Bella's Barbie

I always wish that I could redo each cake I make and make all sorts of improvements. With this order for a barbie cake from my goddaughter "Bella" I had a chance to practice Barbie cake making (my second) and fondant (my third attempt). It turned out OK. OK, I was pleased. Besides a big repaired rip by Barbie's rear and the slightly (no, completely) unsymmetrical decorations on her dress, I was reasonably satisfied with the attempt at fondant, which I really do not like making, partially because it is tricky and mostly because it just does not taste very good, so I am always hesitant to put it on a cake. But the effect is nice, especially on the barbie dress, where the hard-to-correct pleats and wrinkles actually add to the appearance of the dress and there is little smoothing required. So bring on the Barbie cakes. I am ready!

 

 

The Recipe

 

My standard go to chocolate cake recipe.

For chocolate frosting/filling I used a chocolate-rum pastry filling that I learned in my one and only dessert baking class. I can't seem to find a similar one online and I use an old stained xerox copy when I make the recipe. If anyone ever reads this and wants the recipe, I will add it on. But since the dawn of Facebook, I find my blogging time severely reduced :). And my readership even further reduced. From about 2 people to 0. So basically this is my own online archive of cake making. So note to self- use the stained pastry filling recipe in flour covered binder marked desserts.

The mother of the birthday girl was kind enough to give me some preserved cherries, so I mixed those in with the pastry filling, which was a nice addition as chocolate on chocolate is just a bit too rich. If I get a chance I will use the remaining 2.5 jars of cherries to make this recipe that I absolutely love yet rarely have enough cherries/chocolate/booze on hand to make without pre-planning. 

The I topped the Barbie with a standard marshmallow fondant recipe, some left over rum-flavored whipped cream (yeah, it was a children's party, but a few tsp's never killed anyone) and edible (but controversial) silver beads, that are luckily still available here in Latvia. 

 

The Result
I was happy, Bella was happy, all involved parties were happy enough and I was happy to get some feedback about ooohs and ahhs from other parents, that always gives me a bit of a boost. No children were traumatized by the legless doll torso that I was able to use for this cake, shipped to me by mom in the States, which is also good. Not much more to comment on this one, just happy I could document it while still in my memory. Happy Birthday, my dear Bella! Start planning for next year!

Beyblade cake

The Idea:

While I made this cake about a year ago or so, I finally got a cord for my phone, that served as a weak substitute for my camera for a while while the camera wasbeing replaced. A friend of a friend asked if I would be willing to make a Beyblade themed cake for her son. I of course being always ready for an edible challenge, said yes. This was by far the most difficult cake I had ever attempted to make.

Recipe:

My standard chocolate cake

Chocolate Italian meringue buttercream

Home made Fondant

Royal icing for lettering, decoration

Silver decorating balls

The Result
I almost cried (actually I might have) thatsomeone was actually going to pay me for this monstrosity. I was deeply unsatisfied with my result because looking back it was not so bad, but it could well have been out of a when cakes go bad website. Oh well. Practice, practice, practice. I am almost sure it tasted really good though.

Valuable lessons learned:
- Practice alot with fondant before making a asymetrical, angled cake;
-Putting light fondant over chocolate buttercream leaves you with dirty looking fondant! The pictures are forgiving, but the yellow looked a bit mud-smeared.
-When in doubt cover the cake in decorations made of fondant!!  If I were to make this again, I would go nuts with the blue and green fondant "beyblades" all over. from the feedback I got, these were a hit with the party guests.

Pumpkin Hazelnut & Chocolate Tart

The Idea

I needed a Thanksgiving Day recipe and could not decide on a pie or cake. This recipe came along in my inbox just in time to make the decision. I had toyed with an idea for a torte using all the flavors of Thanksgiving dessert- pumpkin, apple and cranberries, but I could not think of the best combination in time. I will work on it for next year. In the meantime this was a great recipe that I tweaked for my own (in)convenience.

The Recipe

Chocolate Hazelnut Pumpkin Tart from Betty Crocker. I do not use Betty Crocker products (unavailable or very expensive where I live) and their recipes are usually more advertisements for their products than anything else, but once in a while they come up with some great ideas. Most of their products can be easily substituted.

Recipe Adjustments

The recipe calls for a hazelnut spread with cocoa. Being in Europe, the grocery store has about 10 choices of hazelnut chocolate spreads on the shelves, but for some reason I decided to make my own using this recipe. If price was my motivation, I am not sure that I came out on top, but I did figure out that a coffee grinder is an excellent tool for making nut butter. I have tried making nut butter in my small food processor that I burn the motor out on in about 10-20 months from purchase and have not been successful. The coffee grinder zipped the hazelnuts into butter in a fraction of the time it would have taken in a food processor. Good to know. My home made "nutella" was not quite spreadable and had the consistency of play-dough, so the chocolate layer came out thicker than it was supposed to be. I also whipped the egg whites and folded them into the filling thinking this would lighten up the filling and give it more volume.

The Result

I was happy with the result and my guests were very complimentary, but I am never sure if they are just being nice since I am such a nut about my deserts. I do have to say by the end of the night there was none left which is always a good indicator. I concentrated on not making such a gigantic monstrosity as usual so I would not have much left over.

If I were to make this recipe again, I would almost double the pumpkin filling. Even with whipping the egg whites, the filling was just barely there and the chocolate, which was supposed to be more of an accent, was the main part of the tart. My guests even commented, "There is pumpkin in this?"

The tart was not very sweet, which I liked, but still rich and chocolaty.

I could not find my camera as usual during the dinner party, so you will have to do with the one picture I took during preparation ;) I will update if my guest who took a picture emails it to me! (Done!)

Chocolate Mocha Vertical Layer Torte

The Idea:

Since my favorite & inconveniently located bakery discontinued making what they called "Coffee Torte," I had mentally added this type of torte to my "must copycat" list. I love Mocha tortes of any kind, but what made this torte unique was its vertical layering. I always wondered how they do it at the bakery and if I could make it myself. The delicious repeating mocha frosting coupled with cherries and sandwiched between layers of chocolate cake then smothered in ganache in my mind comes very close to the perfect torte. The bakery used to always put some elaborate shaved chocolate decorations on top for an aesthetic touch, perfecting this creation.

The Recipe:

Cake layers: The best moistest chocolate cake

Frosting and decorating frosting: Janet is Hungry Mocha Walnut Torte frosting

Fruit filling: Raspberry low sugar preserves

Ganache: Coffee Liqueur Ganache Icing

Pink decorations: Leftover strawberry chocolate pieces from Barbie's dress No Alterations on recipes

The Construction:

I usually do not comment on the actual building of the cake, but since that was such an important part of this torte, I will elaborate. I decided to make a giant, stout roullade which would be tipped on the side and frosted, then covered in ganache.

The chocolate cake was baked in thin layers on cookie sheets covered in parchment, then immediately rolled up so that it would bend:I then measured and cut the rolls into 8 cm pieces, which I frosted and covered in the preserves: Then the strips were rolled into a giant roll and put in a springform pan to cool and solidify in the refrigerator for easier frosting: (I admit at this point I thought I was going to end up with a giant, crumbly mess!) The Result:
As far as rough drafts go, I think I did OK on this one. The result was much better than I thought it would be structurally. The frosting was a bit too heavy under the ganache and not quite enough between the layers. If I attempt this torte again, I will use a different cake recipe, because while this chocolate is delicious on its own, it is too rich for this multifaceted cake. The recipe has to be a bit more simple and not quite as rich and sweet. The original bakery version had cherries, but due to my own snafu I had to use raspberry preserves I had on hand. The preserves were fine, but I would have liked to have some stewed, crushed and drained cherries instead. Another mistake was making the cake strips too wide (8cm). This resulted in a higher, more narrow torte which was fine, but I was aiming for a wider, flatter torte. I have little experience with ganache and I definitely learned that it should be made and used immediately, not put aside to be reheated and applied to the torte the next day! All in all I was impressed and happy with the results.