Monday 21 January 2013

Gone Fishing Birthday Cake

So, with a birthday late November, christmas, new year and then another birthday early January, our house has just been one huge sugar party for weeks....so here is my latest attempt - my son turning 9 had to ask for one of the hardest cakes I have ever contemplated....him going fishing.  So, again the humidity and 35 degrees plus temperature in Brisbane, trying to bake a cake, cover it in fondant and make a figure from gum paste was ahhhhhh challenging!!!!  But somehow I managed it, although not very professional looking, after a bit of swearing, lots of cover ups of mistakes and a lot of eyeing off the bin, it is OK.




STEP 1:
I made a chocolate mud cake again, this one was more of a mocha cake as it had a dash of expresso in it, I used the following recipe and x all ingrediants by 1.5:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22249/chocolate+mud+cake

I used 2 x square 22cm pans.  Again watch that the top doesn't burn, once crusted place aluminium foil loosely over the top.  I also checked about every 25 minutes.

STEP 2:
I layered the two cakes with buttercream in the middle and covered the entire cake in buttercream.  I then rolled out blue fondant and covered the entire cake. 

STEP 3:
I bought a packet of cream filled sponge rolls from the supermarket.  I placed two of the chocolate one's lengthways together and covered with the buttercream.  I then covered it with chocolate marshmallow fondant.  I used a knife to make lines like on a log.  I then brushed the log with cocoa melted in hot water to darken the colour a little.

STEP 4:
Position the log where you want it on the cake.  I then made up some icing and added a little yellow food colouring.  I placed the icing around the log and around the bottom of the cake ona cake tray.  I then sprinkled yellow dyed sugar over the icing to make the sand.

STEP 5:
I then molded the person, slowly adding food colouring for the different pieces. I joined the head to the torso using a cut wooden skewer.  I used a long pretszel and cotton for the fishing line.

STEP 6:
I then made some fish from fondant and stuck them around the sides of the cake.  I also dyed some of the left over buttercream and made some seaweed.  I also rolled out some yellow marshmallow fondant and used a stamped rolling pin to make some coral

THE END

Monday 14 January 2013

Pirate Treasure Chest Cake

So I managed to make a cake that kind of represented a pirate treasure chest.  I didn't take photos of each stage though as the cake was made in a mad rushing frenzy.  So basically, this is what I did:

STEP 1: the cake - I just followed this recipe and doubled all the quantities:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22249/chocolate+mud+cake

the cake turned our perfectly yummy, but the cooking time in my oven was less - more like 50 mins and you do have to be careful not to burn the top, as soon as there was a crust - after about 30 mins, I put aluminium foil loosley on the top.  Also because I doubled the quantities I divided it equally and poured into two 20cm square cake pans.

STEP 2: I cut approximately 1/4 of each cake off.  This gave me two rectangular cakes.  Then I took one cake and used a serated bread knife to carefully carve the lid of the chest.

STEP 3: I made a yummy buttercream and double these quantities from here:

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

STEP 4: I covered the bottom cake in buttercream.

STEP 5: Find a thin but sturdy piece of cardboard that can be cut to the same size as the bottom cake.  You also need 4 wooden skewers.  Work out how much of an opening you want for the lid of the chest.  Then you need to cut 2 of the skewers that will be placed at the back of the bottom cake to support the hinged end of the lid - so these should just be high enough to stick out of the bottom cake by about 1cm.  Then cut the other two skewers to support the front of the lid - I had about a 4 - 5cm opening.  The skewers can go into bottom cake now. 

STEP 6: This bit is kind of hard and sticky.  So first you need to carefully put buttercream on the cardboard then place lid on top.  Now place lid with cardboard on top of cake so it sits on top of skewers and should start to represent an opened treasure chest.  Now use remaining buttercream to cover all of chest.

STEP 7: I now made chocolate marshmallow fondant using this recipe -
http://cakestylist.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/chocolate-marshmallow-fondant-choco-mmf/

STEP 8: Marshmallow fondant is pretty sticky and can be hard to work with but for this cake you can be a bit messy because we want it to look like old wood, so I actually covered it in smaller sections at a time, then went over the entire thing with a slightly wet paintbrush, then used a knife to make a distressed timber look.  Also choclate MMF can look a bit light brown so to darken it I just got some cocoa and hot water to for a fairly runny paste and then painted the enitre cake until I was happy.

STEP 9: decorations!!!!!! My favourite part!!! All I used was some gold and silver choclate coins, some snakes and some leather straps.  But oopsie - didn't have enough leather straps as you can see from the photo but still turned out OK....



So much to do....such little time

So time has passed since my last post and I have been a bit slow.  I have had christmas, new year and two birthday's at my house.  So I can now say that Jenny G is the winner of the heart fondant plungers. Jenny please contact me with your postage details and they will be on their way to your kitchen!