Penguin Cake

I have a friend who loves penguins, so for her birthday I made her a penguin themed cake. I decided to try and make an “iceberg” going down into a small pond, with penguins standing around it. This is how it turned out:

The cake is a vanilla sponge which has been sandwiched with raspberry jam, and the "iceberg" is made from cut up circles of the same cake which have been layered on top of each other in decreasing size and then sugar paste icing has been draped roughly over the top to create a ridged, snowy effect. I then made royal icing to cover the sides of the cake and to give a rough, ice-like appearance. The royal icing has about a tablespoon more lemon juice than normal in it, as it allows a shiny appearance as well as setting off the sweetness of the icing nicely.

The "water" is made using a gel icing and is coloured a dark blue. The gel icing gives a really water-like effect as it is slightly translucent. It can be made any colour.

The penguins are made out of sugarpaste icing. Unfortunately, It was very difficult to colour the sugar paste icing black so instead the penguins have been painted black using black food colouring. 

Here you can see the icy effect on the side of the cake, with the penguin sliding down the ice berg into the water below. A larger cake would have allowed more penguins and a larger lake - I will have to see if i can find a bigger cake tin so that i can experiment with this! 

Please comment below if you would like any of the recipes, for the icings, cake or jam.

Thanks for reading!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Ice-Cream Roulade

This recipe originated from a French patisserie and is a very rich and indulgent dessert to make. I decided to modify the original recipe to add a summer twist - with the addition of a frozen filling, the roulade makes it a great dessert to serve on a warm summers evening, and the iced centre makes it slightly more refreshing than it would otherwise be. Even so, I would advise very thin slices, as it is very rich.

Slices of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream roulade

The roulade is made with ground hazelnuts, which keeps it very moist, and it is kept thin so that it can hold a large amount of the iced filling. The filling is a vanilla creme mousseline, which needs to be cooled and beaten, like an ice cream mixture in order to keep its texture smooth. 

The whole roulade has been coated with a dark chocolate ganache, mixed with finely chopped, roasted hazelnuts, which add a crunch to the dessert.

It can be placed in the freezer once assembled, and stored for up to 2 weeks, or served within half an hour. 

This can be served with cream or a mint chocolate sauce to add freshness, however due to how indulgent it is on its own, I think its best just served refershingly cold.

I shall post a step-by-step recipe in a few weeks time. 

Thanks for reading!