A cute little baby shower cake for a little boy, which I made for the previous weekend. It is filled with chocolate sponged, strawberry mousse and passion fruit mousse and it is also frosted with a vanilla and lemon butter cream. I found the inspiration for the decoration on pinterest and with free hands for decorating, I couldn’t help myself and had to try it.
BABY SHOWER CAKE: STARRY SKY
12-14 PERS.
CHOCOLATE SPONGES:
5 M/L EGGS
250 G SUKKER
1 1/2 TSP VANILLA SUGAR
185 ML WHOLE MILK
75 G MELTED BUTTER
250 G FLOUR
65 G COCOA POWDER
2 TSP. BAKING POWDER
1 / 2 TSP SALT
Heat the oven to 175 degrees celsius.
Line the bottom of a 20 cm spring mould with baking paper, butter the sides and line them with baking paper.
Whisk the eggs light and airy for 4 min.
Mix sugar and vanilla sugar together and add it to the eggs.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
Alternate between adding melted butter, milk and flour into the egg mixture.
Mix until the ingredients just come together.
Pour the dough into the prepared mould and bake the cake in the middle of the oven for approx. 70 min. or until a toothpick comes clean out, when stuck into the middle of the cake.
Let the cake cool completely, while still in the mould, then remove it and and cut it into three layers of approx. 1 cm thick.
TIP: Should the cake become domed, you can place a clean tea towel on and push down lightly as soon as it comes out of the oven. If it’s not down, put some extra weight on the dish and let the cake cool off under pressure. I placed the tea towel first, then a plate, cutting board and some pots on top.
STRAWBERRY MOUSSE:
175 G STRAWBERRIES (FROZEN OR FRESH)
65 G SUGAR
2½ SHEETS OF GELATIN
JUICE OF ½ LEMON
175 G HEAVY CREAM, 38%
SEEDS OF ½ VANILLA POD
20 G ICING SUGAR
Soak the gelatin in cold water for at least 10 min.
Cook a compote of strawberry, lemon juice and sugar for 5-10 minutes until the fruit is soft and tender. (If you use frozen berries, drain about half of the juice after cooking, otherwise the mousse becomes too soft.)
Blend the mass to a fine puree.
Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and melt it in the warm puree.
Put it aside in a clean bowl and cool to room temperature.
Cut the vanilla pod lenghtwise and scrape out the seeds.
Whisk the cream, vanilla seeds and icing sugar to soft peaks.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the puree without knocking too much air out of the cream.
PASSION FRUIT MOUSSE:
3 SHEETS OF GELATIN
10 PASSION FRUITS
75 G ICING SUGAR
JUICE OF 1/2 LEMON
1 / 2 VANILLA POD
150 ML HEAVY CREAM, 38%
150 G CHEASY VANILLA SKYR
Cut the passion fruits in halves, scrape the filling out (juice and seeds) into a saucepan and heat it up.
Add the juice to a blender. Blitz for 10 seconds, to loosen the seeds from the flesh and pass the juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
Soak in the geoatin in a bowl with cold water for approx. 5 -10 min.
Add passion fruit juice, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon juice in a pan, and heat it up over low heat.
Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and melt it in the warm puree.
Pour the puree into a clean bowl and let it cool til room temperature.
Whip the cream to soft peaks.
Add the vanilla skyr to the whipped cream and whisk it together.
Fold the cooled passion fruit puree into the whipped cream.
BUTTERCREAM:
300 G BUTTER, SOFTENED
300 G ICING SUGAR
JUICE OF 1/2 LEMON
SEEDS OF ½ VANILLA POD
1 / 2 TSP AZUR BLUE FOOD COLOR GEL, WILTON
1 / 2 TSP SKY BLUE FOOD COLOR GEL, WILTON
Whisk the butter soft and creamy, add icing sugar and vanilla seeds and whisk the cream soft and airy.
Add lemon juice to taste.
Divide the buttercream in two bowls and dye the creams into different blue shades.
Transfer the butter creams to piping bags and cut a hole of 1.5 cm at the tip.
ASSEMBLY:
Cut a piece of baking paper into four triangles and place them overlapping on the dish you want to serve the cake on.
Place one of the sponges on it and place a cake ring with cake plastic around the sides and tighten it so that it fits snugly.
With the dark blue butter cream pipe a ring round the edge of the sponge. Use a knife to spread it slightly up the sides, approx. 2-3 cm, so the ring of butter cream will not be too thick. The ring will create a dam around the mousse and provide a sharp edge when the cake is frosted.
Pour the strawberry mousse over the sponge and place another sponge on top.
Place the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, so that the butter cream can set a little.
Repeat with light blue butter cream and then the passion fruit mousse and finish with the last sponge on top. Press it down lightly.
Finally, pipe a small amount of butter cream around the edge, where the sponge meets the cake plastic, and smooth it out to give you a sharp edge.
Cover the cake and place it in the fridge overnight to set. Place the butter cream in the fridge as well.
NEXT DAY: Let the butter cream come to room temperature again.
If you don’t have time to wait, you can cut the cream out of the bags, place it in a microwave safe bowl and give it 10 seconds at a time at the lowest power until it is soft again, I gave it a total of approx. 20-30 sec. Then put the buttercream in piping bag again. (With a 1.5 cm hole at the tip.)
Remove the cake ring and cake plastic from the cake.
Pipe rings of dark blue butter cream around the cake from below and up, about 2/3 of the way up the cakes sides.
Then pipe light blue cream the rest of the way up and the remaining butter cream is spread out on the top of the cake.
Smooth out the sides with a cake scraper, until neat and sharp. The leftover butter cream can be used to cover eventual holes.
Smooth out the butter cream on top and try to get as even and smooth a surface as possible on the whole cake.
When you are satisfied, you are ready to decorate the cake.
DECORATION:
150 G WHITE FONDANT
TOOTHPICKS
YELLOW FOOD COLOR GEL
EDIBLE GOLD DUST
BLACK FOOD PEN
PAPER AND CARDBOARD FOR THE TEDDY
WHITE PEARL SPRINKLES
GOLD STAR SPRINKLES
Roll the fondant to 3-4 mm thickness, cut out stars of different sizes and place them on a baking sheet. Insert a toothpick into some of them. Let them dry for at least a couple of days until they are hard and do not fall apart.
Leftover fondant is rolled into balls of various sizes.
Mix a little yellow paste and gold dust with a few drops of water, with a new clean brush paint the stars; those on toothpicks must be painted on both sides, while those who will to sit on the cake themselves need only one side. Let them dry again for a few days until you can touch them without them sticking. You may, as I do, use some of the stars to form the baby’s name. Then just write it with a black food pen, or paint it with black food color gel.
I drew the teddy bear, the moon and the big star on paper, glued it to cardboard and painted it. Then taped it to some bbq skewers.
Decorate the cake while the butter cream is still a little soft, so the decoration can stick easily to the cake. Refer to the picture.
When you are satisfied, place the cake in the fridge again for a few hours until the butter cream has set completely.
