“And Above All…Think Chocolate!”
Betty Crocker
My daughter’s 12th Birthday Cake..’YIN YANG CHOCOLATE CAKE’
” The time has come”, the walrus said, “to talk of other things”. These words from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ have been playing in my mind all morning! Hmmmmmm…
Time to post my daughter’s 12th birthday cake. Chocolate cake it had to be because of its universal appeal; in addition, the daughter wanted a ‘yin-yang’ on top. DH suggested marzipan. That too was readily agreed upon. Having got direction of some sort from all quarters (the son’s direction was just ‘cake mama’), I painted a picture in my mind. The tough part was to transfer it from a virtual state to ‘reality’. WAS FUN (can say so now…Phew!!) & CHALLENGING!
‘YIN-YANG’ – The black & white symbol in the centre
‘The concept of Yin Yang is one of the fundamental concepts of Chinese philosophy. It is a concept of relativity between two elements of a whole. Nothing in this concept is absolute. Not only is something Yin in comparison to something else which is Yang, but everything Yin contains a little bit of Yang and vice versa.
Yīn (陰 or 阴) is the dark element: it is passive, dark, feminine, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponds to the night.
Yáng (陽 or 阳 ) is the bright element: it is active, light, masculine, positive, upward-seeking, producing and corresponds to the daytime.
Yáng (陽 or 阳 ) is the bright element: it is active, light, masculine, positive, upward-seeking, producing and corresponds to the daytime.
Any circumstance may be deemed Yin or Yang depending on the perspective from which we observe it. Being able to view both the Yin and Yang sides of things surrounding us helps us lead a life of harmony.’
Time to cut the cake…
It was a HUGE hit with the kids & adults alike; looked great & tasted splendid. DH announced it the best cake ever! Almost got polished off!
The marzipan decorations were soft & full of flavour…quite unlike store-bought marzipan which tends to harden up. Surprisingly they were still malleable & didn’t lose either texture or taste. Great idea for doing things in bits & bobs!! For those who missed my earlier post on marzipan from scratch, the pictures are on the right.
The basic cake was a ‘Chocolate Sponge Cake’…
Ingredients:
Eggs – 8
Powdered Sugar – 200gms
Flour – 150 gms
Cocoa – 6 tbsps
Cornflour – 4 tbsp
Baking powder – 2 tsps
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsps
Red food colour – 4-5 drops (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line & grease 2 spring form 10″ tins. ( I made 2 cakes in 2 batches/ 4 eggs each time since I have just 1 tin)
- Sift the flour + cocoa + cornflour + baking powder + salt 3 times.
- Beat eggs & powdered sugar for approx 10 minutes till mousse like & thick.
- Add vanilla essence & food colour & beat.
- Fold in the flour mix, 1 tbsp at a time, gently so that the beaten air doesn’t escape.
- Turn gently into tins & bake 25-30 minutes till done. Turn out onto racks & cool.
- Cut each cake horizontally to get 4 layers ( 2 from each cake)
- This was enough for about 25 servings. (You can half the weights; remember to use smaller size tins too.)
Frosting, filling, decoration etc:
Filling:
Cream – 400ml (35% whipping cream)
Castor Sugar – 5-6 tbsps (to taste)
Vanilla extract – 1tsp
- Whip the cream + sugar + extract till the cream is thick & holds shape.
- Sandwich the layers of the sponge with the cream (1/3rd each time).
- Can be done a day in advance. Keep it covered in the fridge.
Ganache:
Dark chocolate – 400gms
Cream – 300ml
- Break the chocolate into pieces & put it in a pan with the cream
- Melt it over low heat, stirring constantly.
- Take off heat. Stir vigorously with spoon. This gives it a gloss.
- Cool. (The ganache will thicken as it cools).
- Frost the sides of the cake with the ganache. Sprinkle chocolate shavings etc onto the sides & press gently. ( I used a mix of grated Toblerone & chocolate sprinkles)
- Now cover the top of the cake with the remaining ganache. ( I reserved some for the ‘yin‘ & a little to glue the marzipan to the sides of the cake)
- Mark an area for the ‘yin yang’ with a round bowl. Place chocolate flakes around the edges, followed by the marzipan flowers, leaves, bugs etc.
- Mix a little black food colour into the reserved ganache for the ‘yin‘.
- Melt some white chocolate with a tsp of cream to make a white ganache for the ‘yang‘.
- Fill in the shapes; remember to mark the dots on either side.
- Chill till ready to eat!! Keep out at least an hour before serving.
- This is a luscious, light & chocolicious cake!
Colour & shape the marzipan according to your theme. We did a racing car track for my son a few years ago. The cars were in brilliant colours, & we made sure there was a car a child!