Tuesday 6 May 2014

A dove in flames...




This weekend I made a cake for a confirmation. The brief being two words. Chocolate. And Fudge. I decided the themes of the cake should be a dove and some flames.
I'll start with the cake...
You will need:  
400 grams plain flour 
250 grams golden caster sugar 
100 grams light brown muscovado sugar 
50 grams best-quality cocoa powder 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
½ teaspoon salt 
3 large eggs 
142 ml sour cream 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
175 grams unsalted butter (melted and cooled) 
125 ml vegetable oil 
300 ml cold water

Method:
 Begin by preheating the oven to 180 degrees and line two 8 inch cake tins. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, vanilla and vegetable oil. In ANOTHER bowl, whisk the butter and oil until blended and then beat in the water. Then incorporate the dry ingredients followed by the egg mixture. Once everything is combined, pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

For the chocolate fudge icing, you will need: 
175 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) 
250 grams unsalted butter (softened) 
275 grams icing sugar (sifted) 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:
 To make this yummy icing, melt the chocolate on a bain marie. In another bowl beat the butter until soft and creamy - it will be paler in colour. Add the icing sugar a little at a time in order to prevent a icing cloud. Once all is combined, add the now slightly cooled chocolate and the vanilla and continue beating until all is mix and you will have one gorgeous tasting icing. 

Once the cakes have cooled and the icing is made, assemble your cake. I have discussed how to do this in previous posts! 

To make the dove, I chose a dove template, and laid greaseproof paper over the top. I then melted some milk chocolate and poured it into a food bag. I snipped of a small corner which made a makeshift piping bag. I was then able to trace the template of the dove with the milk chocolate. Leave that to dry whilst you melt the white chocolate and make another makeshift piping bag. Once the outline is cooled, fill the dove with melted white chocolate. Leave to cool and when ready, place on top of the cake.

To make the flames, you need:
250g granulated sugar.
130mls water.
130mls golden syrup or liquid glucose.

Food colouring (I used red, yellow and orange)
1 teaspoon of orange extract.

Prepare some more greaseproof paper onto the worktop. Put the sugar and water into a pan on a low heat to dissolve the sugar. Swirl, rather than stir the sugary water.  Once dissolved, bring to a boil.  Check on the sugar every five minutes. You do this by dipping a teaspoon into the sugar and then into a cup of water. After a minute or so, check the teaspoon. If the sugar on the spoon has disappeared, its not ready, so continue boiling.  It is ready when the sugar on the spoon it hard.  When it is, take the pan off the heat, add the orange extract, followed three different food dyes in separate sections of the sugar mixture. Pour the sugar mixture onto the greaseproof paper. The colours will blend to create a flame effect. Allow to set and then you can break the sugar into shards to look like flames. 
Place around the chocolate cake.

The sugar flames with the chocolate fudge make a delicious chocolate orange taste... a bit like a cake version of a terry's chocolate orange... yum!!