Hiya! So a very eventful week I have had and that is why this blog post is a bit late. But I knew I couldn't let the week finish before I blogged about my next cake.
This is a cake order I did a few months ago. It is a chocolate buttermilk cake with milk chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, drizzling chocolate ganache, garnished with homemade Ferrero Rocher chocolate truffles and tempered chocolate cages sprayed with green pearl dust.
I love the chocolate cages they look so lacy and beautiful and very technicual. Which they are, I spent about 3 days on these. Making spares just incase I would drop any.
I tell you why I have had an eventful week. If you guys didn't know I work at a cafe in Hamilton (Mavis and Co) which I love. I use to work there as the pastry chef until he decided to return a month later to regain his position. I then was moved to waitress at the front of house which I thoroughly enjoy. But in the weekends I work in the kitchen, heating cabinet food, helping the chefs, whipping cream, cutting vegetables, rolling risotto ect. Mavis does burger nights, they sell burgers at night as a casual burger place and I did a few burger nights when the chefs couldn't. One of the chefs broke her arm playing basketball and I was asked to work her shifts.
So I am very busy with my new shifts, but this is perfect timing i was just feeling like a new challenge. I am loving it and is another skill I can soon tick off my list. So if you are ever in mavis getting a burger or breakfast give me a shout!
That is enough about my eventful week, back to cakes. I love this cake because it has handmade Ferrero Rocher. And wow were they rich and delightful. Honestly so rich you only need a small one. Pure chocolate truffle with a whole hazelnut inside. Roasted chopped hazelnuts coating the truffle and glazed with a milk chocolate glaze. Wow.
Many people ask me how I do all my chocolate work, and I always love try to explain it but never end up doing a good job. I pretty much do the same process that Chocolate factories do to make their chocolate bar. You notice when you buy a chocolate bar it is solid and breaks with a snap and is also art shiny. Well, the chocolate doesn't start like that. You have to alter it's temperatures so that the crystals all bind together and form a strong structure. So instead of making a chocolate bar, I make shapes out of the chocolate. Hard to explain but I hope I did a reasonable job without using pastry chef jargon.
I honestly can't wait in like 5 years and look back at all the cakes I have made. Look back and watch my creativity become more defined, my passion more enthusiastic and my skills become more technical.
Today I have the recipe for Ferrero Rocher's
Recipe:
1x quantity of truffle mix (on Marbled Truffle Cake Post)
200g roasted chopped very finely hazelnuts
50 whole roasted hazelnuts
100g good quality milk chocolate
25g coconut oil
Assembly:
-Make sure your truffle mixture has, at least, 24hours to set to make your life easier the next day.
-Roast all your hazelnuts in one tray at 150 degress for 8-10 minutes.
-When you can leave the room and walk back in and smell the aroma of nuts you know you have roasted them enough. Just enough to depthen their flavour.
-Pull the hazelnuts out and put onto a clean tea towel.
-Fold the tea towel in half and begin rubbing vigorously until all the skins are removed.
-Some nuts will toast quicker than others and their skins will peel away easier. If their skins are not coming off, return them to the oven for a few more minutes and try again.
-Reserve 50 whole hazelnuts for the middle of the chocolate.
-All the rest of the nuts place on the chopping board and chop very very finely.
-Place these prepped nuts aside along with the 50 whole hazelnuts.
-Roll your truffles the size of a teaspoon. Roll until they are a smooth soft edges ball.
-Push a whole hazelnut through one of the sides of the ball. Continue to roll the truffle.
-While the truffle is warming up in your hands, quickly drop into a tray of chopped nuts and toss till it is well covered in chopped nuts.
-Set on a tray.
-When you have used up all your mixture place all the truffles in the fridge and allow them to set.
-Make the glaze: Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. In 20 sec intervals, mixing well in between intervals until it is well melted.
-Place your truffles on a wire rack with a baking tray underneath lined with glad wrap.
-Pour a tablespoon of glaze over each truffle and let it drip and cover the whole truffle.
-Repeat these for all the truffles and make sure they are well coated.
-Place in the fridge and allow to set up before using it to garnish your cake or eat!
Awesome! That's it. These little things are dangerous very addictive so nice and rich.
I'll let you go make them,
Till next time lovelies,
