Press Release

Printer-friendly page

CAKE ART Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Showstopping Cakes and Cupcakes by The Culinary Institute of America, Chefs Kate Cavotti and Alison McLoughlin Lebhar-Friedman February 2008 $29.95/hardcover Full-color photographs ISBN-13: 978-0867309225 Back to book information

Preparation Timeline

• Up to 3 days in advance: Make the flowers
• Up to 1 day in advance: Make the cupcakes (see Chocolate Sponge Cake recipe below)
• Day of event: Decorate the cupcakes

Components
Cupcakes
Flowers

Equipment and Materials
Dark modeling chocolate
White modeling chocolate
Oil-based food colors
Large and medium flower cutters
Tempered or coating chocolate
Teacups or small bowls for shaping flowers
Small circle cutter
Hard ganache for glazing (recipe follows)

Roll out the dark modeling chocolate until is it 1/8-inch thick. Cut out the desired number of large flowers.

Place the flowers over the bottom of inverted teacups or inside the small bowls. They will need to dry for 12 to 24 hours.

Cut out as many small circles from the dark modeling chocolate as there will be flowers. These circles will be the centers of the flowers.

Tint the white modeling chocolate pink using the oil-based food colors. Repeat steps 1 through 3 with the pink modeling chocolate and the medium-sized flower cutter.

Once the components are dry, secure the pink flowers inside the larger chocolate flowers with a small amount of water.

Secure a dark modeling chocolate center inside each flower with a small amount of water.

Finishing
Dip each cupcake into the fluid hard ganache. Place a flower on top of each cupcake. Once the ganache sets, the flowers will be secured to the cupcakes.

You will need oil-based food colors for this project because liquid and gel colors are water-based and will not mix with the chocolate.

Preparation Timeline

• Up to 2 days in advance: Cover cake board in fondant if not using a cake plate
• Up to 2 days in advance: Bake cake (See Chocolate Sponge Cake recipe below)
• Up to 1 day in advance: Fill cake with choice of icing
• Up to 1 day in advance (up to 3 days in advance, if using tempered chocolate):
• Up to 1 day in advance: Prepare chocolate tiles (see method outlined immediately below)
• Up to 1 day in advance: Glaze cake with chocolate glaze
• Up to 1 day in advance or day of event: Decorate cake

Components
One 8-inch cake, filled and glazed (ingredients as follows, see Glazing Cake with Hard Ganache for method below)
Rectangular chocolate tiles (see method outlined immediately below.)

Equipment and Materials for Chocolate Tiles
Dark chocolate or melted coating chocolate
Cocoa butter or melted white chocolate
Double boiler
Oil-based food colors
Paper cornet or piping bag fitted with a #1 tip for the inscription, if desired
Piece of marble or sheet of acetate
Large offset palette knife
Ruler or cardboard template as a guide
Pizza wheel or knife

Temper the dark chocolate or melt the coating chocolate. Keep the chocolate fluid so it will be spreadable. This can be accomplished by periodically flashing the chocolate over a hot water bath.

Gently melt the cocoa butter or white chocolate in a double boiler. Allow it to cool slightly and color with the food coloring. Fill paper cornets with the colored cocoa butter or white chocolate and create a design over the piece of marble or acetate. If you are using acetate, tape the sheet to the work surface so the tiles do not curl as they set.

Pour some of the dark chocolate into the center of the acetate sheet and spread it thinly on top of the cocoa butter with an offset palette knife. Add more chocolate if necessary to obtain an even coating.

Once the chocolate is almost set, use a pizza wheel or knife to cut it into equal-sized tiles using a ruler or a cardboard template. Begin by cutting strips one way and then cutting in the opposite direction.

Allow the tiles to set completely and then lift them off the acetate.

4 pounds dark chocolate, finely chopped 4 cups heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl. Bring the heavy cream just to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and allow to stand for 1 minute, stirring until the chocolate is thoroughly melted.

The ganache can be used immediately, or it can be covered and stored under refrigeration, then warmed prior to use.

Keep in mind a cake's height when you are ready to glaze. A shorter cake will need less ganache to cover the top and sides than a taller cake. The ganache should feel slightly warm to the touch, between 100°F and 110°F, for glazing. This temperature ensures that the ganache will be fluid enough to flow over the cake, but it will not lose its shine or melt the buttercream coating underneath.

Place the cake on a cardboard circle that is the exact size of the cake. If necessary, trim the cake circle to fit the cake.

Place an inverted cake pan, or similar object that is slightly smaller than the cake itself, on a baking sheet. Position the cake on top of the inverted pan.

Prepare a hard ganache (see above). Once all the chocolate has melted into the cream, allow the ganache to cool to between 100°F and 110°F.

Using a ladle or a 1-cup measure, pour 2 cups of chocolate ganache onto the center of the cake; 2 cups is enough to cover a short 6-inch cake. When covering larger cakes, it is better to use more ganache than you think you will need because excess ganache will drip onto the baking sheet and can be reused.

Using a large offset palette knife, push the ganache from the center of the cake over the sides. Make sure the top of the cake has a thin and even coating.

If the ganache does not cover all of the sides of the cake, use a small knife or offset palette knife to spread some ganache onto those areas.

Allow the ganache to drip off the cake onto the baking sheet. Once the ganache has set, hold the cake from the bottom (remember, there is a cake board that you can hold onto) and trim any excess ganache with a small offset palette knife.

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sugar
5 large eggs
5 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with a nonstick spray and line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper. For cupcakes, prepare pans with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together twice and set aside. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract to the melted butter, and stir to combine. Set aside to cool.

Combine the sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer and set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Whisking constantly with a wire whisk, heat until the mixture is warm to the touch or reaches 120 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Remove the bowl from the heat and attach it to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the egg mixture on a medium speed until the foam triples in volume and just begins to recede, about 5 minutes. Stabilize the foam on low speed for 10 minutes.

Fold the flour into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula. Blend a small amount of the batter into the melted butter, then fold the tempered butter back into remaining batter.

Fill the prepared cake or cupcake pans about two-thirds full. Bake until the top of each layer is firm to the touch — for 8- or 9-inch cakes about 30 minutes, for cupcakes about 20 minutes.

Let the layers cool in the pans for a few minutes before turning out onto wire racks to finish cooling. The cakes are ready to fill and frost now, or they can be wrapped and stored at room temperature for 2 days, or frozen for up to 3 weeks.