15 May 2009

More Birthday Cakes

There seem to be a lot of birthdays at the moment and I have to wait till July for Gracie to bake me one.....hint hint hint. It was my husband birthday a while back and since he took a day off I decided to do the same. Instead of going to watch Star Trek (will have to go and watch it later) I decided to bake him a cake. Can you believe that I've known him for more than 10 years and I've never baked him a birthday cake?! Tut tut tut. A few of his friends asked what kind of cake I was planning on baking. Well, lets put it this way....I kind of made it up as I went along. Hee hee hee!

Here is the cake:
A three layer vanilla sponge fill and covered with cream and fruits. I was planning surrounding it with Belgium chocolate swirls all the way round, but guess who ran out....yep I ran out and so did the local supermarket. So I had to improvise with the chocolate square disk. I think it did the job.

Before I forget we raised £50 for Shelter's Cake Time. I must organise the event again next time.....it was fun.
Now I feel like baking a chocolate cake....

6 May 2009

Gracie's Lacies...

More Celebration cakes - first a wedding anniversary cake... something romantic for spring. I came up with this cake so that it would appeal to both the sweet rich tooth of the Mr, as well as the less indulgently decadent preferences of the Mrs.

The sunny spring weather was also a firm consideration in my conceptualisation. So that I ended up with a lemon-white chocolate mousse gateau, with a romantic pink lacy surround. The idea - a smooth creamy white chocolate mousse, sat upon a crunchy almond shortbread base, then a layer of vanilla sponge, topped with a light refreshing lemon mousse to offset the richness of the chocolate and decorated with meringue blots and raspberry dots. I have to say, I was a little hesitant about the lemon mousse, as I have never made an egg white mousse base before, raw eggs just worry me... though it was really yummy, light air bubbles, and just enough tang from the lemon to cut through the sweetness. Even as a dessert in it's own right, I will definitely make that again! (make sure eggs are the freshest you can get!)
Passionate birthday cake: There was a bit of a story behind this one... the original concept involved coconut cream, and then pineapple and passionfruit mousse, in multiple alternate layers to create a bit of a dramatic affect when sliced. Though I messed up my pineapple passionfruit mousse. Although it was very tasty, the consistency was too runny. It didnt set... The first attempt at this cake failed miserably, and half of it ended up in the sink when I unmoulded it from it's cake ring. Very disappointing. In the end, I had to revise the brief (as ever, time constraints!), and came up with this one. Small, though nicely formed. Vanilla sponge layered between the passionfruit-pineapple cream (scrapped the mousse idea, as I wonder if gelatine is the answer to setting it?) Topped with the coconut cream and drizzled with passionfruit coulis.