I was recently asked to make a chocolate cake for 25-30 people, but to keep within a very limited budget. This was a celebration cake and even though a budget was in place, the taste should never be compromised. I used my chocolate cake on a budget recipe
The cake was sandwiched with chocolate buttercream and covered with vanilla buttercream. A coconut cream ganache drip was poured over and down the sides of the cake and was painted gold. The cake was simply decorated with swirls of buttercream around the sides of the cake.
Baking the cake
I doubled my chocolate cake recipe but not all in one bowl. I have to confess to not being brave enough to double the recipe all at once as not all recipes can be doubled or trebled without interfering with the outcome. This mixture is very liquid in texture because of the use of oil and milk. I chose the safe route and mixed 2 portions of the recipe separately.
This large cake was baked in 3 x 26 deep pans. I lined and greased the pans.
When preparing the cake batter I used 2 bowls and mixed one portion in each bowl. I then divided the batter into the 3 baking pans by eye. Not exactly scientific but that was my measurement process. I simply poured batter from the 2 bowls into the pans until I felt I had what appeared to be an equal distribution.
Once the batter was in, I gently tapped the pans a few times on the surface of the table to disperse the many air bubbles I could see. Liquid batters tend to reveal more air bubbles. I did not want to see huge air pockets in my cake once baked so I invested some time tapping the pans to get rid of the air bubbles.
Once baked the cakes turned out perfect! They were well risen, substantial in size and easy to handle. Sometimes certain cakes are not easy to handle once baked. They can break easily and need to be handled with tender care. It was as if these layers were built to perfection. Soft but sturdy layers.
Once baked, I cooled the cakes down and wrapped each layer in plastic wrap and let them rest in the fridge overnight. The reason I do this is because cakes are so much better to decorate once the crumb firms up. Many large cakes like wedding cakes are baked on one day and decorated over a couple of days. When I first started baking small cakes for my friends and family I would bake and decorate the cake on the same day. My cakes would break or appear lopsided. It was incredibly difficult to give them a polished look and the layers often separated when sliced. Friends and family are very forgiving and are always so happy to be eating cake and therefore nobody but myself noticed the imperfections. Unconsciously, I must have sent out the wish to the Universe that I want to learn how to make beautiful cakes.
Beautiful cakes to me are the simple cakes. While I can always appreciate the skill needed to make elaborate and stylish cakes, my preferred cakes are the simple ones.
Decorating the cake
To decorate the cake I made 2 batches of chocolate buttercream as indicated in the recipe.
I sandwiched the layers together with the chocolate buttercream and covered the cake with a vanilla buttercream in a deep pink colour. Once I had the cake covered in a smooth layer of buttercream I chilled the cake in the fridge.
The design request for the cake was a gold drip cake. Not much else to be done as the birthday girl was going to add a decorative balloon to the cake. Now I have done gold drips before, starting with making a ganache using chocolate and cream. I was curious about making a ganache using coconut cream as I had seen this being done on a cooking channel. I also happened to have quite a few cans of coconut cream around. I used the coconut cream exactly like cream and the drip came out really great! The coconut cream added a lovely coconut taste to the ganache. I will definitely be using coconut cream and chocolate together again.
Coconut Cream Ganache Drip
- 200g white chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 5 TB coconut cream
Place the chopped chocolate and cream in a heat-proof bowl and place over a pot of simmering water, over a low heat. When melting chocolate over a double boiler, never let the bowl touch the water. Water can seize the chocolate. And it doesn’t take much heat to melt chocolate so keep the heat very low. I turn the heat off as soon as I place the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water.
Gently stir the cream and chocolate together until you have a smooth mixture.
Painting the drip
I used a disposable piping bag and applied the drip. A teaspoon can also be used. Take small amounts and gently drip the chocolate over the sides of the cake.Once the sides were done, I squeezed out the rest of the chocolate from the piping bag onto the middle of the cake. Using a small off-set spatula I distributed the ganache over the surface of the cake.
Once the ganache has been applied, keep the cake in the fridge for about half an hour. The chocolate needs to firm up before being painted.
Using a small amount of gold powder food colouring and a few drops of lemon extract, mix into a thickish paint. Using a small paint brush, carefully paint the drips and the entire ganache coating, if you want. I chose to paint the drips and leave the tops of the cake untouched.
Finishing off the cake
The cake was finished off with swirls of buttercream piped with a large closed star tip.
