Cakes For Romantic Occasions (18 page)

These little temptations are delicious and simple to make. Once the circles have been cut out, there is plenty of brownie leftover to enjoy with a cup of tea when you’ve finished the hard work! They are perfect boxed as wedding favours or as a dessert served with a little fruit coulis and ice cream. The quantities given below create four.

one
Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F/Gas Mark 2–3). Line a 20cm (8in) square baking tin with some greaseproof paper
(see page 12).

two
Cut 185g (6½oz) unsalted butter into small pieces and place in a heatproof glass bowl. Break 185g (6½oz) dark chocolate into the butter. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. On a low heat, stir the chocolate and butter until mixed and melted. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

three
Sieve 85g (3oz) plain flour and 40g (1½oz) cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside. Break three large eggs into another bowl and pour in 275g (10oz) golden caster sugar. Using an electric whisk, cream the eggs and sugar together until they are thick and creamy.

four
Pour the cooled chocolate mix over the egg and sugar mix and really gently fold together with a spatula so you don’t knock out the air. Fold until the mixture is a mottled dark brown.

tip
Creaming the eggs and sugar together can take up to eight minutes. The mixture needs to go pale and double its original volume.

five
Resift the flour and cocoa powder mix into the chocolate mix. Fold until the mixture is fudgy, again being as gentle as you can to keep in the air.

six
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and ease it into each corner. Bake for 25–30 minutes (see tip below). The top should be shiny and the side should be just coming away from the tin. Leave in the tin until completely cold.

seven
Remove from the tin and gently cut out three circles for each cake with 6.5cm (2½in), 4.5cm (1¾in) and 2.25cm (⁷∕₈in) round cutters (
a
).

eight
Level off each circle of brownie with a sharp knife and assemble the tiers, securing with a little extra melted chocolate.

nine
Fill a piping bag with a no.1.5 nozzle and some white royal icing and decorate some of the cakes with little sugar pearls and swags (
b
). Dust others with icing sugar (refer to picture on previous page).

tip
Remove the brownie from the oven after 25 minutes. If it wobbles in the middle, place it back into the oven for a further 5 minutes.

Chocolate Hearts

As an extra touch, heart-shaped chocolate butter cookies (see pages 34–35) can be sandwiched together with melted chocolate and then dusted with cocoa powder to make some utterly adorable wedding favours.

I designed this cake when I found the beautiful cake stand. It reminded me of the antique white metal scroll furniture seen in French gardens. Iced in soft colours and decorated with little sugar daisies and fresh roses, this cake would be wonderful for a spring garden wedding.

one
Roll out the white flowerpaste to about 1mm (1⁄16in) and cut out around 50 small daisies. Curl the petals on a flower foam pad with the small end of a bone tool. Put a little dab of water in the centre of one daisy and stick another daisy on top, ensuring that the petals are not overlapping. Allow the 25 completed flowers to dry for a couple of hours.

two
Fill a piping bag with a no.2 nozzle and some white royal icing. Pipe a dot into the centres of the daisies (
a
) and dab down any icing peaks with a little water.

three
Take the 20cm (8in) board and place it on top of the 25cm (10in) cake. Check the board is centred then score around it using a scriber needle or pin (
b
). Repeat this process using the 15cm (6in) board on the 20cm (8in) cake and the 10cm (4in) board on the 15cm (6in) cake.

SERVES
About 80

MATERIALS

• One 15cm (6in), one 20cm (8in) and one 25cm (10in) round shell-pink iced cake, each set onto a round cake board the same size as the cake • One 10cm (4in), one 15cm (6in)
and one 20cm (8in) cake board
(to score around) • Wilton ‘Graceful Tiers’ cake stand • 2.5cm (1in) sage green satin ribbon • White flowerpaste, 25g (1oz)

• White royal icing (see page 26) • Food colouring: melon yellow

• Nine fresh roses with a little foliage
(for decoration)
EQUIPMENT

• No.2 icing nozzle

• Piping bag

• Small daisy cutter

• Flower foam pad

• Scriber needle or pin

• Bone tool

• Ruler

• Small paintbrush

• Rolling pin

tip
If you don’t have the right sized cake board to score around, use a plate or saucer instead. As long as the plate is roughly 5cm (2in) smaller than the cake it will be fine.

four
Fix the sage green satin ribbon around the base of each cake with a little royal icing.

five
Using a ruler as a guide, score a vertical line up the side
of each cake, starting at the top of the ribbon and ending at
the scored line on top of the cake (
c
).

six
Using the same nozzle and piping bag used for the daisy centres, pipe a vertical line along the scored line from the top
of each cake to the top of the ribbon around the base (
d
).

seven
Using the first piped line as a guide pipe vertical lines around the sides of each cake approximately 2.5cm (1in) apart. Use your ruler each time to ensure a straight line if you need to.

eight
When you have finished the vertical lines. Pipe a small snail trail (see page 27) around the scored line on top of each cake (
e
).

nine
Attach the daisies with a little royal icing and paint the centres of the flowers using the melon yellow food colouring mixed with a little water (
f
).

ten
Pipe three small dots around the top of the ribbon, in between the vertical piped lines on each cake. Dab down any icing peaks with a little water.

eleven
When you are ready to present the cake, set it onto the cake stand and dress if with a few fresh roses (see pages 28–29).

Using fresh flowers on a cake is a lovely way to incorporate the floral theme at your celebration into the cake design so that everything is beautifully coordinated.