Things needed to make this cake
2 quantity Chocolate cake method 1
Chocolate Ganache double this quantity
Acetate paper - cut to size- I cut a sheet in half and wrapped it around and pasted with cello-tape.
silver dust
for the water
Gelatine
sugar
water
Strawberry Essence
Citric Acid
a few drops of blue colouring
white gel food colouring for waves effect - mix with vodka or white chocolate chips melted in microwave
Biscuits to crush - for sand
green food colouring
a "little mermaid" silicon sleeping mould
Figures and sea animals
Either figures made with fondant or modelling chocolate, little mermaid and all the sea animals, stones, leaves etc. Use your imagination
Method
I made 2 chocolate cakes in round pans, I made butter cream icing, put some onto a cling film, rolled out like a sausage, twisted the icing and slid it into a icing bag. Cut the tip end of the cling film which you drop into the icing bag and then snip a bit of the icing bag and spread the butter cream icing on top of one cake and then put the other cake layer on top. By using the butter cream icing like this you don't need to spoil all your icing bags.
I then took a knife and carved a small water fall/stream. With the cut out pieces of cake I pressed them together like cake pops and then lifted a side of the cake to look like a mountain.
Butter cream icing Icing placed on clingfilm put into icing bag
I then made chocolate Ganache and covered the entire cake with it and kept it in the freezer for 10 minute. I took out the cake and placed the cake on a cake board and then rubbed a good amount of Chocolate Ganache on the board, placed the cake in the centre and re rubbed ganache on the cake so that there are no visible holes so that no jelly can seep into the cake.
broken cooking chocolate boiling heavy cream mixed ganache
Once the cake is ready, take a little white food colouring and dab in places. Then add your decorations which will be inside the jelly, I made some with modelling chocolate and some with fondant. I cut a sheet of acetate paper in half and wrapped it around the cake and pasted it pasted the edges together with cello-tape. Also place a piece of tape around the cake ring so that no jelly seeps out. Put some ganache into a piping bag and pipe around the inner side of the cake ring. Cover the full bottom with cling foil and paste down. Freeze for around 10 minutes.
Keep this in the fridge till the jelly is ready. The cake can be kept in the fridge for 2 days so that the cake gets hard. Before pouring the jelly place all your figures that you need under water on the cake. stick them on with a little ganache.
Figures put in on base of water Jelly water added remove base of cling foil
How to make the jelly
60 g gelatine
1 cup cold water
75 g sugar
300 ml water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
a few drops of strawberry essence
some hot water to dissolve the gelatine
Gelatine water recipe
Mix the gelatine with cold water in a bowl and let sit for 15 minutes. Boil sugar with the 300 ml water, then add the lemon juice. Pour hot over the bloomed gelatine and stir well and mix it into the sugar syrup.
Add a few drops of blue gel food colouring till you get the desired blue colour. Add in a few drops of strawberry flavour, taste it so that it is not too strong.
Do not pour Jelly on the cake until the jelly has come to room temperature. I poured in the jelly a little at a time and put cake in fridge for the first layer to set and see that the jelly does not seep out.
Once the jelly is poured in refrigerate over night for 6 hours. once the jelly is set, remove the acetate paper carefully, cover the jelly with cling film and pour on the crushed biscuit for sand, or grass add a little green colouring.
Take Marie or Speculose biscuits, place in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin. Keep some aside as brown sand and add a few drops of green colouring, and pat some on top of the mountain area on your cake.
cling film lowered to peep in acetate and cling film removed cut slices
Once the jelly is poured in refrigerate over night for 6 hours. once the jelly is set, remove the acetate paper carefully, cover the jelly with cling film and pour on the crushed biscuit for sand, or grass add a little green colouring.
The jelly lasted around 3 hours out of the fridge. By that time the cake had reached room temperature.
NB: NEVER PUT FONDANT FIGURES INSIDE THE JELLY AREA AS THEY WILL MELT, ALWAYS USE MELTED CHOCOLATE AND SET IN MOULDS OR SHAPE BY HAND.
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