Lace Embroidery Cake
For cake-makes one small double layered cake 11cms in diameter
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125grams/4 ozs butter
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100g/3.5 ozs white chocolate
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1 cup caster sugar
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3/4 cup coffee
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3/4 cup self raising flour
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2 tablespoons cocoa
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2 eggs, beaten
For the ganache
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300g white chocolate, finely chopped
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1/2 cup cream
For the fondant and royal icing
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250g/1/2 pound of white fondant
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Colouring gel
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cornflour for dusting
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200g/7ozs icing sugar
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1 egg white
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2 tablespoons lemon juice
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Overheard transparency film (I'm not crazy, it is to buff the fondant smooth), rolling pin, floral stencils or imprints, parchment paper
Step 1 - Make cake first. In a saucepan, place the butter, chocolate, sugar and coffee and stir until melted. Cool for 15 minutes.
_The mud cake batter-not attractive
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Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 150C/300F and line two small round tin 11cms in diameter with baking parchment. In another bowl add the flour and cocoa and mix to combine (you can sift it but I loathe sifting and it's a dense cake anyway).
Step 3 - Add the cooled chocolate mix to the flour and then add the beaten eggs and stir until well combined. Pour into the tins and bake for 1 hour or 1 hour 15 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool and refrigerate until needed just to make it a bit firmer.
Step 4 - Make the chocolate ganache. Combine chocolate and cream in a small heatproof bowl; stir with metal spoon over pan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Cool in fridge a little until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread the ganache all over the cake and with a palette knife smooth it. The best instructions I have for this are in this story and they go into a lot of detail.
Step 5 - Colour the fondant icing the colour that you want-a contrasting colour will show up the floral detail the best. Roll it out onto a lightly cornfloured board and drape the cake in the rolled fondant. You can typically use a smooth jam to adhere the fondant to the cake but this cake was so moist I didn't need to. Smooth down the fondant using two rectangles of the overhead transparency film. This will take some time and you will have to snip off some excess fondant but gently rubbing it with the film will eventually get rid of any lines. Take the imprint and gently press down firmly to ensure that the imprint appears on the fondant.
Step 6 - Make the royal icing. I do it a very quick way in my cordless Braun mini blender. I place the unsifted icing sugar in the container and blitz this for about 20 seconds until the lumps are gone. Then I add the egg whites and lemon juice and then blitz it again until it is smooth. I check the consistency by drawing a line and if it holds well without blurring then it is ready. If it is too stiff add a few drops of water, if it is too soft, then add some more icing sugar to achieve the consistency. Then fill a small piping bag with the royal icing (I usually make a small cone using a square of parchment).
Step 7 - Have a glass with a small amount of water and a clean teatowel ready. Dip your brush into the water and blot on the teatowel so that it remains damp. Trace around a flower twice and then using the damp paintbrush lightly drag the brush from the line to the centre of the flower. Repeat this doing each flower individually as the royal icing sets quickly.