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| Clapper Board Cake |
Second post of the day! Wow- I'm cuckoo for cooking!
So a friend texted me this morning, well actually last night, but not too out of the ordinary, I was asleep again at 10pm. Cooking is tiring guys!
This was a really fun cake to make! I loved being super creative with this one and I think it shows. I was also able to use a lot of the utensils and equipment that I invested in for my business. I used my icing smoother, my icing pen, my letter cutters, my silicone mat, my plastic rolling pin and various other things. Really excited!
The equipment that you'll need:
- Rolling pin - Silicone mat - Cloth for spills - Large baking dish
- Cake spreader - Palette knife - Pastry brush - Baking paper
- Icing pen - Cutters - Plastic ruler - Cake skewer
- Mixer - Spatula - Mini pizza cutter for icing - Cooling rack
This is an extensive list I know, you should have seen how cluttered my counter had become in the kitchen. If you don't have all the equipment then that's grand, just use what you have! :)
The ingredients you'll need are:
Cake:
- 440g Self Raising Flour
- 440g Butter
- 440g Caster Sugar
- 8 Eggs
Icing cover:
- 2 packs of Ready Rolled Fondant Icing- White
- 2 packs of Ready Rolled Fondant Icing- Black
Buttercream:
- 200g Butter
- 400g Icing Sugar
- 50ml Water
- The oven will need to be set to 170C in a fan-assisted oven. Line a deep baking tray with butter and baking parchment. You might need a little kitchen foil; enough to cover the cake in case it browns too quickly.
- Now for the baking!
- First thing's first, make the cake batter.
- Measure out the 440g butter into a glass bowl and pop into the microwave for 2 minutes until softened. Pop this into a bowl along with 440g of caster sugar and mix on a low speed until combined and then on a high speed. This will whisk the eggs until they are a light, fluffy and pale in colour.
- Now you want to add in the eggs. Crack 8 eggs into a bowl and whisk them with a fork until fully combined.
- With the mixer on a low speed, gradually whisk the egg into the butter/sugar mix on a low speed until partially combined. Then on a high speed and whip it together.
- Chuck in the flour and mix until just combined. You don't want to over whisk. :)
- Using a spatula, pour the batter into the baking dish, do this until all of it is in the dish. Then even out with a palette knife and pop into the oven for around an hour or so until it has risen, is cooked through and bounces back to the touch!
- Making the black fondant decorations/ additions:
- While the cake is baking, you now want to make the icing decorations. To do this you want to dust a counter top with icing sugar and knead the black fondant. This kneading process will loosen it and enable you work with it easier as it will become more pliable. When you have it rolled out to the thickness of a 50p piece, you want to start cutting.
- Cut out each letter that you require, using your letter cutters. You do this by dusting the cutter in a bit of icing sugar and pressing it down into the fondant. Then using a chopstick to pop each letter on a spatula to transfer the over to some baking paper to allow them o dry out and set.
- Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and pop onto a cooling tray, bottom up. This will allow the top to flatten and even out as well.
-To make the buttercream:
- Put the softened butter into a bowl and whisk until beaten. Gradually add the icing sugar until it is all combined and the buttercream doesn't have that buttery aftertaste.
- Once the cake is cooled, even the top out more by trimming the top of the cake. Trim the cake at either side if required, to get it the right shape and size. That is what I did at least.
- Now you want to put on the crumb coat. This is when you put on a layer of buttercream over the entire cake. This will allow the crumbs to stay within the cake (be sealed) and will also enable to fondant to stick to the cake as well.
- You want to use your buttercream to crumb coat your cake before as this will help the fondant stick and stay secure. Spread a layer of this onto the cake and then manipulate the fondant onto the cake, slightly stretching where necessary around the edges to get any creases out. Then use the cake smoother to smooth it all out and the pizza cutter to cut the loose ends off and give you a neat and tidy finish to your cake.
Putting on the Icing Layer:
- Roll out the icing, using a rolling pin, the icing sugar to stop it from sticking and the silicone mat. Roll out until the thickness of £1. This will be thick enough, so that it keeps the cake inside safe and moist, but not so thick, that it is like a fondant dessert, featuring cake.
-I love using fondant as it is quite therapeutic, what with all the kneading, rolling back and forth and the use of your hands. It gets tension out and is a great way if you have anything annoying you, creating a lot of tension, as it lends itself to that purpose in a manner of speaking. It allows, through the kneading and working the dough to make it pliable as fondant dries out in the air, so you knead it to loosen it again, you to get ride of that tension.
- Waffle moment:
- Although when on the subject, when it comes to tension, I had and have none whatsoever. And it feels so lovely! I love what i'm doing and what's more, is that i'm really enjoying myself. I love fondant because it is a 'muck in and get stuck into it' kind of technique. It is hands on and allows you to become one with what you are creating, to get all philosophical about it.
It takes away the literal coldness of the baking from using machines and utensils and gizmos and forces and invites you to use your most basic tool- your hands and touch. You get a feel for the texture and what it is supposed to feel like. Making you much more in sync with what you are creating and adding to the personal touch I think.
- Also, for me, when I was younger and even sometimes today, at the ripe age of 19 going on 20, I still am referred to as the 'Mucker or Squirt'... This was because I loved baking or being involved in things that involved using your hands and being messy. Mug pies- I'm there! Water fights- you bet! My new thing, well not new as in a recent occurrence, is bread. I love bread and not just to eat. The feel of it. From making it from a few simple ingredients to eating it and tasting those wonderful textures. Crunchy on the outside and soft and comforting on the inside.
- Covering the cake with the fondant layer:
- Anyway, your cake is baked, the lettering is done and dusted (quite literally) and you are about to drape the cake with the white fondant. I cut my cake to the size of 10.5 inches so that it had a similar shape to a clapper board. I then measured my icing so that it would not only cover the surface of the cake, but the edges too. This came to about a length of 15 inches, but this will vary depending on your cake.
- I then popped this into the fridge as fondant needs to set or it will be difficult to work with. This gives you time to have a rest. :)
- Finishing touches:
- Now you want to cut out strips of black fondant for the lines on the board. To do this, line your ruler on the fondant and run your pizza cutter along the edge of the ruler, giving you a straight line each time.
- Line the strips with a little water on the back and stick them onto the cake/ white fondant. To give me a guide as to where I was going to stick things, before cutting the pieces out I used my cake ruler and with a knife scored where I was going to stick fondant on. This helped me with my proportions and also gave me the chance to get it correct, measurement wise and whether it looked right or not.
- Detail and organisation is key to me.
- Use a print out to help you with putting sections in specific places on the cake. I found this on Google Images. This helped me a bundle as I wasn't so familiar with clapper boards as some would be, so needed a reference point to copy off so I didn't make a balls of it.
- I loved and love this cake! I really enjoyed it and it has made me really happy. It's the little things in life.
- When you are finished sticking the rest of the fondant onto the fondant on the cake and have all the words on it and everything looks good, give it a dusting off with the pastry brush and then stick it in the fridge for 10 minutes to set and firm up and then you are done!
I hope you have loved this cake as much as I have!
Again, if any of you are looking orders, I would love to help you out! I think my blog proves that this is what I love to do and it would be a pleasure to cater for your event, big or small, sweet or savoury!
Thanks and have a lovely evening all!
Post again soon!
Did I mention how happy I am? How much I love this cake? And how happy I am? Thank you all so very much for all the support! :)
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