Father Christmas clearly knows me well, as under the tree I had a new cake recipe book waiting; Fantasy Cakes by Angela Romeo and it is such a treat for the eyes to browse, and stomach for the wonderful cakes you could bake. It is a very clever book in that it has the standard cake recipes at the start which are used throughout the book. These so far have been so simple to throw together, which is very handy as I can leave the baby playing for 10 minutes to whip the cake up. You can order the book here, and I highly recommend it if you want to try some beautiful centre pieces or show stoppers.
The first cake I tried is the After Eight minis, great as all the family were round to gobble up the end result. This After Eight recipe took a while to assemble and create the individual elements however they can all be done in advance and individually rather than sitting down for a good couple of hours stretch. I had to alter the recipe slightly as I ran out of self raising flour, but replaced it with plain flour and baking powder instead. I also found that the recipe created a lot more ganache than I needed, but this didn't go to waste as the family dunked the cake cut offs into it for a cheeky snack.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
225g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder mixed with 4 tbsp hot water
250g caster sugar
125g butter, melter
150ml buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75g dark chocolate, melted
For the assembly:
150g chopped dark chocolate, 70% cocoa
150ml whipping cream
150g chopped white chocolate
Green food colouring
Chocolate sprinkles
2 crushed clear mints i.e. Fox's Glacier Mints
75g butter, softened
150g icing sugar
A couple of drops of mint extract
Green food colouring
A pack of After Eights
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 170C fan assisted. Line a square baking tin (I used my brownie tin) with parchment. Place all of the cake ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for a few minutes until well combined. Spoon into the brownie tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. The cake can be made well in advance of assembly.
Using either a 6cm cookie cutter or something else of a similar diameter (I used a champagne glass as they were a lot easier to get to than my cutters!) cut out 9 rounds from the sponge. Use a thin sharp knife to cut the cakes following the marks made by your cutting implement, then line up on a tray and freeze for 20 minutes. This makes the cakes easier to cut for the next step.
Remove the cakes from the freezer and slice each horizontally twice, so that you have three layers. Put aside until assembly.
For the ganache, heat the cream gently in a pan until it is simmering, then pour it over the chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Stir well until all of the chocolate has melted then allow to cool at room temperature.
For the mint shards, melt the white chocolate over a bowl of simmering water, or in 30 second bursts in the microwave. Add a little green food colouring and then spread thinly over a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle over the crushed mint and chocolate sprinkles then put into the freezer until needed.
Remove the top layer of each cake, and cover with the ganache. Allow this to set for around 15 minutes. Remove the chocolate from the freezer and shatter into shards. Press one into each cake and finish with an After Eight.
To make the buttercream, beat together the softened butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy. Add a little mint extract and green colouring so that it matches the green shards then fill it into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe each round of cake with stars of icing then layer then up and top with the ganache coated layer. Once all are assembled put into the fridge to harden until serving. Allow to warm up a little before eating otherwise the mints become quite solid.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
225g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder mixed with 4 tbsp hot water
250g caster sugar
125g butter, melter
150ml buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75g dark chocolate, melted
For the assembly:
150g chopped dark chocolate, 70% cocoa
150ml whipping cream
150g chopped white chocolate
Green food colouring
Chocolate sprinkles
2 crushed clear mints i.e. Fox's Glacier Mints
75g butter, softened
150g icing sugar
A couple of drops of mint extract
Green food colouring
A pack of After Eights
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 170C fan assisted. Line a square baking tin (I used my brownie tin) with parchment. Place all of the cake ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for a few minutes until well combined. Spoon into the brownie tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. The cake can be made well in advance of assembly.
Using either a 6cm cookie cutter or something else of a similar diameter (I used a champagne glass as they were a lot easier to get to than my cutters!) cut out 9 rounds from the sponge. Use a thin sharp knife to cut the cakes following the marks made by your cutting implement, then line up on a tray and freeze for 20 minutes. This makes the cakes easier to cut for the next step.
Remove the cakes from the freezer and slice each horizontally twice, so that you have three layers. Put aside until assembly.
For the ganache, heat the cream gently in a pan until it is simmering, then pour it over the chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Stir well until all of the chocolate has melted then allow to cool at room temperature.
For the mint shards, melt the white chocolate over a bowl of simmering water, or in 30 second bursts in the microwave. Add a little green food colouring and then spread thinly over a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle over the crushed mint and chocolate sprinkles then put into the freezer until needed.
Remove the top layer of each cake, and cover with the ganache. Allow this to set for around 15 minutes. Remove the chocolate from the freezer and shatter into shards. Press one into each cake and finish with an After Eight.
To make the buttercream, beat together the softened butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy. Add a little mint extract and green colouring so that it matches the green shards then fill it into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe each round of cake with stars of icing then layer then up and top with the ganache coated layer. Once all are assembled put into the fridge to harden until serving. Allow to warm up a little before eating otherwise the mints become quite solid.
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