I have learned to bake for taste but I have not mastered to decorate cakes. When I first learned what a fondant was I was overjoyed with the possibilities of experimenting with fondant. Having learned pottery basics and clay moulding, I knew I could definitely make figures and objects if I had fondant and the required tools.But then fondant is not easily available. I have not even succeeded in finding that one magical shop where I could shop all my cake supplies. So when I visited a Tesco in Cardiff last month, I plunged into the baking section and shopped dead. I saved one roll of fondant and treasured it for the right occassion and last week it happened finally. It was my hubby's birthday. I had a lot of expectations, the research for recipes began from the day I returned from London. I had the right cream in mind in fact my hubby requested for lemon cream. I searched recipes that taught how to make stuff from scratch because not every store here has cream and mascarpone or sour cream and essences. And I also wanted to do everything from scratch for my 'love'.
But then I did not have a lot of basic tools like a turning table or a cake stand, jam to stick fondant, even butter paper for baking. I intended to make a double decker cake but my family voted it out saying it was too heavy for a group of four. So finally I managed to make this. I realised if I had the whole day and no other items to cook I could have done this leisurely which is very important. With breakfast and lunch and a birthday dinner of lasagne and soup, I had a tough time doing this whole thing patiently.But for a beginner I guess I did decent. The cake tasted better than it looked and the cream was heavenly. I have some cream in store and I hope I can make my own cream biscuits soon.
Ingredients for Vanilla cake with lemon cream and fondant icing
Lemon cream ( From Sarah's blog Sarahfromscratch)
Lemon juice - 150 ml
Eggs- 3
Egg yolk- 1
Cream of tartar- 1 tsp (optional)
Sugar- 200 gm
Salt- a pinch
Butter- 236 gm
Direction
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, cream of tartar, salt and sugar along with the egg white. Heat it in a vessel with simmering water.
Keep stirring and you will see the mixture thickening. If you have a food thermometer you should continue till the mixture reaches 170 degrees. I did not have a thermometer so I did it on my estimation on slow fire for 10 minutes.
Cool the mixture according to the recipe it should be cooled up to 140 degrees. Now cut the butter into cubes and add them one by one and keep stirring the mixture. The cream will turn viscous. Cool it for a while and then refrigerate till you need it for the cake. I let it cool for 6 hours , you can do this a day ahead too.
Vanilla Cake
Flour- 188 gm
Baking powder- 1 3/5 tsp
Butter- 206 gm
Sugar- 206 gm
Vanilla essence- 1 1/2 tsp
Milk- 50 ml
Eggs- 5
Directions
Sieve the flour and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl cream the butter and sugar. Please ensure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before you start these procedures. Add eggs one by one to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Now add vanilla essence and milk to this batter and finally add the sieved flour. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool the cake on a rack after baking and refrigerate it before the icing. If you want to have a large cake you can make two cakes and sandwich it using the cream. I baked one and cut it into halves. Refrigeration helps in cutting the cake without letting it powder. I refrigerated the cake for 1 hour.
Fondant Decoration
Fondant roll - white colour- 250 gm
Blue fool colour- 5ml
Toothpick
Directions
Knead the fondant roll on a surface floured with icing sugar or fondant sugar. Make streak with the desired food colour by dipping a tooth pick into the colour and dabbing it on the fondant. And keep kneading till you get the desired colour.
I made flowers and a ribbon out of the blue fondant I made. I cannot explain the procedure for making roses here but there are videos on youtube that could help you in this regard.
Lemon juice - 150 ml
Eggs- 3
Egg yolk- 1
Cream of tartar- 1 tsp (optional)
Sugar- 200 gm
Salt- a pinch
Butter- 236 gm
Direction
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, cream of tartar, salt and sugar along with the egg white. Heat it in a vessel with simmering water.
Keep stirring and you will see the mixture thickening. If you have a food thermometer you should continue till the mixture reaches 170 degrees. I did not have a thermometer so I did it on my estimation on slow fire for 10 minutes.
Cool the mixture according to the recipe it should be cooled up to 140 degrees. Now cut the butter into cubes and add them one by one and keep stirring the mixture. The cream will turn viscous. Cool it for a while and then refrigerate till you need it for the cake. I let it cool for 6 hours , you can do this a day ahead too.
Vanilla Cake
Flour- 188 gm
Baking powder- 1 3/5 tsp
Butter- 206 gm
Sugar- 206 gm
Vanilla essence- 1 1/2 tsp
Milk- 50 ml
Eggs- 5
Directions
Sieve the flour and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl cream the butter and sugar. Please ensure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before you start these procedures. Add eggs one by one to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Now add vanilla essence and milk to this batter and finally add the sieved flour. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool the cake on a rack after baking and refrigerate it before the icing. If you want to have a large cake you can make two cakes and sandwich it using the cream. I baked one and cut it into halves. Refrigeration helps in cutting the cake without letting it powder. I refrigerated the cake for 1 hour.
Fondant Decoration
Fondant roll - white colour- 250 gm
Blue fool colour- 5ml
Toothpick
Directions
Knead the fondant roll on a surface floured with icing sugar or fondant sugar. Make streak with the desired food colour by dipping a tooth pick into the colour and dabbing it on the fondant. And keep kneading till you get the desired colour.
I made flowers and a ribbon out of the blue fondant I made. I cannot explain the procedure for making roses here but there are videos on youtube that could help you in this regard.
Now cut the cake into halves or if you decide to go for two separate cakes level the parts that is to be sandwiched. Smear the lemon cream between the halves or two cakes and place the two layers carefully one on top of the other. If you have a board or turntable or cake stand to do the decorations it would be great I did it on my cooling rack and had some tough time later.Once the sandwiching part is done cover the entire cake with the same cream or any jam you like. Refrigerate this cake now for 15 minutes.This will act as an adhesive for the fondant. Now roll out the fondant keeping in mind the size of your cake.Cover your cake slowly in such a manner that there are no bubbles and bumps. Use a spatula or anything that help you to flatten and stick the fondant on top of the take.Use a little pressure and seal the cake from all the sides and cut off the extra bits.Apply little cream on top of the fondant wherever you want to stick the roses and ribbon and make an arrangement.
You can cool it for a while but the fondant starts melting or perspiring rather so I would suggest you cut it 10 minutes after it's out of the refrigerator.
I loved the whole process and I still have a lot to learn but I think I need more tips and appliances to help me go the long way. But what matters is I did make a lovely cake for my hubby from scratch and I did fine. The lemon cream to me was the highlight and thanks to Sarah who believes in teaching from scratch.
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