Tiramisu Layer Cake

I made a cake for Sis no.2's birthday. Cakes for fondant icing are quite limited; they have to be firm enough to hold the weight of the fondant and cannot contain too much frosting or filling. So, I decided to make a layer cake instead of a fondant one because I wanted to try out different flavours with lots of yummy cream filling.

I decided to go with tiramisu. Tiramisu is basically sponge fingers dipped in a solution of coffee and liquor, then arranged in layers with cream in between. The cream is a decadent combination of zabaglione (Italian custard), mascarpone cheese, coffee, fresh cream and liquor.

For my version, I baked a butter cake and incorporated the coffee and rum (my choice of liquor) into the batter. Then I cut the cake into 3 layers. I filled the layers with a cream mixture consisting fresh cream, mascarpone, coffee, rum and sugar (I left out the zabaglione because I was too lazy and also short on time). I found the mascarpone rather tasteless, but its texture is marvelously creamy and rich!

I added chocolate shavings on the layers of cream and also a dusting of cocoa for the top layer. Then I just stuck on some pretty pastel 'Happy Birthday' candles.

Overall, it looked and tasted great. However, the cake was a bit heavy and the layers squeezed the cream out the sides when cut. I might try using a sponge cake recipe the next time around.

Allyson's birthday cake

This was a last minute cake for my niece Allyson's party tonight, so I didn't have time to use fondant. I baked a chocolate mud cake, using a recipe I found on the internet and have been dying to try. The batter was really watery and I was worried the texture would go wrong, like my Devil's Food Cake disaster. Instead, it turned out to be surprisingly light and moist.

The filling is a yummy chocolate truffle and I iced it with the easy packaged type of non-dairy topping. I wanted very strong primary colours for the decoration so I had to add a lot of food colouring. I think I'll look for food colouring paste, instead of liquid, the next time I hit the shops.

I will be needing much more practice in piping icing, but I think overall it turned out okay for an amateur. I like the sides of the cake, but am not too happy with the top. I was just itching to use my lovely sprinkles. From now on I think I'll just leave the sprinkles for cupcakes.

The cream curdled a bit while I was doing the big round dots which are supposed to be balloons! I have no idea why. I could have overwhipped the mix or added too much liquid in the form of food colouring. I also realised I used the wrong tip for the border. I used the star instead of the shell. Learning... learning...

Choc chip cuppies with fresh cream & fondant

 Annie and Claire celebrated Teacher's Day at school on Friday. So, I made some chocolate chip cupcakes for them to share with the other kids during the class party. I cheated and used Betty Crocker muffin mix. It saved me so much time and of course they turned out great!

I took half of the cupcakes to decorate as gifts for the teachers. I iced them with fresh cream and made fondant apples to place on top. An apple for teacher!