Wedding cakes and adventures

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of working on the wedding cake of some amazing people. This was a process that took a lot longer than a week. Months of planning and trial runs and classes and fretting culminated in one week of intense baking and execution. How did all of this turn out??

I'm quite happy about it! The bride and groom were too and it was so amazing to watch them cutting into it on the night! People around me were asking if it hurt to watch all my hard work being sliced up but I couldn't have been happier. You see, the real work in this cake had gone into the inside; the combination of flavours and cakes that met the bride and groom's desires, provided an awesome tasting experience and would present perfectly. Well let me tell you that was the challenge! So watching the cake cutting to me represented a moment of pure anticipation on the cusp of knowing whether I had succeeded or not.


So what were the cakes?

Bottom tier - Victoria sponge with a balsamic strawberry preserve and buttercream center covered in a dark chocolate ganache

The middle tier? Light and fluffy carrot cake with a cream cheese filling, covered in a white chocolate ganache and fondant

Herein lay the biggest challenge!! When I attended the wedding cake course this summer I was told unequivocally that I could not do a carrot cake in a wedding cake. However when I presented this idea to the bride she was crestfallen and I just could not accept that so ..........  I figured it out!  

The top tier was traditional fruit cake, covered in marzipan, and I used a traditional family recipe that's a bit lighter than old fashioned fruit cake and keeps all those traditionalists happy.

So three tiers, three different cakes and so so much flavour....

So how was the experience of making a wedding cake? Absolutely amazing!!! I enjoyed every minute of it and apart from one particularly panicked night 2 weeks before the big day, I felt relatively calm and prepared as much as possible, then put it together. The look on the grooms face when he saw the final product and applied the figurines was amazing and seeing the bride so happy about it was all the thanks I needed. They were extremely appreciative, but all I needed was their smiles.

I will definitely hope to make more wedding cakes and am considering going into the cake business officially but until then I will cherish the memories of this bake =)

Nutella cupcakes

This week we had the opportunity to go to a dinner and cocktail party and decided to try out a new cupcake recipe. There are a couple of classic flavour combination that I always go back to, hazelnut  and chocolate is one of them. It just works! We also recently discovered in my house that I had been keeping Nutella out of the house, and when I say we I mean my bf. Needless to say I got in trouble, which is fair. But in my defense - I cannot handle myself around a jar of Nutella, it's an addiction and the only solution is cold turkey, but this solution is somewhat unfair to other Nutella lovers in my life.

Anyway here's how I made it up to him and gifted my dinner party hosts -

Nutella Cupcakes

Frosting   (technique from Butteryum)

400g Dark Chocolate
500 ml Double Cream
1 tsp Vanilla extract

This technique has literally changed my perception of  ganache. It makes it so so easy.

1 - Heat the cream to just below boiling
2 - Chop up your dark chocolate as the cream heats
3 - Pour the cream over the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
4 - Don't stir for 2 minutes then beat together until smooth
5 - Add the vanilla extract, stir again.
6 - Now cover in a tea towel and leave sitting for 8 hours/overnight.
7- Done! Amazing.

Hazelnut Cupcakes  (adapted from Martha Stewart)

100g Ground Hazelnuts
1+1/4 Cup Plain flour
+ 3 tablespoons corn flour sieved together             

1.5 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
113g Butter (unsalted)
32g Caster Sugar
110g Dark Brown Sugar
180ml milk (I used lactose free)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp amaretto or vanilla extract
5 medium egg whites
Nutella to fill

1 - Preheat your oven to 180'C/350'F, Line your muffin tin with 
     cupcake cases. Now whisk together
      the hazelnuts, flours, baking powder and salt.

2 - Beat together the butter and sugars.

3- Beat the egg yolk and amaretto into the milk.

4 - Then in stages add and alternate 1/3 of the flour mixture and milk into the butter mixture.

5 - In a seperate bowl beat the egg whites into soft peaks. Then add half into the rest of the mixture
      and mix. Then fold in the second half and immediately pour into the cupcake cases up to half
      way.
6- Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and set up to cool on a wire wrack

7 - Using a teaspoon scoop out a little from the center of each cupcake, add a teaspoon of nutella.
      This works well while still slightly warm.

8 - Decorate with frosting and caramalized hazelnuts if you wish, then enjoy!

Are you ready?!

Dig in!