Birthday Cake

This week has been so busy! That Marquise au Chocolat cake resulted in my having 3 orders for this week alone from co-workers. Unfortunately, I got a little distracted and only photographed the one cake - the other two weren't nearly as pretty, though.

The first one was another Fraisier cake for a birthday. I started off quite well, until I realized that the ring mold I have is not deep enough. To improvise, I filled it almost full with the genoise batter. When it came time to fill it with mousseline cream, I lined the mold with acetate to increase the height. It worked out all right, but when it came time to remove it, the mousseline on the side was rather rough and had to be smoothed several times.

When I covered it with the marzipan, I pressed a little too hard and the strawberries along the sides started to pop out a bit. I guess this explains why you keep it in the mold until it has been fully assembled. It was a bit frustrating - I was pushing the strawberries back in like that "Whack a Mole" game, while having to smooth the mousseline back down every time.

My co-worker's family loves berries, so instead of the customary sprinkling of strawberry pieces inside, I added a thick layer of blueberries and strawberries, just barely covered by the genoise and mousseline.

The second order was not a reproduction of a class cake. I was still in the mood for strawberries so decided to make a sort of strawberry shortcake. I used a simple white cake base and made cupcakes with it. Then I filled each cupcake with stewed strawberries.

Trying to get a little practice in for school, I decided to make a meringue buttercream, which proved to be the most difficult item of the evening. I messed up the first batch of sugar, cooking it to hard ball stage and had to start over again. Then I became very impatient and added the butter when the meringue was still too warm. I nearly cried as I watched my beautiful meringue becoming a soupy mess. Luckily, I was able to save it by chilling it a bit so the butter was able to set. It wasn't as airy as it should have been, though. Next, I added pureed strawberries to the buttercream, which made it rather lumpy but it tasted delicious! I probably should have used strawberry jam, but the bright, fresh flavour of strawberries came through wonderfully with the puree.

The last cake was a repeat of the Delice Caramel from earlier this week. I had so much trouble with that cake, I was really dreading having to make it again. What a good exercise, though. My fear has certainly been reduced. I made the coffee ladyfingers a day in advance, then set to work making the bavarian cream and mousse. I was still working with the short ring mold, but the ladyfingers on the side allowed me to work higher without any trouble. I'm still having a lot of difficulty with glazes - everything I use seems to be full of lumps that I can't get rid of. So to make it look a bit prettier, I drizzled the caramel sauce over the top.