Golden Anniversary Cake

About a week ago, my my parents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, where family and friends had gathered to surprise them with a delicious breakfast and of course cake. They were surprised and very happy. It was a pleasant morning in good company.

You will of course get the recipe for the cake and this was the first time I challenged myself by making a number cake, an obvious choice as they have been married for 50 years.

I bought something called black cocoa (brand: Van houten), which is much darker than the normal kind you buy in the supermarkets and gives the cake an almost black colour. I also have to play with it for a Halloween cake. However, you can only use plain cocoa instead of the black one.

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY CAKE
ABOUT 20-25 SERVINGS

MUDCAKE:
100 G NEUTRAL OIL, EX. RAPESEED OIL
300 G MIN. 55% DARK CHOCOLATE
140 G FRESHLY BREWED COFFEE
320 G FLOUR
3 TSK. BAKING SODA
1½ TSK. BAKING POWDER
215 G SUGAR
35 G BLACK COCOA
30 G REG. COCOA
3 M/L EGGS
425 G BUTTERMILK

 

Turn on the oven at 180° celsius.

Line a 25×40 cm baking pan with baking paper at the bottom and grease the sides well.

Mix oil, chocolate and coffee in a saucepan and heat it all, stirring, until the chocolate has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool slightly.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Sift the cocoa in so that there are no lumps.

In another bowl, mix the eggs into the buttermilk.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the chocolate mixture, stirring. Then add in the buttermilk until everything is well mixed together.

Pour the batter into the pan, and preferably wrap wet tea towels around the sides so that the cake rises straight up.

Bake the cake for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If the cake still has a small dome, put a clean towel on top of press lightly on the hot cake so that the top levels out.

Turn the cake out and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting out the numbers you need. I printed these out.

Once the numbers are cut out, divide them into two layers.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
300 G CREAM CHEESE
200 G SOFTENED BUTTER
150 G ICING SUGAR

Whisk butter soft and creamy.

Add icing sugar and whisk it well together.

Mix the cream cheese into a smooth and delicious cream.

Add the cream to a piping bag with a star tip.

RUBY CREAM:
4 SHEETS GELATINE
200 G CALLEBAUT RUBY CHOCOLATE
500 G HEAVY CREAM 38%

Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 min.

Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a bowl.

Heat the cream to just below the boiling point and pour it over the chocolate and stir it to a smooth ganache,

Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and melt it in the cream.

Cover the cream with cling film and place it right on top of the surface.

Refrigerate the cream for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.

Just before you decorate the cake, whisk the cream lightly so it becomes airy and you can pipe tops that keep their shape.

Put the cream in a piping bag with a star tip.

ASSEMBLY: 

Put the first two bottom sponge layers on the serving dish and pipe a lot of tops on the sponge with the cream cheese frosting.

Place the next sponge on top and decorate with the ruby cream.

Now the cake is ready for decoration.

TUILLE-CORALS:
5 G FLOUR
40 G WATER
10 G RAPESEED OIL
YELLOW GEL COLOUR
EDIBLE GOLD LUSTER DUST

Mix colour, flour, oil and water in a bowl.

Heat up a pan, pour a small spoonful of the batter on the pan and let it cook until the water has evaporated.

Remove the coral from the pan with a spatula and let it cool on a paper towel.

Brush the corals with a bit of gold dust

DECORATION:
DIFFERENT “SIMPLE MOMENTS” SPRINKELS AND DECORATIONS IN GOLD
STRAWBERRIES
BLUEBERRIES
BLACKBERRIES
RASPBERRIES
TUILLES

Decorate the cake as you like.