I love cooking and baking for friends and family. Last weekend was an invite for a lunch at friends place where two of my besties were celebrating their belated birthdays.
For two lovely women I couldn’t think of a better cake, than spil them with chocolate. With so many kids expected to be around, I thought to keep the cake simple and do something disruptive with the topping.
I went for a Three Layer chocolate cake by Mary Berry and you can find the recipe here. What I will talk a bit more about will be the topping which I created myself.
Buttercream Icing : I used a chocolate buttercream icing by following this recipe.
The three layers and the outside, I used the buttercream to lather it lavishly. I doubled the icing volumes as mentioned in the recipe as the cake was quite big.
Ganache : For the top of the cake and a little dribble on the sides I have used dark chocolate ganache which is prepared by melting dark chocolate and double cream together.
Toppings
I used the below toppings. And the same are in the little diagram I created to help you understand graphically.
Mini Doughnuts : These are small little doughnuts which can be easily bought from supermarkets. I bought these ones which were yum.
Macaroons : A great and classy topping idea. You can make your own as well. Since I had no time, I bought them from Waitrose.
Amaretti Biscuits : I used the small amarettini biscuits which are so cute little buttons and so packed with flavour. I bought them from Waitrose.
Chocolate dipped strawberries : I dipped the strawberry halves in chocolate ganache and put them in the fridge to dry. Then i placed them on the cake top. Use any bright red strawberries.
Pretzel : I totally love these little bags of pretzels in the big bag which are of 22 gms each. And they are also sprinkled with sea salt. Adding them on the cake top gave a totally different look and flavour and it was a big hit. I used these.
Lindt truffles : These are just no brainers. Simply got a box of them and I sprayed them golden and popped them in the fridge to dry. They were then ready to decorate over the cake.
Guliyan Sea Shell chocolates : Very popular chocolates which you can get in any super market. More than the taste I love the look of these mini chocolates. They make an excellent topping for cakes and desserts, specially if you are doing an under sea theme.
Final thoughts: The cake was a super blockbuster hit. Everyone loved it. The kids went crazy picking the toppings while we were having our drinks. While the cake was a simple chocoalte cake with a buttercream icing, its the topping which made the entire difference. It didnt add to the flavour but the looks were killing. And dont we all first eat with our eyes?
I highly recommend to go as creative as you can and get some interesting and organic cake toppings. You don’t have to break your head in piping perfect roses and stars. You can place creatively some of the fruits and other bite sized desserts on top and make your cake a winning centerpiece.
Would love to know your thoughts on it. Until next time eat healthy!
