome couple in ivory and tweed respectively, flanked by bridal party members wearing the sunset colours of the icing flowers and leaves on the cake.

Photo by NOPHOTO

The cake itself was my first proper attempt at ruffles using gumpaste and I found this tutorial (by the wonderful Rose Atwater of Rose Bakes) to be invaluable. It took a wee while for each frill to dry but was not the most difficult design, seeing as the rustic look benefits from not looking absolutely perfect!

Photo by NOPHOTO

The gumpaste roses and leaves were made using Wilton and Americolor gel pastes and dusted with colour lustre dusts. I was really pleased with the yellow ones in particular - the orange dust I used gave them a nice depth. In case you're wondering...they were attached to toothpicks and stuck into the cake, while the leaves were attached using edible glue.

Photo by NOPHOTO

Cake flavours were Annabel Langein's banana cake recipe with dark choc ganache and preserved ginger (S's fave!), both covered in white choc ganache under a fondant base. 

The cupcakes were vanilla (MY fave recipe) and chocolate (a la Sweetapolita) with regular buttercream as I've posted about before except substituting half of the butter with Kremelta to make it brighter and whiter. Each had a little rolled rose and leaf in the same colours as the cake's ones. And there were certainly a lot of them...

Photo my own

So when I say it was an 'introduction' to wedding caking... it was more like a  baptism by fire!!! But good fun and good learning ;-) Thanks to the bride and groom for the opportunity, and to them and NOPHOTO (check them out!!!) for letting me use these stunning photos.

Photo by NOPHOTO

Tiers without Tears: The Story of a Three-Timing Birthday Cake

Although I have less-recent photos for posts on other topics waiting to be written... I can't resist writing about this month's baking adventure - my first two-tiered masterpiece! The birthday trifecta of my lovely MIL, her brother, and one of my Bros in Law was a great reason to try out several caking techniques in fact. Thanks James for the awesome 'finished product' shots! 

[Note to those who might have seen this post published a day early but not been able to find it: sorry! I had forgotten to watermark some of the photos so I reverted it to draft. Thanks for coming back to read it again!]

I think I spent at least a week doing the prep for this cake - and that long literally losing sleep over it... What if the top tier is wonky? What if I can't separate them again after the photoshoot? What if I drop one(!) or both(!!) tiers in transit? (The birthday celebrations were a car trip away from our house, and these photos were taken beforehand). What if the brocade falls off? And the most terrifying of all - what if I just can't cover a cake with fondant to save myself?! 

I wouldn't say that these worries were all for naught - it took me two goes to get the fondant to an acceptable state - but it pays to recognise that the caker is always going to be the most critical of the cake! 

Other than two-tiering and covering a cake with fondant, the other techniques that were new to me were: creating and arranging life-like gum paste roses, using the petal buttercream technique on the bottom tier, and crumb-coating with a white chocolate ganache (top tier). Suffice to say I learnt alot! 

Ingredients/Components

The upper tier was lemon poppy seed cake from this recipe from Lauren's Latest, split between two 6 inch tins. Separating the cake layers was a layer of white chocolate ganache (I followed these instructions using a 3:1 ratio of white choc vs. cream, and found the spreadsheet referred to - The Ganacherator - to be really helpful!) overlaid by about 1/4 cup of lemon curd (I used a recipe similar to this one with egg yolks and cornflour in it, but the 'authentic' way is more like this recipe). Finally, the fondant covering was white icing from Bakels' Pettinice range and the tulip motif was made from gum paste (which is basically white icing with a small amount of dyocell added to cause it to dry hard). Gum paste was also used to make the roses - but I think that would take a whole other post to describe...!

The bottom tier was Dana's Chocolate Cake from Destitute Gourmet (which Sophie Gray of DG has posted her recipe here in cupcake form, but it's the same recipe as the cake); I used one quantity of the recipe per tier for three tiers. In between the tiers is a layer of mango mousse with fresh mango pieces (use a half quantity of the recipe here under 'B) Mango Mousse')- a bit daring for me but I think it paid off! The regular buttercream used for the crumb coat (it looks green but is actually the same colouring as the outer, petal technique, made green because of the natural yellow of the butter in the buttercream) is a half quantity of this Basic Buttercream Icing, although I did omit a cup of icing sugar because it was sweet enough! And the petal effect was done with my favourite of icings - Swiss meringue buttercream (see post soon on how to make this for yourself, or this tried and tested one from Sweetpolita!). In order to get the 'true blue' colour, I replaced half of the butter with vegetable fat (Crisco) which whitened the icing so that it took up the colouring more faithfully.

Method of Assembly

I think words can be made better by photos, so below is 'picture diary' of the caking process if you're interested. 

Adding the wet to dry ingredients for the lemon poppy seed cake

A bit fuzzy, this picture shows how one quantity of the lemon cake recipe makes two decent-sized 6 inch round cakes, with butter papers used to line the tins.

Perfect white choc ganache!

A dollop of white chocolate ganache to secure the cake to its board

White chocolate is the first layer, with lemon curd ready to go top, then the top layer.

The mustard bottle in the background contains a simple sugar syrup that is applied to the layer before toppings are put on, in order to keep the cake moist.

Cake-sandwich!

Applying the ganache undercoat for fondant

The finished ganache layer - I found it difficult to smooth before it dried; any suggestions? 

Starting with the fondant in roughly the same (round) shape as the cake

I applied a watered-down coating of lemon curd to the ganache to make sure the icing stuck!

After rolling out the fondant icing to a thickness of approximately 5mm, use the rolling pin (like the one in the background though preferable tapered so it doesn't dent the icing) to place the icing on top of the cake.

Secure the top of the sides to avoid cracking along the edge, and use a smoother to attach the whole way down the cake.

Once icing is attached trim away the 'skirt' at the base of the cake board. 

Da-da! Not perfect, but a good (second) attempt!

Gum paste pressed into a tulip brocade stamp, left to dry

Edible glue was used to attach the brocade

Blending stewed fresh mangoes to make the mousse

Gelatine to set the mousse

Fresh mango to be cut into pieces and mixed with the mousse.

Fresh mango mousse and fresh mango - yum!

The chilled and set mousse is slathered over the mango pieces

Application of the crumb coat

SMBC ready to be blue-ed

Five shades of blue used for the petalling

The smart way to petal is to complete a vertical column at a time. My way was not the smart way, therefore the columns don't exactly line up!

Finished petals

Dowels marked and ready to be cut to size for supporting the upper tier (note: secateurs were sterilised!).

Placement of dowels for supporting the top tier.

To finish the top of bottom tier, a combination of petal directions helped to hide the 'seam' between cakes - tricky as it needed to be disassembled after these photos, so I couldn't ice right up to the top tier.

And the eaters were pleased :-)