Audrey Hepburn Cake

This cake was extremely frustrating. I had a million ideas of what I wanted it to look like. I had these grand images in my head that would turn out so awesome, that I just could not quite put into action. I just need to improve my skills, and that takes time and patience which I don't always have
Well, here is what it turned out to be




The pictures of Audrey are completely edible. They are printed with edible ink, on a frosting transfer sheet. My local bakery does this for me. One day I will have an edible ink printer thing.
The top of the cake is black frosting that I did a gel transfer of the design on top and then frosted over. It is the same floral design from Audrey Hepburn's dress in Sabrina.
If I were to do this cake over again, I would probably do the floral design all over the cake. I liked that method.

I am a slacker.

I am an all time slacker. I have just not had a lot of oppurtunities to bake lately.
I have some stuff coming up and I will for sure take some pictures.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Or Nutella Cake. I made this cake for my brother and sister for their birthdays that are two days apart- so we did one celebration.
I made a Yellow Cake, with Vanilla Pudding. The filling is a nutella mousse (whip cream and nutella) and then it is covered with a chocolate Ganache, topped with chopped Hazelnuts.
I will give my cake "recipe" in another post- cause I want to go into that a little more.
But here is the Ganache recipe

Ganache:
4 ounces whole hazelnuts
1/2 cup half and half
1 tablespoon rum (I used rum flavoring)
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate


Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet, or toaster oven shaking them around frequently. Do it for about 4 minutes, or until they are lightly browned, then let cool completely. If hazelnuts came with skins on, put them in a towel after toasting and rub around; this will remove most of the skins.

Chop chocolate, and add to sauce pan with half and half and rum over medium-low heat. Once chocolate is melted and components are combined, whisk until mixture reaches desired thickness, then cool. Remove rim of cake pan and pour cooled ganache over, spreading lightly to create a smooth, shiny surface, and apply hazelnuts all over.

For the Filling, I did a crumb coat layer of Nutella, then the mousse layer.
The mousse is 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, and 1/2 to 3/4 cup of nutella (depending on how much you want the flavor of the nutella to come out.) First, you whip the cream till it is stiff, then you gently fold in the nutella. When it is done it should be a mocha color.
This is the first layer with nutella and mousse filling



All the Layers together before the crumb coat of nutella on the outside



Put all the layers together, then cover with the chocolate Ganache and toasted hazelnuts. I Drizzled a little extra ganache on top for a little decoration.

The Finished Project


This inside of the finished project