Some Old Cakes

I didn't document the making of these cakes because I simply didn't have the time. And also didn't expect to start writing a baking blog, back then. You still might enjoy the odd photograph and recipe. 


Wedding Cakes

I'm a bit of a megalomaniac. So I took on the rather nerve-wracking task of making my own wedding cakes. Overall, it was a success (tasted great) but there were naturally a few things to improve (aesthetically). There were 90 guests, and they managed to eat almost all the cakes in spite of my calculations that those cakes should have served approximately 120 people. 

I frosted and decorated the layer cakes and baked the cheesecakes in the course of two days preceding the wedding. I had made the decorations and baked the chocolate cakes well in advance (the chocolate cake can be frozen). I also had help, but it was nonetheless a lot of work and a very sweaty task because it was +25 °C outside – very unusual for mid-May in Finland. I do blame the weather a bit for the slight lopsidedness of the 3-tier cake.

Wedding cake photos by Eveliina Mustonen, other photos are mine.

I made one big three-tiered chocolate layer cake and two smaller one-tiered ones with a mascarpone/cream cheese-lime-raspberry-Daim dragees frosting. The cakes were covered with marzipan and decorated with sugar paste lilies and butterflies. The decorations were completely edible. I also made a few (six in total) passion fruit cheesecakes (recipe forthcoming). 

And here we are cutting the cake. I actually asked my husband whether he would like to have his own piece. >.< 'Cause eating a single piece of cake together is so inconvenient! On the left you can see one of the smaller cakes and on the right one of the cheesecakes. 


My Birthday Cake & My Sister's Graduation Cake – Same Contents, Different Decorations

Chocolate Cake

4 eggs
2 dl granulated sugar
200 g butter
200 g dark chocolate
2 1/2 dl wheat flour
1 tsp (=5 ml) baking powder


Butter a round baking tin (∅ 24 cm), and set the oven to 175 °C.

Whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until the foam is white, smooth and firm. Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a pan. Remember to stir it constantly, and don't burn the chocolate! Combine the (sieved) flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add some of the flour into the egg-sugar foam and mix carefully; then add some of the butter-chocolate mixture and stir; then some flour, then some chocolate, and so on until you have added all the flour and the butter-chocolate mixture into the egg-sugar foam. Check that your cake batter is evenly mixed. Then pour it into the baking tin and bake for 50 minutes on the lowest rack. 

Let the cake cool for a moment in its tin, then turn it over. Let it cool properly (better refrigerate it) before cutting it into layers and adding the frosting. The cake can be frozen.


White chocolate-Cloudberry-Daim dragees Frosting

1 bag (100 g) Daim dragees
4 dl cream
200 g plain cream cheese or mascarpone
200 g white chocolate
1 litre cloudberries (or a big jar of cloudberry jam)

Note: Outside Finland and Sweden Daim dragees (you can also use crushed Daim bars) can be bought at least in Ikea stores. Cloudberries might be difficult to come by outside the Nordic Countries, so you can use other berries instead (e.g. raspberries, currants, blueberries). 

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave oven. Use the lowest power setting and melt the chocolate in 30–60 second bursts, stir the chocolate every once in a while. Let the chocolate cool down into approx. room temperature – letting the chocolate cool down is important because it will otherwise curdle the cream. Whip the cream and mix in the cream cheese. Mix in the melted chocolate and the Daim dragees. 

Moisten the layers of cake with milk. Spread half of the frosting on the bottom layer, and put half of the berries on top of the frosting. Put the middle layer on top of that. Spread the rest of the frosting and add the rest of the berries and put on the top layer. Refrigerate to let the frosting set. 


To decorate

If you cover the cake with marzipan, you must spread a thin layer of buttercream between the cake and the marzipan in order to keep the marzipan from "sweating". This is an easy-to-make fast buttercream:

125 butter of margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
250 g powder sugar
1 tbsp water

Soften the butter with an electric mixer. Mix in the powder sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy. Finally, add the water and mix thoroughly. 

For my b-day cake I wanted something different, so I decided to make a Half-Life themed cake with a crowbar, a logo and a headcrab. I had been playing the game quite a bit during that spring. I made the above mentioned decorations from marzipan and painted them with food coloring. I also made some sugar paste flowers and butterflies.

For my sister's graduation cake I made sugar paste lilies with noodle stamens. I covered the cake with marzipan colored with cocoa powder (=chocolate marzipan).