Prince William's Grooms Cake

Did anyone else forfeit a night's sleep to watch Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding?  Yes?No?
I was intrigued about his choice of Grooms cake the minute I read about it:


In March of 2011, it was announced that Prince William of Wales had chosen a groom's cake for his wedding reception, made from 17,000 McVitie's Rich Tea biscuits and 17kg of chocolate.

My Blood Hound instincts kicked into gear and I tracked down the recipe then the McVitie's, which proved more difficult than the recipe.  I had forgotten about a little British tea shop that carries a small selection of British food.  "Yes, luv, I just received a shipment of McVitie's."   There's nothing in the world like a cheery British accent to brighten a day.

To say this is a snap to make is no exaggeration.  The only change I made was tempering the egg with the melted chocolate then pouring the egg into the chocolate.  I also did not have a six inch spring form pan but remembered one of the HCB'ers lined a cakepan with parchment for cheesecake.  Whichever one of you that was, it's a great tip.  The recipe said to drizzle white chocolate over the top but as you can see, I melted an entire Lindt white chocolate Easter Bunny and drenched the cake.



Verdict?  Everyone loved this thing.  I mean loved it big time.  It's dense and rich, no doubt about it.  I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate.  My feeling is whatever chocolate is one's favorite, that is what should be used.  I am wondering if Rose has a recipe for a Rich Tea Biscuit lying about.  I can only imagine what it would be like with homemade cookies, err biscuits.

Free Choice Cake #2 -Golden Lemon Almond Cake

In an effort to close the gap and attempt to catch up with Marie, I made  a second cake for Free Choice week.  Every HCB'er that has made this cake raved about it.  The only thing that kept me from choosing it long ago was finding lemon oil.  Come to find out the neighborhood cake supply store had all sorts of oils and extracts behind the counter.

This cake is extraordinary, not only in flavor and texture but in ease of making.  The hardest thing was zesting enough lemon rind so that ought to say something!  My soon to be four and half year old granddaughter pointed out there were holes in the bottom of the cake whilst being lifted to look at the cooling cake because the aroma was driving her mad.  I assured her they were supposed to be there and after turning it out of the pan, gave her a pair of chopsticks  to poke the topside.  I then handed her a pastry brush and let her "paint" the lemon sugar syrup over the cake.  Needless to say, there was no way this cake was going to get the suggested resting time for the delectable lemon flavor to meld with the almond.  We brewed a pot of tea and sliced the slightly warm cake.  It received resounding approval.



I then remembered the leftover raspberry sauce from yesterday's Fool.  Let me say, Rose's raspberry sauce spooned over this Lemon Almond Cake knocks it into a whole other level.  The raspberry compliments the flavors beautifully.

No Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake Fool

I always wondered about the Victorian dessert called a Fool.  It is believed to have originated from the French word "fouler" which means "to mash" or "to press" and dates back to the sixteenth century.  This classic British dessert has been in and out of fashion. It is described as lightly sweetened fruit which is then folded into sweetened whipped cream.  Today I unintentionally made a Fool out of Rose's No Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake.




For a no bake cheesecake, this recipe requires a great deal of cooking. It's definitely not easier than a regular cheesecake recipe but there's no dreaded water bath.  Instead the whole thing is put in the refrigerator to set for four hours before unmolding.




I did not heed that instruction.....



And took it out after two hours.  Within seconds it began to slide off the base.  Like mad fools, my daughter grabbed a ladle as I found a bowl and we bailed away.

Definitely too fluffy to call it a Trifle.  I was out of graham crackers anyway.  So onward and upward with raspberry sauce.  Voila!  A lighter than a cloud Fool.  It was exquisite and garnered great reviews.

Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake

Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake is one spectacular cake.  The crumb is light and delicate.  The coconut custard Italian meringue buttercream is basically butter spun into a cloud.  Since both my husband and son detest the texture of coconut, I left it out and added more coconut extract.  For the rest of us coconut lovers, I toasted some and sprinkled over slices.  Instead of frosting the sides of my petal shaped cake, it was easier to slice the cakes in half and slather frosting between the four layers.  So far, everyone likes it very much.  I don't much trust myself around this thing.  It's so deceptively light.  Cut into slices and tucked into the freezer, it does quite well when thawed.  

ABC Zebra Cookies

ABC made Flo Braker's Zebra Cookies.  Her method called for stacking the dough and cutting into triangles.I've often wanted to make candy cane cookies for the holidays and figured this would be a good time to try twisting two doughs together to see what it's like.  My eldest granddaughter and I had a lot of fun rolling the dough into logs.  I loved Flo's suggestion of saving the tubes from plastic wrap to store the tubes in while they are chilling to retain a round shape.

After reading the other ABC bakers experience with these cookies, I decided to substitute almond extract and reduce the amount of cocoa powder.  The flavors played well off each other.  It is such an easy recipe to make that it will definitely be made again, next time with peppermint extract.

Miette's Birthday Baby

Oh Happy Day it was the littlest granddaughter's first birthday.  Rose's Miette's Tomboy made a perfect sized cake for little fingers.  The frosting was an improvised Tofutti cream cheese/marionberry as she can tolerate very little dairy products.  Her sister added the finishing touch of sprinkles.  The baby loved it which is what mattered.  In the background is her absolute favorite, the Orange chiffon cake, a great dairy free cake.  I also made the Whipped Cream cake and covered it in a whipped cream/powder sugar/orange juice frosting with obligatory sprinkles and a marionberry compote.  And here's the best review of Rose's cakes: the kids at the party loved them all.    Kids can't be fooled.

Karmel Cake

Down to the last of Rose's Heavenly Cakes and this Karmel cake is simplicity itself.  That must have been why I forgot to add the vanilla.  No matter, it was quite good and the next time, I'm sure it will be even better with vanilla.  I was surprised the flavor was as mild as it was.  If there was a way to ramp it up even more, I'd definitely go for it.  Leftover chocolate caramel ganache in the freezer seemed like a good idea but the cake is probably too mild for it.  The Haagen Daz Dulce de Leche on the other hand complimented it perfectly.  I remember reading in one of Rose's books that ice cream is essentially custard so  it can be melted and warmed for a sauce.  Perfect blend as it melted over a slice of cake.  Microwaved until a warm puddle, it was even better poured over a slice.