Tag: cake decorating

Cake decorating: Boat-shaped cake

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Completed boat cake

Makes: 3 x 8inch squares which are constructed into 1 boat

Time required: 3 hours

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Recipe:

Using orange cake recipe, but this can be made from any type of cake

Constructing the boat:

  1. Layer one square on top of another and cut two opposite edges at a slight angle
  2. with the remaining square, cut out two triangles for the front of the boat to form the boat shape below
Cutting the square cakes into boat shape
Cutting the square cakes into boat shape

3. use the leftovers of that third square to build the top of the boat

boat cake construction
Icing the boat cake
boat cake 2
Almost finished …
Completed boat cake
Completed boat cake

 

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Recipe: Lime Coconut Mousse

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Nutting to see here - loving my squirrel bookend

Makes: 1 dome/half-sphere (~8inch in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total over 4 sessions

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Reading through Olivier Dupon’s book “The New Patissiers” (my current favourite book) I came across one page which had a really interesting flavour combination – it was a recipe for a chocolate mousse entremet with a lime panna cotta, coconut dacqouise … coated in milk chocolate mousse. I wanted to give the elements of this recipe a try, liking the idea of the tangy-ness of the lime mixed with creaminess of the coconut and the sweetness of the chocolate.

Elements of this cake from centre to outside:

  • lime panna cotta
  • coconut cream
  • dark chocolate mousse
  • coconut dacquoise base
  • coated in dark chocolate velvet spray

Although every element of this cake is very easy and quick to make, it does require preparation to make and freeze each of the layers before moving onto the next

Ingredients:

Lime panna cotta:

  • juice of 2 limes
  • 90ml milk
  • 90ml cream
  • 45g caster sugar
  • 2 gelatin sheets

Coconut mousse:

  • 100ml coconut milk
  • 150ml milk
  • 150ml cream, whipped
  • 1 sheet gelatin

Coconut Dacqouise:

  • 3 egg whites
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 30g coconut flakes
  • 30g almond meal
  • 60g pure icing sugar

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

  • 94g caster sugar
  • 94ml water
  • 1 egg
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 150ml cream
  • 3 gelatin sheets
  • 250g dark chocolate
  • 300ml cream, whipped

Chocolate Velvet spray (I used a pre-made can)

Lime coconut mousse cake 4
Plastic moulds I used to create the dome shape

Instructions:

Lime Panna Cotta:

  1. bring lime, cream and sugar to simmer for 10 minutes
  2. remove from heat and mix in gelatin
  3. pour into dome mould (~3inch in diameter) and freeze for several hours or overnight

Coconut Mousse:

  1. bring coconut milk and milk to simmer
  2. remove from heat and stir in the gelatin
  3. once cool, gently fold in the whipped cream
  4.  pour into a dome mould (~3.5inch in diameter) and then push the lime panna cotta dome into the centre
  5. place into the freezer for several hours or overnight

Coconut Dacquoise:

  1. preheat oven to 180C and line a 8inch baking tin with baking paper
  2. sift together coconut flakes, almond meal and icing sugar
  3. in a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to firm peaks
  4. gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue
  5. spread onto baking tin and bake for 15-20mins

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

  1. whisk water, sugar, eggs and egg yolks together in a bain-marie
  2. remove form heat and continue to whisk until airy
  3. in a separate pot, bring cream (150ml portion) to boil and stir in the gelatin
  4. pour hot cream over chocolate and stir to combine
  5. gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture
  6. whisk the 300ml portion of cream, then gently fold into the chocolate/egg mixture
  7. pour the mousse into the 8inch dome to around two-thirds full and drop the panna cotta/coconut mousse into the centre
  8. fill the rest of the dome to almost to top, leaving a little space to place the coconut dacquoise on top
  9. place in freezer for several hours or overnight until the dome is frozen

Chocolate velvet coating:

  1. once the dome is frozen, unmould and coat the cake in a chocolate velvet spray
chocolate mousse dome
chocolate mousse dome
Lime coconut mousse cake 2
pre-made chocolate velvet spray
All finished and ready to eat
All finished and ready to eat
Lime coconut mousse cake
Nutting to see here – loving my squirrel bookend

 

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Recipe: Giant Ferrero Rocher Cakes

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Giant ferrero rocher dessert

Makes: 6 spheres (~8cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours over 3 sessions (~1 hour at a time)

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Inspired by one of my favourite chocolates when I was young – the iconic Ferrero Rocher. It was something that would feature in almost every birthday party or Kris Kringle … a nicely packaged gift under $20. Since moving to Hong Kong, I’ve slowly been adjusting to the Hong Kong supermarkets, but I still get excited every time I see a product in the same packaging that we get back home in Australia – Ferrero Rocher chocolates being one of them!

Elements for the cake from centre to outside of the ball:

  • Inner dome: hazelnut vanilla mousse
  • Inner coating: Nutella and crushed wafer
  • Outer dome: chocolate mousse
  • coated in chocolate and hazelnuts

Although every element of this cake is very easy to make, it does require preparation to make and freeze each of the layers

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

  • 150m cream, whipped
  • 100ml milk
  • 1tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 100g hazelnuts, crushed
  • 1 gelating leaf
  • 2 egg yolks

Nutella and wafer coating:

  • 100g nutella
  • 100g wafers, crushed

Chocolate mousse:

  • 400ml cream, whipped
  • 100g dark chocolate, melted
  • 100ml milk
  • 2 gelatin leaves

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

  • 400g milk chocolate
  • 150g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

  1. whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale
  2. bring milk and vanilla to a boil
  3. pour half the milk into the egg mixture while whisking then return the egg and milk to the pot and bring to a simmer, while still whisking
  4. remove from heat and stir in the gelatin
  5. once cool, gently fold in the whipped cream and hazelnuts
  6. pour mousse into 12 small dome moulds (~2.5cm in diameter) and set aside in freezer

Nutella and wafer coating:

  1. once the hazelnut and vanilla mousse is frozen, unmould the domes
  2. heat the nutella in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it
  3. working quickly while the mousse is still frozen, spoon the nutella over each dome and dip it into the crushed wafers
  4. immediately return the domes to the freezer
coating the inner domes with nutella and crushed wafer
coating the inner domes with nutella and crushed wafer

Chocolate mousse:

  1. bring milk to a boil and pour over dark chocolate to melt
  2. stir in bloomed gelatin
  3. when slightly cool, fold in the whipped cream
  4. pour the chocolate mousse into large dome moulds (~8cm in diameter) around 3/4 full then place one of the smaller mousse domes in the centre of the larger dome
  5. place the domes in the freezer to set for 5-10mins and when the mousse as slightly set, join the moulds together to create a sphere/ball. Use some leftover mousse to help stick the domes together if needed
fill the outer domes 3/4 full with chocolate mousse
fill the outer domes 3/4 full with chocolate mousse
place the frozen hazelnut vanilla domes in the centre
place the frozen hazelnut vanilla domes in the centre

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

  1. melt the chocolate over a double boiler and stir in the chopped hazelnuts
  2. unmould the mousse balls and roll this in the melted chocolate, covering the whole sphere and return to the freezer immediately to harden the chocolate shell. After several minutes, take the balls out of the freezer and spoon more chocolate over any gaps in the shell
  3. set aside in the fridge for the mousse to thaw before serving
Giant ferrero rocher dessert
Giant ferrero rocher dessert

 

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Recipe: Crepe Cake

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My instragrammed crepe cake

Makes: 8 inch cake (24 layers)

Time required: 3 hours

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Having never made crepes or pancakes before (well … not cooking much in a pan at all), I was keen to try making a crepe cake. I’ve always loved the crepe cakes from the famous Lady M – stopping by the Lady M boutique on 40th street each time I’ve visited New York and I still remember how excited I was to stumble across a Lady M on a trip to Singapore where I got to introduce my sister (who is a huge fan of matcha) to the matcha crepe cake.

Initially, given it was my first time making crepes I wanted to keep the cake simple – like the Lady M ones – by just making it layers of crepe and cream. However, after exploring the nearby wet market in Hong Kong for fresh fruits I came home with a bunch of passionfruit and decided to incorporate those into the cake. I ended up with a crepe cake layered with passionfruit custard and chocolate ganache – as you could probably guess from my previous posts (passionfruit & chocolate eclairs, passionfruit & chocolate tart …) it is one of my favourite flavour combinations!

Elements of this cake:

  • 24 crepes (~8 inch in diameter)
  •  passionfruit custard
  • chocolate ganache
The Famous Lady M crepe cakes in New York
The Famous Lady M crepe cakes in New York

Ingredients:

Crepes (makes ~24 depending on the size of your pan)

  • 600ml whole milk
  • 1tsbp vanilla paste
  • 2tsbp brandy
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 90g butter
  • 300g all purpose flour

Passionfruit Custard:

  • 700ml whole milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 65g cornstarch
  • 1tsbp vanilla
  • 85g butter
  • 4 passionfruits, seeds removed

Chocolate Ganache:

  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 100ml cream

 

Instructions:

I’d recommend making the custard first, so it has time to cool in the fridge while you’re frying the crepes

Crepes:

  1. place all the ingredients except flour into a blender and blend on med speed
  2. add in the flour and blend again until well combined
  3. refrigerate for 2 hours (or overnight)
  4. lightly spray or grease a small pan (~8inch in diameter) and fry the crepe batter on medium heat. I used around 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe
  5. allow the crepes to cool by spreading on parchment paper while making the rest of the crepes
My first time frying crepes
My first time frying crepes

Passionfruit custard:

  1. place the whole eggs, egg yolks and cornstarch with 20g of the sugar in a bowl and whisk until smooth
  2. in a large saucepan, combine milk, remaining sugar and vanilla and bring to a boil
  3. remove from the heat and slowly pour in half the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking to avoid cooking the eggs
  4. pour the milk and egg mixture back into the pot and heat until the mixture lightly bubbles
  5. remove from heat and stir in the passionfruit and butter
  6. pour the custard through a fine mesh and plastic wrap with the plastic touching the surface of the custard and store in the fridge to cool

Chocolate Ganache:

  1. bring cream to boil
  2. poor over chocolate and set aside for 2 mins. Stir together the melted chocolate and cream

Assembling the crepe cake:

  1. take one crepe and place it on a 8 inch cake board
  2. spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the crepe
  3. follow with a thin layer of passionfruit custard
  4. place the next crepe over the top and repeat until all the crepes are used up

You could also trim the edges of the crepes to a 8inch cake tin if you want cleaner edges, however I preferred the natural rough edges on my cake. I also coated the top of the cake in sugar and torched it for a bruleed finish

Thin layer of chocolate ganache
Thin layer of chocolate ganache
thin layer of passionfruit custard
thin layer of passionfruit custard
repeat until all layers of crepes have been assembled
repeat until all layers of crepes have been assembled
IMG_8184
torching the crepe cake
IMG_8202
experimenting with decorating the crepe cake
IMG_8278
My instragrammed crepe cake

 

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Recipe: Mango Mousse Cheesecake Entremet

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Mango mousse & vanilla cheesecake entremet on a crunchy caramel cookie

Makes: 12 mini dome cakes (6cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total, over 2 nights

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Inspiration:

Inspired by another one of my favourite chocolates – the Mango & Vanilla chocolate from Koko Black back home in Melbourne. Every time I used to visit Koko Black I would buy at least five of these Mango & Vanilla chocolates in addition to several of the Passion flavour (I have also baked a cake inspired by this chocolate with recipe here!) and then try a range of other truffles and chocolates.

img_3460
Trying all the chocolates from Koko Black and Xocolatl in Melbourne

The elements of this cake include:

  • Vanilla cheesecake centre
  • Runny mango jam
  • Mango mousse dome
  • Mango mirror glaze
  • caramel biscuit base

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cheesecake centre:

  • 225g cream cheese
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 100ml thickened cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 lemon

Caramel Biscuit base:

  • 1 pack caramel flavoured biscuits (can use other flavours, e.g. Arnott’s Nice biscuits are a good alternative)
  • 150g melted butter

Mango jam:

  • 200g mango puree
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 2 gelatin leaves

Mango Mousse:

  • 200g mango puree
  • 250ml cream, whipped
  • 200g sugar
  • 3 gelatin leaves

Mango glaze:

  • 200g mango puree
  • 200g sugar
  • 4 gelatin leaves
  • 200ml condensed milk
  • 150g white chocolate

Instructions:

Vanilla Cheesecake centre:

  1. Preheat over at 150C
  2. beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth
  3. whisk in the egg until well combined
  4. fold in cream, vanilla and lemon until just combined
  5. pour into a 8 x 8 inch square tin (or any other baking tin of similar size)
  6. bake for 20 minutes
  7. once cool, cut out 12 circles, around 2-3cm in diameter

Caramel Biscuit base:

  1. blend the biscuits in a food processor until there are not big lumps
  2. stir in melted butter
  3. spread over a large flat tin (ensure this is spread evenly enough to be able to cut out 12 x 6cm circles for the cake base) and bake at 150C for 10mins
  4. while still warm, cut out the 12 circles and set aside to cool. The 12 circles will be used as the base of the mousse dome, however do not discard the rest of the cookie base as this can be used to decorate the dome

Mango jam:

  1. heat mango puree and sugar over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens
  2. while the mixture is still hot, stir in bloomed gelatin and set aside
  3. once cool, place the mixture into a piping bag

Mango Mousse:

  1. heat mango puree and sugar over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens
  2. stir in gelatin and set aside to cool
  3. once the mixture is at room temperature, fold in the whipped cream to form the mousse

To Assemble:

  1. gather 12 circle dome moulds, each around 6cm in diameter
  2. fill half of each dome with the mango mousse mixture
  3. carefully pipe around 2 teaspoons of the mango jam on top of the mango mousse (be gentle as we don’t want to jam to sink to the bottom of the mould)
  4. push a piece of vanilla cheesecake into each of the domes on top of the mango jam. We want to push the cheesecake in just far enough that the edges of the cheesecake are surrounded by mango mousse. Add a bit more mousse into the dome if needed
  5. lastly, place a disc of the caramel biscuit onto each of the domes, sitting the biscuit base on top of the mousse
  6. set aside in the freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight to harden

Glazing the cake:

Mango glaze: (make this the following day once the mousse domes are frozen)

  1. un-mould each of the mousse domes and place back in the freezer
  2. place mango and sugar over medium heat until the mixture thickens
  3. remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin
  4. stir in the condensed milk
  5. while still hot, pour over white chocolate and stir to melt and incorporate the chocolate
  6. when the glaze cools to 35 degrees, pour over the mango mousse domes
  7. crumble the off-cuts from the caramel cookie base and coat around the base of each of the cakes
Mango mousse & vanilla cheesecake entremet on a crunchy caramel cookie
Mango mousse & vanilla cheesecake entremet on a crunchy caramel cookie

 

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Recipe: Chocolate Banana drip cake

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Makes: 8 inch cake (4 layers)

Time required: 5 hours in total

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

After brainstorming ideas for an upcoming birthday cake, I decided to draw inspiration from one of my favourite snacks at work – banana & chocolate croissants from the amazing Joel Robuchon. The croissants are a great afternoon snack – deliciously flaky pastry, filled with light banana custard … lightly sweetened with chocolate.

The elements making up this cake are:

  • four layers of banana cake
  • Almond and hazelnut dacquoise to add some texture
  • chocolate ganache to sweeten the cake
  • meringue buttercream
  • Decorations: dried pineapple flowers, torched meringue, chocolate shards

Ingredients:

Banana Cake:

  • 6 bananas
  • 250g plain flour
  • 100g almond meal
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 200g butter, softened
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2tsp vanilla
  • 300ml sour cream

Almond dacquoise:

  • 90g almond meal
  • 90g pure icing sugar
  • 4 egg whites
  • 90g caster sugar
  • 20g cocoa powder
  • crushed hazelnuts. to sprinkle

Chocolate gananche:

  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 150ml cream

Meringue butterncream

  • 4 egg whites
  • 360g caster sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 450g butter
  • 1tsp vanilla
  • 20g cocoa powder

Chocolate drip:

  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 200g butter

Decorations:

  • dried pineapple slices
  • chocolate shards
  • merginue

Instructions:

Banana Cake:

  1. preheat oven to 180C. Butter two 8 inch round baking pans
  2. mash ripe banana with a fork and set aside
  3. whisk together the flour, almond meal and baking powder
  4. in a separate bowl, beat butter until smooth. add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy
  5. add eggs one at a time into the bowl and whisk to combine
  6. add in vanilla and combine
  7. mix in half the dry ingredients
  8. mix in sour cream
  9. fold in the remaining flour mixture
  10. fold in the banana until just combined
  11. divide the cake batter evenly into the two tins and bake for 25 minutes
  12. place the baked cake on a wire rack to cook and then turn out after 10 minutes to cool completely
Banana cake ready to go into the oven
Banana cake ready to go into the oven

Almond Dacqouise:

  1. preheat oven to 200C
  2. sift almond meal with icing sugar and cocoa powder
  3. in a separate bowl, whisk egg whites with caster sugar until stiff peaks form
  4. gently fold in the almond mixture
  5. sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts
  6. pipe the mixture onto a baking sheet (make 3 x 8 inch discs to layer between the banana cakes) and bake for 24 minutes or until the dacquoise doesn’t sink when touched
Almond dacquoise with banana cake
Almond dacquoise with banana cake

Chocolate ganache:

  1. bring the cream to boil over low-med heat
  2. pour boiling cream over the chocolate and set aside for 2 minutes
  3. mix together the chocolate and cream

Meringue buttercream:

  1. bring the sugar to boil with 1/2 cup water
  2. while whisking the egg whites on maximum speed, pour the sugar syrup in a slow steady stream
  3. continue to mix on high until the meringue cools and forms stiff peaks
  4. whisk in the butter until well combined
  5. add vanilla and cocoa powder and whisk to combine

Chocolate drip:

  1. melt chocolate over double boiler
  2. stir in butter to melt

Assembling the cake:

layer the cake in the following order from bottom to top:

  • banana cake (cut each of the 8 inch cakes in half to create 4 layers of banana cake)
  • chocolate ganache
  • almond dacquoise
  • meringue buttercream
  • repeat until all layers of banana cake are used
  • coat the entire cake in the meringue buttercream – to create an ombre/rustic effect, split the buttercream into 3 batches and colour each batch a different shade of brown
  • pipe on the chocolate drip
  • top with decorations: dried pineapple flowers, torched meringue, chocolate triangles
Assembling the layers of the drip cake
Assembling the layers of the drip cake
different shades of brown buttercream to create a rustic effect
different shades of brown buttercream to create a rustic effect
Applying the chocolate drip
Applying the chocolate drip
Chocolate drip
Chocolate drip
torching the meringue
torching the meringue

 

slicing the chocolate banana drip cake
slicing the chocolate banana drip cake. Photo credit: IG lilaughs

 

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Recipe: Chocolate Orange Drip Cake

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Makes: 8 inch cake (4 layers)

Time required: 5 hours in total, over 2 nights

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Scrolling through my Instragram feed, I’m constantly drooling over posts of drip cakes so I was very keen to try making one for a birthday party I attended last weekend. Flavour-wise: I decided on a chocolate-orange combination – most people either love or hate the chocolate & orange flavours together. However, having previously baked a chocolate & orange entremet which friends raved about and providing choc-orange macarons as wedding favours (which none of the 150 guests complained about) … I’ve concluded that most people love it.

The components of this cake:

  • four layers of orange flourless cake (gluten free and relatively healthy?),
  • held together with cream cheese frosting, orange jam, chocolate ganache,
  • coated in a thicker layer of the cream cheese frosting,
  • covered in dripping chocolate
  • topped with candied orange decorations and chocolate shards
Orange mousse & chocolate fudge entremet
Orange mousse & chocolate fudge entremet – cake I’d previously made which was inspired by Messina’s fudging delicious flavour

Ingredients:

Orange Flourless Cake:

  • 10g melted butter to grease
  • 5 oranges
  • 7 eggs
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 600g almond meal
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 750g cream cheese
  • 200g butter
  • 300g cups icing sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 3 drops orange food colouring (optional)
  • 60ml Cointreau (optional)

Orange Jam:

  • 3 oranges
  • 200g caster sugar

Chocolate Ganache:

  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 150ml cream

Candied Orange:

  • 1 orange
  • 1.5 cup water
  • 200g caster sugar

Chocolate Drip:

  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 200g butter

Chocolate Shards:

  • 200g dark chocolate

Instructions:

Orange Flourless Cake:

  1. preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius, grease 2x 8 inch pans with melted butter
  2. in a large pot, bring oranges to boil
  3. continue to cook for 15 minutes, drain and repeat. Drain again and place the oranges in cold water
  4. place oranges in a food processor until smooth
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until thick and pale
  6. fold in the orange, almond meal and baking powder until just combined
  7. evenly distribute the cake mixture into the two 8 inch pans
  8. bake for 50mins, then set aside for 15mins to cool before removing from the pan

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  1. beat cream cheese with butter until soft
  2. whisk in icing sugar, 50g at a time and whisk until light and fluffy
  3. add in vanilla, cointreau and orange food colouring and whisk once more to combine. if you would like to make an ombre effect with the orange frosting, split the frosting into several batches and add different amounts of orange colouring to each

Orange Jam:

  1. Juice the oranges and place in small pot with sugar over low-med heat
  2. continue stirring for 10-15mins until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens
  3. set aside to cool

Chocolate Ganache:

  1. bring cream to boil then pour over chocolate
  2. set aside for 2 mins for the chocolate to soften, and then stir to combine

Candied Orange:

  1. thoroughly wash oranges to get rid of any waxy residue
  2. cut the orange into 1/4 inch slices
  3. heat water and sugar in a pot until the sugar dissolves
  4. bring to a gentle boil and add the orange slices
  5. after 15min, flip the slices and continue to cook on low-med heat for another 15mins until the peel becomes translucent and the syrup has thickend
  6. place the oranges on a wire rack on top of a lined baking sheet to cool

Chocolate drip:

  1. melt chocolate over a double boiler
  2. remove from heat and stir in butter to melt
  3. set aside for 10mins before the chocolate drip is the right consistency to use on the cake

Chocolate shards:

  1. temper chocolate over a double boiler
  2. spread thin layer of the melted chocolate over acetate sheet and set aside to cool and harden
  3. once the chocolate has set, break into rough triangular shards for decorations

Assembling the cake:

  1. cut the two 8inch cakes into two discs to make four cake layers
  2. place the first cake layer on a 9inch cake board
  3. spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the cake
  4. gently cover the ganache in a layer of cream cheese frosting
  5. drizzle a small amount of the orange jam over the cream cheese layer
  6. top with next cake layer
  7. repeat steps 3-6 for each of the cake layers
  8. once the cake has formed its shape, spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting over the cake as a crumb coat
  9. then apply a thicker layer of cream cheese frosting and smooth over the cake
  10. set aside in the fridge (preferably overnight) to cool
  11. remove the cake from the fridge. Using a spoon, top the cake with the chocolate drip by carefully drizzling a small spoonful of ganache at a time to the edge of the cake. Slightly rotate the cake and repeat until all the top edges of the cake are covered in the chocolate drip
  12. pour the rest of the chocolate drip onto the top of the cake

The most exciting part is of course decorating the cake. I opted for chocolate shards, candied orange and bay leaves, using the leftover cream cheese frosting to hold the decorations together.

Chocolate Orange Flourless drip cake with chocolate shards
Chocolate Orange drip cake decoration with chocolate shards

I got a little carried away with the chocolate shards and had to remove a few shelves from the fridge to fit the cake

Finished chocolate orange flourless drip cake with a number 40 to celebrate a birthday
Finished cake with a number 40 to celebrate a birthday


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