AHOY THERE MATEYS…IT’S A PIRATE CAKE!
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Chocolate Genoise Sponge with a ganache topping & marzipan
Time for the son’s 9th birthday & his level of excitement has the rest of us crawling up walls!!! The countdown began 2 months ago, & reached a frenzy in the last week. Each morning of the last week was announced with 7,6,5,4,3,2…tomorrow, “I just can’t wait for tomorrow”!! That night a calm overtook him (as my friend commented, “must be the calm before the storm“). Dead right she was, because we were all so wound up by the end of it we were all riding waves of stormy seas…& suddenly a ‘Pirate Cake’ made quite a lot of sense!!
Plans had been made in his mind ages ago about what the cake was going to be; only thing is that he wanted a ‘skeleton’ on his cake. Much negotiation resulted in ‘flames leaping towards the sky’, and finally we settled for a ‘pirate‘! To me even that was an uphill task given the wonderful weather in this part of the world…melting moments with 40 degrees C & 80% humidity!
Check out the doodling….little hands sat making pirate faces for ages. After many sheets of paper (recycled) & many scary pirates which were crossed out, we finally had a tick mark from him on one!! Phew…concrete thoughts at last & I could move on!!
His little hands tried hard to make alphabet bones, eventually demolished by the ever watchful elder sister who found them most imperfect. So she did the alphabets, & he happily carried on to mix blue into the marzipan & made the waves. I did the face & the dagger; he came back to add silver to the teeth, & an ear-ring! We made the marzipan deco 2 days before to try & beat the stress. Lesson learnt – marzipan cannot beat birthday stress, but does a yummy cake make!! The cake was delicious & the kids thought it very COOL!!
Grin & bear it!
It’s of course another matter that I have suffered a tragedy of sorts where I have lost all the birthday pictures due to some strange 11th June bug sitting in my computer. All the pictures I downloaded during the course of the day have disappeared completely, sadly all the ones of the kids & their friends, the cake cutting…every one of them (except a couple of the cake which I had mailed in the morning).
I could have howled coz I had edited them etc & was having a jolly good time with them! I have a few of the cookies I made a couple of days before, but the mini muffins pictures etc are history. Having spent a good 2 days looking for the evasive images, I have decided to let go & move on. (BTW, it’s Friday the 13th today; hmmmmm!!)
The basic cake is a Chocolate Genoise from one of my favourite baking sites, Joy of Baking. Genoise is named after its place of origin, Genoa Italy and belongs to the family of light and airy sponge cakes. While the technique for making this batter is similar to that of any sponge cake it does differ in that it contains melted unsalted butter (or clarified butter). The adding of melted butter does produce a more tender and flavorful sponge cake but it also requires us to perform a few extra steps when making the batter.
Recipe as adapted for the basic cake from Joy of Baking. (I made 2 cakes)
Ingredients:
Hot melted unsalted butter or clarified butter – 3 tablespoons
Vanilla extract – 1
Cake flour – 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder – 1/3 cup
Eggs – 4 large
Granulated white sugar – 2/3 cup
Note: When warming the eggs and sugar, whisk constantly to ensure the the eggs do not overheat and curdle.
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Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter, or spray with a vegetable spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pan and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
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In a small bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter with the vanilla extract. Keep this mixture warm. If needed, re-warm for a few seconds just before using.
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In a medium bowl sift together the flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
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In a large heatproof bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, heat the eggs and sugar until lukewarm to the touch (this will take approximately 5 minutes depending on the temperature of the eggs and the simmering water).
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Remove from heat and transfer the egg mixture to the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat on high speed until the egg mixture has cooled, tripled in volume, and looks like softly whipped cream. This will take approximately 5 minutes and the batter is beaten sufficiently when the batter falls back into the bowl in a ribbon-like pattern.
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Then sift about one-third of the flour mixture over the whipped eggs and fold in using a large rubber spatula or whisk.
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old in half of the remaining flour, and then fold in the rest. Do not over mix or you will deflate the batter.
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hen take about 1 cup of the batter and fold it into the hot butter mixture with a small spatula. (This will lighten the butter mixture and make it easier to incorporate into the egg batter without deflating it.)
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When completely combined, use a spatula to fold the butter mixture completely into the rest of the egg batter. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, smoothing the top.
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Bake until the cake shrinks slightly from the edges of the pan and the top springs back when lightly pressed (about 20-25 minutes). Cool on a metal rack. When the cake has cooled completely, run a small knife or spatula around the edges to release the cake. The génoise will keep well-wrapped two days in the refrigerator or else three months frozen.
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I sandwiched the layers with a chantilly cream, after brushing the layers with melted mixed fruit jam.
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Topped the cake with a dark chocolate ganache, decorated it with marzipan made from scratch (eggless) & chocolate scrolls dusted with powdered sugar.
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Recipe for ganache can be found here.
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Recipe for marzipan can be found here.
” HOSTAGES WILL WALK THE PLANK!!”
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
29 Comments
Arundathi
that’s amazing, deeba! i’m sure he had a super party – so sorry about the photos – how horrid! there must be someway to recover them…
Happy cook
Wow looks so beautiful.
So you son is luckyto have a mom who vakes such wonderful cakes.
Realy pity you lost the pictures.
Janaki
Hey Deeba !
I just can’t tell you how much i admire you baking skils..well am beginner at baking and have tried chocolate cake , banana bread , cinnamon raisin bread etc. Althouh these came out pretty well and everybody loved it , i feel the cakes smell eggy . Could that be because i dont use a electric mixer ?? Just wondering…does your sponge ever smell of eggs ?
How do i get rid of the smell..i’ve tried adding more vanilla essence too..doesnt help..:(
Looking forward to your repsonse.
diva
WOOOHOO
what an awesome cake. can i have one for my birthday in sept too?? 🙂
fantastic deeba. u always wow me with your culinary masterpieces
meeso
That’s awful about the pictures! The cake is too cute and I’m sure the birthday was a lot of fun for your son!
Susan from Food Blogga
That is one fan-tabulous pirate cake, Deeba! And Happy Birthday, dear Rohan!
PS-My b-day is in May. Should I put in my request now? 😉
Rachel
Wow gorgeous again…how did the day go? am sorry you lost your pics…
Manggy
Beautiful cake Deeba! I’m sure your son had a wonderful time. His name was inspired by Lord of the Rings? 🙂 Ha, that’s so cool.
Sorry about the pics. Maybe you can phone the digital cam manufacturer and give them a piece of your mind..
Nags
god! you are so talented!! what sort of oven do you have?
Lore
Now that’s what I call a fun cake. Happy b-day to your son! It looks like you’ve put a lot of work and soul into that cake!
familiabencomo
It sounds like pirates raided your PC! Aaargh! I would have gone nut-so if that had happened to me. Goodness, I know how hard you work on everything & it’s so great having photos of the kids having fun…. I’m so sorry. Hopefully, they will magically pop up. You’re cake is amazing. Gianluca & Rohan are exactly 2 months apart – how funny! We were at a bday party yesterday at a place where the walls & floor are all trampolines… Imagine 25 nine yr old boys all bouncing off the walls, literally! I thought of you & your boy’s party – I hope there wasn’t too much chaos. At least you have a year to recover! Happy birthday to your baby! Please give him a big hug from California.
Tanti baci, bella,
Amy
Purnima
Belated bday wishes to the newly turned 9! 😀 Rohan..what was it like to help mom for preparing ur bday cake? Well Deeba, as usual (under that temperature, u hv surely managed not to melt it, surely ur ac might hv been on high power since the making till cutting- LOL!) The pattern is fab! All other goodies r drool worthy too..(yest i baked again van cc frm u for a ani. couple n decor. wt whip.crm + m&M, they were soooooo happy couldnt stop staring n grinning …made my day..tks to u! Home front, my kids enjoy this simple cc a looot ) Sorry abt u losing the precious snaps!I shall b in India the coming week for 2 months..take care..)
Ivy
ROHAN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
What a beautiful cake. It’s absolutely beautiful every single detail from the bone letters to the sword and everything, is perfect. I’ve been looking into my pictures folders for two days now, as I could not find half of the pictures during the preparation of an ice cream I made but I was relieved to find them today as they were together with another recipe I made but did not have the time to sort them out.
Bellini Valli
I think the cake is pretty amazing too Deeba. Happy Birthday to Rohan…I’m sure he had a day for the memory books:D
Meeta
oh if i knew what a cake designer you are i would have asked you to make me a birthday cake too. great looking cake and HB to Rohan!
Rajan
Awesome and sumptuous layout, we know all thats frozen for us except the history. Good work keep it up.
azcookbook
Deeba, what a great looking cake. So creative:) Happy B-day to your son! Wishing him a happy healthy life!
Coffee & Vanilla
Deeba, pirate cake looks amazing!! I love it! Margot
Coffee & Vanilla
Deeba, pirate cake looks amazing!! I love it! Margot
nicisme
That’s an awesome cake!
So sorry to hear you lost the photos, what a shame.:(
Arfi Binsted
it’s so fun decorating kids birthday cake, eh? my turn will be next month, both for my birthday and my daughter’s 4th birthday 🙂 don’t have any idea but it usually comes up just around the corner hehehe
Bharti Khemani
Deeeeba!! What A COOL CAKE!!
Happy b’day to ur big guy!
It’s really sad about the pics.
But seriously..cool cake!
Dwiana P
Rohan, happy b’day. you are a big boy! big no 9 huh.
Debra, you are so creative. This cake give me a good laugh and I am sure your son loves it so much.
amandalwh
Deeba~ u are always so creative with your bakes! 🙂 marzipan crafting, i always wanted to try! ^^
Amanda
ashaan
That is one cool cake. You are so talented. Thanks for the recipes too.
arundati
belated birthday wishes for the boy!! and bumps too!! fabulous cake ….and losing the pics is such a bummer!!
Ruth Elkin
Happy belated birthday to Rohan!
You must have had lots of fun putting this together!!!! Looks real good!
Divya
Pirates cake looks absolutely wonderful..i am sure finger licking tasty as well…your son must have been out of the world..(btw,who wouldn’t be..having you for a mom;-)
Miri
Belated birthday wishes, the cake looks absolutely amazing and having just recovered from one can imagine how hard it must have been – AND you made so many things! He must have been in heaven 🙂
I feel for you about the pics….are you sure they arent left in the camera on the memory stick by chance..hugs and have a great vacation
Miri