My First Order

A week ago, when my best friend asked me to make a cake for her to celebrate her friend’s birthday, I had mixed feelings. First, I was very excited about my very first order. Second, I was nervous and was afraid that I won’t be able to pull this off.

Planning......

So it all started when she asked me and I said yes.. And the planning begins. My vision for the mini cake was to make a two tier cake.

She requested for:

-chocolate cake that wasnt too sweet

-small cake fit for 3 people ( I was glad the order was small, couldn’t imagine how I could handle a bigger cake.  =P)

-fudgy icing for the coating. 

Searching for Recipes......

After looking at recipes I’ve tried, I finally decided for chocolaty shortcake with chocolate icing. I didn’t want to make buttercream... not skilled for it yet... so icing is the closest I can go.

Then, we went on to look for ideas to decorate this cake. I googled for chocolate decorated cakes and saw endless pictures of delectable chocolate cakes. Now, time to choose. We agreed on having long chocolate curls lining up the sides and to tie the ribbon around it. With roses on the top and a 22 made with white fondant.

The Cake suppose to look something like this.. with only two tier instead of 3. =)

Shopping......

Friday, 17 September 2010, 8.30pm. After a long day at school, I had to buy the ingredients for the cake. Tired.  Sleepy. Stressed.  Wished I could just fall and land on a bed.  No matter how tired, I must be responsible for the promise I made. So, I made my may to Poon Huat. While gathering my ingredients, I couldn’t find chocolate curls. The only thing is saw was a box of chocolate sticks. I was thinking maybe THAT was it.  So, I went to ask the shop assistant.

“Uncle, are these chocolate culrs?"

Uncle said, “Yea, Chocolate long long ..Chocolate stick chocolate stick”.

When I reached home, I was so disappointed to see that they are not the curls I wanted... super disappointed... lucky my friend said it was ok and she didn’t mind.

the chocolate sticks.... had to find a way of using this on the cake..

Baking......

Saturday, 18 September 2010, 9 am. Time to bake the cake!! Baking the cake was easy. It’s assembling the cake together that is the difficult process. I used a cutter to cut my cakes since the cake was supposed to be small. The round cutters are one of the important tools you need if you love making miniature cakes. It saves your money of buying many round cake moulds and definitely saves you time. (Be a smart consumer =P)

They had round ones, curly edges ones, and even heart shaped ones. They are definitely good investments. =P

I didn’t manage to take pictures while I was icing the cake since my assistant (my little sister cum photographer) wasn’t around. These are the only pictures I managed to snap. When Icing your cake,

its good to have a trunable ( helps you to turn the cake easily ) and to line cake plate with four strips of parchment paper to form a square outline. this helps to stop the icing from running onto the plate. A tip I learned from Nigella Lawson (my idol =D).

Struggling my way through, I finally came to the last part of the cake making, arranging the chocolate sticks.

Pardon my messy icing. Afterall, its going to be covered with the chocolate sticks. =P

Sadly, my chocolate sticks had fat bloom.



See the white specks????



What is fat bloom?

Well, fat bloom is common in chocolate that has not been stored properly and have been exposed to widely fluctuating temperatures. They are actually the cocoa butter (fat) that infiltrates to the surface. As they the chocolates undergo wide temperature changes, the cocoa butter rises to the surface, crystallizes and forms gray or white specks on the chocolate.

How to remove it?

By easily wiping it off! however, this is not the case for sugar bloom. well, sugar bloom is a whole another topic.. hahaha! shall not cover it here. =)

Finally......

After I’m done with the decorations, my cake was ready!! We decided to put the “22” and the roses on Sunday, since my box wasn’t tall enough. Hehe.

Special Thanks to:
Andrea - for believing and trusting me with me this cake... thank u Andrea!!
My Mum - for helping me clean up my mess and for giving me encouragement all the way
Aishah ( my little sister) - for just being there for me =)

without them, I don't think I will be able to complete this cake. Many many Thanks! <3

Oh well, enough stories!! Feast your eyes on my very first two tier cake. Share your comments about my cake and tell me how I can make my future cake better yea! I will very much appreciate your inputs!!! =D

Dont forget to leave your comments on my cake yea!!! would love to hear it from you!!! =D

Reference:

http://sweeticingonthecake.com/chocolate_cakes.html

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/old-fashioned-chocolate-cake-119

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/202397/fat-bloom