Saturday, July 7, 2012

I may have fallen behind with posting for more than a week and  even have gone quite far with improvisation but despite some mishaps (including underbaking the cake) and the final appearence that didn't exactly meet my expectations, I am overall really satisfied and happy to have taken this month's challenge. So a big thanks to Mandy for sharing the recipe and her perfectly illustrated instructions and I hope you enjoy this version (with also a small fat reduction) either in this or a less time-consuming construction.

                              Chocolate cake
                              25gr                                                      cocoa powder
                              80gr                                                      self-raising flour
                              70gr                                                      butter
                              40gr                                                      cream cheese
                              105gr                                                    sugar
                              2                                                           eggs
                              40gr                                                      almond powder
                              0,5 tsp                                                   baking powder
                              as prefered                                            vanilla

                              Orange cake
                                        210gr                                                     self-raising  flour
                              140gr                                                     butter
                              70gr                                                       cream cheese
                              190gr                                                     sugar
                               4                                                           small eggs
                               80gr                                                      almond powder
                               1tsp                                                      baking powder
                               1 orange                                                orange zest

                               Connective paste and frosting
                               100gr                                                     apricot jam
                               400gr                                                     chocolate
                               200gr                                                     water or strained orange juice

For a 26cmx7cmx7cm cake arrange a size-variable rectangle utensil at 27cmx21cm and cut two parchment paper cases measured 7cmx27cm and 14x27cm each. Remember to let a 7cm height on each dimension and after folding the paper into a three-dimensional rectangle form, place the cases in the pan. Starting with the recipe, beat the butter needed for both of the cakes with a hand mixer until fluffy and separate the quantity asked for the chocolate one in a different bowl. Add there the cream cheese and sugar and continue beating for a couple of minutes. Mix in the vanilla, eggs and almond powder and whisk until homogenous. Finally shift in the flour and baking powder and beat for the ingredients to come together.

chocolate and orange battenberg

Spread equally the batter in the smaller paper case and support the side that doesn't lean to the wall of the pan to avoid leakage in the other case. No needing to wash out the mixer attachments, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar asked for the orange cake and then add eggs, almond and zest as previously. Finish with the flour and baking powder and pour the batter in the case left. Straighten its surface and bake at a preheated oven at 170-180C for 30-35min until the batter of both of the cakes in the center of the pan rises to a small peak. Removing from the oven test doneness with a toothpick and let the cakes cool completely. 


Take a ruler and trim the sides of the cakes to get a 5cmx3cmx26cm piece for the chocolate and a 12cmx3cmx26cm piece for the orange one. From the first one cut 4 2cmx1cmx26cm and 5 1cmx1cmx26cm bars and from the other cut 8 3cmx1cmx26cm, 4 1cmx1cmx26cm and 4 1cmx1cmx26cm bars. Remember to use the chocolate frosting and not the jam for gluing together the bars that should show the overlap part of this pattern (as you can see in the image above I have quite messed up with the possition of the 3cmx1cmx26cm pieces in the upper right and lower left corner of the cake) .For the frosting make a ganache with the water and chocolate, use as much as is needed for bringing the pieces together and refrigerate the rest for a couple of hours until set. When ready, whip with a mixer at high speed for a few minutes to soften and add some volume to the mixture and spread the frosting on the sides and top of the cake.



6 comments:

  1. wow that's beautiful! great job :)

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  2. What an absolutely stunning cake! Your are obviously so very talented. Truly inspiring - fantastic work!

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  3. lovely presentation! I spent quite some time looking at the cake figuring out how it's made.

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    1. Actually that is probably because I have made some confusing mistakes with the pattern in the upper right and lower left corner :)

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks!!!! (By the way your blog is amazing too)

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