Gary's Tiger Lily Cake

For my husband's birthday this year he gave me the brief of making him an impressive cake with flowers. His favourite of those I've made so far is the Tiger Lily. So of course I used these on his cake. I decided to make a 2 tiered square cake in white decorated with piped detailing. 

My first job was to make the lilies. I made several so I could cover the cake with them. 

Tiger Lilies

Gary asked for a chocolate cake and a lemon cake, so I made these, filled them and covered them in sugarpaste and left them to settle a little. 

Covered cake and placing lilies

For the piping detailing I found a design we liked on the internet and traced this on to the cake. I them piped over these. I wasn't 100% happy with the piping but it wasn't bad for a first attempt in this style. I'll continue to practice. 

Once the cake was all dried I placed ribbons around each tier and put the lilies on the cake. 

Finished Cake

I was really pleased with the effect of this cake and thought the lilies looked stunning. I got lots of lovely compliments and will certainly be adding it to my wedding portfolio. 

Close up of side lily

Close up of top liliess

Chocolate Orange Torte

I found a recipe in Annie Bell's Baking Bible, the next one in the chocolate cakes chapter, for tiramisu torte which I thought sounded like a good idea. However, neither me or Gary like coffee so I decided to adjust the recipe and make it my own, instead of coffee I made a orange torte. 

Ingredients: 

50g self-raising flour

50g dark muscovado sugar

50ml vegetable oil

1 egg separated

1 tsp orange extract

1 tbsp milk

300g dark chocolate

4 eggs, separated

30g caster sugar

250g mascarpone

1tsp orange extract

orange zest to decorate

Method:

Mix the flour and sugar together. Add the oil, 1 egg yolk, orange extract and milk. Stir the mixture until smooth. Whisk the egg white until stiff. Fold in the flour mixture.

Cake mixture all mixed together. 

Pour into a greased 20cm tin and place in the oven, 150oC, for 20minutes until the cake is firm and slightly browned. 

Cake out of the oven. 

Melt the chocolate and allow to cool. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until the mixture is pale and thicker. Add the mascarpone to the chocolate and stir until combined. Fold this into the yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites and finally the orange extract.

Chocolate mixture for the top.

Make sure the mixture is fully combined and once the cake is cooled pour the mixture on top.

Ready to go in the fridge.

Smooth the top and place it in the fridge for a few hours until it has set. Use the orange zest to decorate the top.

It came out the tin in one piece.

The verdict:  I really enjoyed this torte, the chocolate mixture was really light and mousse like. The orange was subtle but I thought it had just enough flavour. The sponge mixture underneath was lovely and light, a really good contrast to the mousse. I think another variation on this would be a biscuit base as this would add a variety of texture. I wouldn't want to eat more than a thin slice as this was very rich but I really enjoyed the small amount that I had. I would give this 9/10. Gary gives it 10/10, he suggests putting crystalised orange on the top as a garnish. He says it's very nice mousse and cake. Its held its shape well and he would be very happy for me to make it again!! 

And sliced up beautifully. Yummy!! 

Blueberry and Orange Muffins

Todays recipe from Annie Bell's Baking Bible is from the Muffins, Cupcakes and Fairy cakes chapter, Blueberry and Orange Muffins. I didn't adjust these at all this week, just used the recipe and it worked very well.

It was a very simple recipe, as all of the recipes from this book seem to be so far. First step was to mix together the orange zest, juice, oil and eggs.

Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is incorporatated. 

Batter mix

Stir in 2/3 of the blueberries. Fill up the cases and then scatter the remaining blueberries on top. Place in the oven to cook. 

In the oven

Once cooked leave them on a rack to cool. 

Cooling

And then enjoy!

Finished product

The verdict: I enjoyed these muffins, the texture was really nice and the blueberries had broken down well in the oven to give a lovely moist texture. I probably didn't enjoy them enough to make them again but they were ok. I would give them 7/10 and Gary also gave them that score.