Bubble turned 21 and we celebrated with a little party at home with friends and family.
Over the years I have made some wonderful and fancy cakes for Bubble. Often she chose my strawberry flavoured cake recipe which has been a favourite for years.
But this being a milestone birthday I decided to come up with a new flavour based on Bubble's favourite macaron flavour which is violet.
The actual cake design was pretty, elegant and understated. which is a bit of a reflection of the amazingly lovely person Bubble has become (and really has always been).
Last year while traveling in Vienna we picked up sugared violets and I crushed these and added them to the Italian Meringue Buttercream which was flavoured with Violet essence. Then I covered the cake with a whipped violet ganache, lightened with a dollop of the buttercream and decorated it with gold splashes and more sugared violets.
It was exquisite.
We also had a 4 layer chocolate cake cover with Lindt milk chocolate and topped with chocolate macarons plus raspberry and violet macarons (CLICK HERE FOR MY FREE RASPBERRY MACARON RECIPE).
#Note that violet extract/essence and sugared violets are speciality items and can be difficult to source. Here is a link to violet extract (CLICK HERE) and a link to sugared/crystalised violets (CLICK HERE).
If you do not care for violet flavour or its a bit tricky to source, try using raspberry with freeze dried raspberries which would be delicious and just as pretty.
Happy Baking
XX
Linda M
Violet Layer Cake Recipe and Assembly Instructions
Ingredients (recipes below)
3 X 6" vanilla cake
Violet Italain Meringue Buttercream
Whipped Violet Ganache
extra crystallised violets to decorate (CLICK HERE FOR A LINK)
edible gold paint (link here)
1. Assemble the Cake
Trim cake as necessary to removed brown edges (optional you can leave it as is if you prefer)
Pop one 6" vanilla cake onto a 6"cake board. Secure the bottom with a little buttercream to hold it in place. Top with a generous 1/2 cup of Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream and then another layer of cake. Repeat the process adding another generous 1/2 cup Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream and then the final third layer of cake.
Give the cake a quick thin crumb coat of reserved vanilla buttercream*
Place cake into fridge to firm up to make decorating easier.
*The sugared violets in the Violet Buttercream make it difficult to get a smooth finish, but it's all ok you will be covering in a layer of ganache soon.
Note - If it is warm you may need to do each layer and pop the cake into the fridge to firm up so it doesn't slide off.
2. Decorate the Cake
Remove the stacked cake from the fridge. I put my cake onto a cake decorating turntable.
Using the violet ganache cover the edges and top with a reasonably thick coating of the ganache. I simply used a palette knife to cover the cake but use whatever process you are used to.
To make the sides smooth I used a metal scraper held at a 45degree angle and turned the cake turntable while holding the scraper still. Fill any holes in the ganache with reserved ganache (or ganache that you have scraped off) and repeat the process until you are happy. You may need to pop the cake in and out of the fridge as required depending on the temperature.
I use a metal scraper for tall cakes (CLICK HERE) which works best for me
Note - perfection is overrated if you are making this for your friends and family. Smooth until you are happy and ignore any dents and spots. No one will notice them.
Add gold splashes and crushed sugared violets randomly but sparsely. No need to go overboard. I mixed my edible gold dust with rose spirits and splashed on with a paint brush by lightly tapping the brush handle against my hand.
Fluffy Vanilla Cake makes 3 x 6" cakes
Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature, otherwise the butter will not mix in well.
80g (3oz) egg yolks (approximately 5 eggs)
225g (7+7/8oz)sugar (I used caster sugar or superfine if you only have regular white you can use that)
75g (2 + 5/8oz) butter melted and cooled
165g (5 + 3/4 oz) egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla essence
225g (7+ 7/8oz)plain flour (all purpose flour)
3 tsp baking powder
125g (4 + 3/8oz) milk
Preheat oven to 175C (350F) grease and line 3 X 6" round baking tins with parchment paper.
In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks with 1Tbsp of the sugar at medium high speed light and fluffy. This will take a while and the mixture will become a lighter colour and very fluffy. It is important that the mixture is lightened/whipped enough at this stage.
Add the butter and mix until the mixture is thick and pale. If the butter solidifies (due to different temperatures of yolk and melted butter) keep on mixing until smooth.
In a seperate bowl mix the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until soft peak stage. Gradually add the remaining sugar and mix until the egg white mixture is thick and glossy and reaches stiff peak stage. Mix in the vanilla.
Sift together the flour and baking powder and gradually fold into to the egg yolk mixture in batches. Add the milk and fold until just combined.
Take a generous heaped spoon of the egg white mixture and fold into the egg yolk batter to lighten it and then add the remaining egg white mixture folding gently to retain as much volume and air as possible.
Pour the batter evenly into the 3 baking tins. My tins had 295g in each of the 3 tins.
Bake for 20-25 mis until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. The sides will be coming away from the edge of the tin and it should lightly spring back when touched and be golden brown in colour.
Allow to cool completely before decorating (I made my cakes a few days before, double cling wrapped them, froze them and then removed from the freezer and defrosted in fridge the morning I decorated the cake.)
Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream
1 1/2 cup Italian Meringue Buttercream (recipe below)
1 1/2 Tbsp Crushed sugared violets (or to taste)
1/2 tsp violet extract (or to taste) CLICK HERE FOR LINK/SOURCE FOR VIOLET EXTRACT
1 1/2 Tbsp Crushed sugared violets (or to taste)
1/2 tsp violet extract (or to taste) CLICK HERE FOR LINK/SOURCE FOR VIOLET EXTRACT
Mix the violet extract into buttercream, taste and add more extract if required. Gently fold in the crushed sugared violets.
Whipped Violet Ganache Frosting(makes enough ganache to just cover a 3 layer by 15cm/6 inch cake)
330g (11 + 5/8oz) good quality white chocolate (I used Callebaut)
110g (3 + 7/8oz) cream
1/2 tsp violet essence (violet flavour/essence varies add to taste)
few drops gel violet colour and pink
1/4 cup Italian meringue buttercream (recipe below)
110g (3 + 7/8oz) cream
1/2 tsp violet essence (violet flavour/essence varies add to taste)
few drops gel violet colour and pink
1/4 cup Italian meringue buttercream (recipe below)
Chop chocolate into little pieces if necessary then place with cream into a microwave safe bowl. I usually use glass/pyrex for heating chocolate. Mix the chocolate and cream around so the chocolate is covered with cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute, let sit for a minute, microwave for another 30 seconds, let sit for another minute and then stir with a whisk. I find that using a stick blender makes the smoothest most perfect ganache but I usually just use the whisk.
If you have any little lumps try to mix them in. Your chocolate and microwave may be slightly different than mine so you might need to heat for another few lots of 30 seconds.
Add the violet flavour to taste and food colour to achieve your desired look. I added a few drops of violet which for me gave the ganache a greenish/blue tinge and then a drop of pink to achieve the colour in the pictures.
Allow to sit at room temperature or in the fridge until it has thickened. It should be like a thick custard that you can spoon.
In a stand mixer bowl whip the ganache until light and fluffy scraping down the sides as needed then add the buttercream and whip. Check the flavour and colour and add more if required.
Mini Batch of Italian Meringue Buttercream
Your bowl and whisk need to be squeaky clean to whip egg whites. I use a stand mixer with a pouring shield to make this butter cream, the sugar syrup is very hot, make sure you take appropriate safety precautions when pouring the hot sugar syrup mixture. Not suitable for young children to make.
Your bowl and whisk need to be squeaky clean to whip egg whites. I use a stand mixer with a pouring shield to make this butter cream, the sugar syrup is very hot, make sure you take appropriate safety precautions when pouring the hot sugar syrup mixture. Not suitable for young children to make.
38g (1 3/8oz) water
150g (6oz) white sugar
75g (2 3/4oz) egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
225g (8 oz - 2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into smallish cubes
1/4 tsp salt
225g (8 oz - 2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into smallish cubes
Place sugar and water into saucepan over high heat and bring to boil. Conintue to heat until the sugar syrup mixture reaches 115 C (240F). Brush down the the sides of saucepan with a wet pastry brush as required to stop sugar crystals from forming.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer (make sure the bowl is quite large). When the sugar syrup reaches 110C (210F) start to whip the egg whites at high speed.
Once the sugar syrup reaches 115C (240 F) carefully pour the syrup into the whipped egg whites whilst the mixer is still beating on high.
Continue to beat until the egg and sugar mixture cooled to room temperature (or the bowl feels cool to touch) and then start to add a few cubes of butter at a time. Add the vanilla and salt.
The mixture will probably become quite liquid, but continue to beat until it thickens and all the butter is evenly distributed. May take around 10 minutes.
Linda Mccubbin is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US in 2011 (under my previous name Linda Vandermeer).
Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.