A somewhat last minute cake this week but still an absolute pleasure to create.
A phone call from my boss late on Tuesday afternoon - 'would you be able to make a cake for this weekend for my daughter's birthday ?' After a bit of a chat and bouncing around ideas - I said yes. The result above, is a lighter chocolate cake (not mud this time but still (!) chocolate...).
The cake has almost a lighter chocolate sponge texture to it. I baked two separate cakes which were trimmed and sandwiched together with.....Nutella...ooooooohhh. Yes - I did check for any nut allergies first. I thought with the request for a lighter styled cake that the addition of a little hazelnut accent might be just scrummy. I was right.
I then made a chocolate buttercream to which I added the rest of the Nutella and sealed the cake. It worked well but the very oily nature of the Nutella was interesting to work with...all I can say is thank goodness the temperature has dropped or the cake would be leaking all over the kitchen floor.
The original request had been for a shoe. Ive tried a shoe cake before and was less than impressed with my efforts. I was hedging towards a handbag when I realised that with the lighter cake structure, it may not stand up to the carving and work that a mud cake can withstand. Nope - I needed the cake, to be the cake, and so I was gonna need something for the top.
Ok back to the shoe idea then. I thought I would give it a crack making it out of fondant and if it was a disaster I would revert to handbag idea. I have learnt so much making this darned shoe.
1. High heeled shoes take a long time to harden in position and need a lot of support in the arch. Mine cracked in a couple of places.
2. Think very carefully ahead of time what you will use to support the shoe sole and front/top of shoe with as it may indent on the fondant underneath as it dries. make sure it won't stick either...
3. I ended up having to make a brace for the under arch of the shoe to support it but this also ended up slightly cracked while lifting onto cake necessitating a small unobtrusive wedge at cake level to support the arch.
4. To add strength I did insert a bamboo skewer through the heel of the shoe into the cake.
The cake itself covered in Nutella Buttercream then Pale Pink Fondant. The shoe entirely edible from hardened modelled fondant.
I hope Ashleigh likes the cake and I hope it tastes as yummy as I think it will be.
Lxx
Just gorgeous!
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