The busiest time of the year for cake orders brought me a very exciting challenge as far as my decorating skills are concerned. For a retired teacher, I was asked to make a cake resembling an old school desk with typical old school equipment. I researched a bit into old school desks to make sure that I was getting the brief right and found that the desk would look even more authentic if I made it so that it was on a slant, which I had been asked to try and do anyway. I also found that an ink pot and fountain pen would look very "old school" and would run excellently with the theme. I would also include an exercise book to extenuate the school theme.
To make the actual cake I used a recipe that I have always and will always use as a base recipe as you may have noticed after reading other blog posts of mine. Ironically, the recipe itself is very old school as it is all measured in oz. I knew I had to make quite a large cake so I upped the quantity of cake batter by simply measuring 12oz rather than 4/6oz. I baked the cake in two identical rectangle cake tins as I was to sandwich the two halves together as the whole cake. I sandwiched them together using buttercream which I made using 100g butter and 300g icing sugar along with 2tbsp of cocoa powder. I spread half of the buttercream on top of one half of the cake before sandwiching the other half on top. Now, since this was to be an old school desk I used a bread knife to cut away at the cake so that it slanted slightly downwards towards the front of the desk. I then used the other half of the buttercream to cover the whole cake. Next, I coloured fondant icing dark brown and rolled it out carefully so that it was big enough to cover the cake. I placed the fondant on top of the cake and used my hands to manipulate it carefully, smoothing the top and smoothing it down the edges of the cake. I then used a smoothing tool to smooth down the icing as much as possible. The biggest challenge I faced was trying to get an authentic wood effect. I tried to make a woodgrain effect by rolling together a lighter and darker long strip of fondant with a method of folding and rolling, however I discovered that this only really worked authentically when making individual planks of wood, not when covering a whole cake...plan B. I went out on a limb and tried something of which I had no idea what the result would be, but it was all I had left time, idea and ability wise. So, after I had covered the cake in the dark brown fondant I got a bowl and put a lump of dark brown food dye paste into it along with a bit of water so that I had a runny paint consistency. I then got a brush and simply brushed the whole cake horizontally with the brown paint which gave a varnished wood effect. This was what I was looking for. I decorated the cake with an ink pot, an exercise book and a fountain pen, that I had previously made out of fondant icing,in running with the theme of old school education. This cake is a cake I will always remember.
Being a cake decorating enthusiast, I jumped at the opportunity to make my boyfriend a birthday cake that had a part of him within it...not literally...I don't think people would have been quite as impressed if I'd added a tsp of his very own blood to flavour the cake. No. I wanted to capture part of his life in the cake. As a black belt in karate, and a very good one I might add, it was only natural for me to recreate this in the form of a cake.
I will post one time about how I make sugar paste figures but I won't go into detail now. I will simply tell you that all you need to make anything of the sort is fondant icing, icing sugar and food colouring.
Where the ingredients for the outside and decoration of the cake were few, what lay within brought a tad more ingredients to the table. I often find, and I'm sure that many others will agree, that fondant icing is just too sweet and sickly and I find myself peeling off most of it when enjoying a slice of cake. therefore the idea came to me to do a lemon cake. This would provide balance and acidity to the cake and make the icing a bit more bearable for those who aren't fans of the sugary topping. Using the Victoria sponge recipe that I have blogged about before, I merely added the juice and zest of some lemons for the quiet, innocent bake to come alive and vibrant with exotic flavour. If like me, you would like something that can provide acidity against the sweetness, I would urge you to opt for the lemon cake over anything else.
Recipe for the lemon cake:
6oz butter
6oz caster sugar
6oz self raising flour
3 eggs
1tsp baking powder
Zest of 2 lemons
5tbsp lemon juice
Recipe for the lemon drizzle:
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
85g caster sugar
Recipe for the lemon buttercream:
50g butter
150g icing sugar
2tbsp lemon juice
Method:
Using the easy all in one method, measure out your ingredients and put them all in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mix, beat the ingredients together to form a creamy, acidic batter. Make sure you beat lots of air into it, but don't overbeat it otherwise your cakes will rise in the oven...and then sink in the middle.
Grease and line two cake tins and divide the mixture equally between them. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 15-20 mins or until the cakes start to come away from the edge of the tins and feel springy to the touch.
Leave them to cool for a short while whilst you make the lemon drizzle. To do this simple put the lemon and sugar in a bowl until the sugar dissolves and you're left with an acidic syrupy drizzle. Using a tsp, drizzle the mixture all over the top of the two cakes whilst they're still warm.
Once they have cooled, turn them out of their tins and begin to make the buttercream.
Fetch yourself a large bowl and beat the butter in the bowl for a few seconds to loosen it up before adding the icing sugar. Beat the two together until pale and fluffy. This buttercream working with the balancing of sweet and acid, has a small icing sugar ratio to butter because I don't want too much sweetness. Add the lemon juice and give it one last beat before spreading generously onto one of the cakes and sandwiching the other on top.
Eat the cake just like this or decorate away. Either way, I can guarantee a great explosion of sweet and acidic in your mouth. Enjoy!
