The book of love cake

You’ll need:

Ready made rectangular cakes

Chocolate fondant icing, enough to cover and overlap the top and the spine.

Small amount of white or cream fondant icing, enough to cover 3 sides of the cake plus 2 inches over.

Edible gold dust
Edible gold paint

Take a sheet cake, or any rectangular cake and cut in to smaller rectangles.

If you wish the cakes to have a filling you could cut these horizontally and fill or just add one on

top of the other, sandwiched together by whichever filling you have chosen.

I had a small amount of ready-made chocolate fondant  leftover but not enough to cover the cakes so I went in search of a recipe and this is the recipe that appealed the most.

Fondant Icing recipe (discovered at http://www.grouprecipes.com/12012/easy-fondant-icing.html)

* 2 pounds confectioner’s sugar, sifted (I replaced 1/8th of a pound with cocoa powder)
* 1/4 cup cold water
* 1 tablespoon unflavoured gelatine
* 1/2 cup glucose (found in cake decorating stores) or white corn syrup
* 1 1/2 tablespoons glycerine (found in cake decorating stores)
* 1 teaspoon desired flavouring (vanilla will give the fondant an off-white color)
* Cornstarch

US cup = 8 fl oz

Directions

In a large bowl (do not use metal), sift the sugar and make a well in the centre. In a small

saucepan, add the water and sprinkle the gelatine on top to soften for about 5 minutes. Begin to

heat the gelatine and stir until the gelatine is dissolved and clear. Do not boil. Turn off the heat and

add the glucose and glycerine, stirring until well blended. Add the flavoring. Pour into the well of

sugar, and mix until all of the sugar is blended. Use hands to knead icing until it becomes stiff.

Add small amounts of confectioner’s sugar if the mixture is sticky.
Form the mixture into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in an airtight container.

This icing works best if allowed to rest at room temperature for about eight hours before using,

particularly if the weather is humid. Do not refrigerate.

Do not refrigerate a cake with fondant icing.

I used chocolate fondant because I like that “old leather-bound book”  look. You can of course make any colour book but i would suggest making it a strong  color as opposed to pastel shades. This is usually made easier by using coloring gels instead of the liquid. You can also make some different coloured icing to use as bands on the book spine.

When I made these cakes it was a very hot day here in Oz so I made them as quickly and plainly as possiblewith minimum adornment.

When ready roll out the light colored fondant so it is long enough to cover the top-side,front-sideand lower-side of the cake. This will probably need to be done in 2 sections so make sure you will be joining them at the least noticeable point.

Form these edges around the cake making sure it can be folded over the top of the cake a small way and folds down the spine side at least an inch top and bottom.

I then used the hard plastic container the sponge came in to mark pages into each side.

You need to press firmly but beware of cutting all the way through.

Then roll out the chocolate icing in a rectangle larger than the cake. I rolled it out on some greaseproof paper that I had crinkled up. This gives the slightly cracked texture of old leather. It also cuts down the amount of cornstarch needed when rolling if you use a cover of greaseproof paper. if you do have some trouble with sticking use your fingers to gently dust the surface with the cornstarch.

Then place the icing over the cake making sure you have just enough to double back the edge to form the book lips. This also makes it nice and thick and helps it to hold shape. If you start at the spine side it makes it easier to allow an extra amount of fondant to shape more into a rounded spine

Run your finger or thumb from the top of the book to the bottom making a small indent helping to define the spine.

Roll some chocolate fondant into 3 little skinny sausage shapes which you will run along the base of each side to creat the “hidden” side of the book cover.

Then it’s time to decorate at will.

I dusted the pages with gold dust to get that old-fashioned effect.

I then took some scrap-booking  letter stamps and imprinted the title of the book on thje front. Iwould of also done the spine this way if it was not so hot (or if I had some freehand talent )

I then used the imprints as a guide for the gold paint. I did find I had to use a smaller brush than the one that came with the paint but could probably of used an even smaller brush, say eye-liner brush thickness.

I had to  gently manipulate the icing a little more due to the heat, then I added the second cake to the top

Voila! The cake is done.

Some additional suggestions would be to make a big stack of books for more guests. Usingdifferent coloured books or perhaps make them smaller and have them standing upright a labookshelf.

You could even add a bookend at each side.

2 book cakes stacked together make a bigger cake for more servings

Share/Bookmark

White chocolate Parmasan completes the authentic look

These Spaghetti pasta and meatball cupcakes (aka Fairy cakes) are absolutely delicious. The recipe can also be made as one large cake but I find it is easier to do the decoration and serve the cakes as individuals.

The quantities of ingredients are variable depending on the amount of cupcakes or size of whole cake you choose to use. This recipe is made to decorate 4 full sized cupcakes.

4 ready made plain/basic flavoured cupcakes(fairy cakes)

These can be home made with the easy sponge cake recipe, using a cake mix or ready bought. Because of the rather rich tasting decoration I recommend using a very basic vanilla flavour

White chocolate ganache spaghetti pasta
1 amount of chocolate ganache made with white chocolate and using 2:1 chocolate:cream allowed to cool to a piping consistency and can hold it’s shape.

Jelly/jello pasta sauce.
This sauce can be made with strawberry/raspberry Jelly or jam (jello/jelly).
Make up jelly/jello following the packet recipe but using half quantities of water. If using Jam it is best to heat and strain to remove fruit chunks and pips.
I added a few drops of red food colouring to enhance the vibrancy of the sauce colour.

Meatballs
100g of milk chocolate- melted
2 heaped teaspoons of desiccated coconut
The middles from the cupcakes -crumbled

Parmasan cheese garnish
White chocolate

Prepare white chocolate ganache and allow to cool down.

Prepare the jello and allow to set to a consistency that can still be poured but not runny.

Scoop out centre of Cupcake

Score circles into the cupcake tops using a knife and scoop out around ¼ inch of cake. Reserve removed cake for later

Seal the centre of the cupcake

Seal the dents in the cupcake centres with a small amount of the chocolate ganache. Allow to set.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled enough to pipe begin to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in a random fashion to imitate pasta. If you find the chocolate is losing shape because it is warming up place in the refrigerator for a short while and pipe the icing in short time batches.

Pipe Ganache to make Spaghetti Pasta

Place cupcakes in the refrigerator to fully set.

Prepare the meatballs by adding the coconut and crumbed bits of cupcake to the melted chocolate and combine.

Make the chocolate meatballs

Form into small balls. I chose to put 3 small balls in each of the cupcakes but you can use your judgment based on the size of your cakes. The coconut and cake crumb create a more realistic texture in the balls so do not over work them.

They also helped to give a fuller flavour.

When all parts of the cupcake decoration are ready it is time to put it all together.

First spoon a small amount of jelly into the middle of the pasta, then add your chocolate truffle balls.

Add sauce and chocolate meatballs

Spoon over the balls a small amount of the sauce and finish off with some grated white chocolate to represent Parmesan cheese. I used my fine cheese grater to get the exact effect. Sometimes it may be necessary to place the chocolate in the freezer for 5 minutes first.

Then there we have our Spaghetti pasta and meatball cupcakes!

Share/Bookmark