cocoa powder

SCRUMMY BAKERS BAR – Recipe

Posted on by misterbowtie

MANGO MATCHA BAR Ingredients:

  • 200g Rolled Oats
  • 2 Ripe Banana / 1 Cup 256g Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 1/4 85g Cup Honey
  • Zest & Juice of 1/2 lemon/lime
  • 4-5 Tablespoons Flax Seeds / dried mangoes
  • Pinch of Salt
  • Matcha Powder (to dust) Or…
  • White sesame, toasted
  • Desiccated Coconut, unsweetened (to roll in)

 

METHOD:

  1. Toast sesame in a pan over medium heat, stirring frequently until brown and fragrant.
  2. In a bowl, combine oats, sesame, salt, chopped dried mangoes (bite size) and flax seeds.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice and honey.
  4. Mix together with the dried ingredients until well combined.
  5. In a cling wrap or baking paper-lined pan, place the mixture in and press to compress into a bar of desired thickness and size.
  6. Freeze until firm enough to slice, remove from pan and slice into small bars of choice. Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge till needed.
  7. Dust with matcha powder before serving for best presentation.

 

 

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE BITES Ingredients:

  • 40g 1/4 cup Cashew Nuts, toasted
  • 30g 1/4 cup oats
  • 100g cup natural Peanut butter
  • 20g honey
  • 2 Tablespoons Flax Seed
  • 35g Dried mulberries
  • Dark Chocolate, bittersweet 80%
  • Sea Salt

 

METHOD:

  1. Toast cashew nuts in a pan over medium heat until brown and fragrant.
  2. Add all ingredients except chocolate and salt into a processor.
  3. Blitz until a fine paste.
  4. Press into small bite sized molds, pressing firmly to ensure the mold is properly filled.
  5. Freeze until solid and pop out of the molds onto a lined tray. Allow to come to room temperature.
  6. Melt the chocolate in short 10 second intervals until smooth.
  7. Place some melted chocolate on top of each cube, and sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt over each one.
  8. NOTE: If you do it whilst the cubes are too cold, chocolate will set faster. I would recommend doing a few then adding the salt, and repeating with the rest.

 

SPICED COCOA BALLS Ingredients:

  • 100g Unsweetened Tahini
  • 70g Rolled Oats
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened
  • 4-5 Tablespoons Uncrystallised Ginger, Chopped
  • 20g Honey
  • Extra Cocoa Powder for rolling

 

METHOD:

  1. Combine all ingredients and mix until well combined.
  2. Roll into bite sized balls and keep airtight and chilled until needed.
  3. Roll in cocoa powder, toasted sesame seeds or coconut.

SILVER JASMINE CAKE w SOUR CREAM CHOC FROSTING – Recipe

Posted on by misterbowtie

SILVER JASMINE CAKE Ingredients:

  • 400g (2 cups) Caster Sugar
  • 320g (2 1/2 cups) Plain Flour
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 240 ml (1 Cup) Strong Brewed Silver Jasmine Tea = Made from 300ml boiling water + 20g loose leaf jasmine tea
  • 240 ml (1 Cup) Milk, or Alternatives
  • 120 ml (1/2 Cup) Corn, Vegetable, Safflower or Canola oil
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F) and grease a 23cm wide round pan.
  2. Once preheated place a dish of water with 2-3cm height worth of water on base of the oven – this creates steam and a more delicate crust for the cake (At least I think so).
  3. In a bowl, add 20g loose leaf silver jasmine tea and 300ml boiling water. Steep for 15 minutes and allow to cool for 5 minutes or so whilst preparing liquid ingredients.
  4. Strain the tea and weigh out 240ml in a medium bowl.
  5. Combine milk, oil, vanilla and eggs with the 240ml tea. (I used a combination of soy and full cream.)
  6. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a one large bowl – sugar, flour, salt, baking powder and soda.
  7. Add the liquid ingredients into the dry and whisk just until smoothly combined. If you do have lots of lumps you can’t get rid of, simply strain the mixture when transferring to the pan.
  8. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer or knife inserted comes out with moist crumbs.
  9. Rest for 5 minutes, run a knife around the edges and flip it out onto a wire rack or serving board to cool completely.

 

SOURCREAM CHOCOLATE FROSTING Ingredients:

  • 180g (3/4 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp & Cubed
  • 62g (1/2 cup) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted well
  • 200g (1 1/4 Cups) Pure Icing Sugar, sifted well
  • 188g (3/4 cup) Sour Cream
  • 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
  1. Place cocoa powder and pure icing sugar into a processor if you have lots of lumps r big chunks, this will break it down into a fine powder. I do this to make it more efficient so that if you sift after this, there will be tiny pellets only at most to deal with.
  2. Place cubed butter and sour cream with vanilla extract into the stand mixer, beat until smoothly combined.
  3. Add the cocoa mix in three portions on low speed. Once incorporated, turn the speed up to high and beat until the colour lightens to a milk chocolate colour and is very airy and smooth – Couple of minutes will do, yielding a smooth and creamy texture.
  4. Frost the cake by placing all the frosting on the top of the cake. Using an offset palette knife of your choice, or a butter knife/spoon if you don’t have one. Spread it out roughly to cover all the top surface, then begin to level it evenly.
  5. Smooth the top and the edges of the cake.
  6. Using a small teaspoon draw wide sideways figure 8 from left to right and vice versa as you work your way from one end of the cake towards the other side.
  7. The trick is to slightly turn the backside of your spoon as you draw near the end of a loop in the figure 8, this will create deeper grooves and more outstanding patterns.

 

**This cake keeps well at room temperature, covered but not touching the frosting for several days. Can be kept in the fridge as well but texture of the cake and frosting will firm a little, simply bring to room temperature if you prefer it softer.

***I am aware not everyone buys loose leaf tea, or has access to them. If you can’t get any, buy teabags and use more of it to attain similar strength of brew. You will likely need 10 teabags to achieve the strength. Test for the colour to match mine in the video would be the best bet 😀

Chocolate, Berries & Basil Muffin

Posted on by misterbowtie

MAKES 4-5 GOURMET COMMERCIAL SIZED MUFFINS

Ingredients:

  • 100g Brown Sugar
  • 100g Caster Sugar
  • 122g Plain Flour, Sifted
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Teaspoon Dried Basil or 1 Tablespoon Freshly chopped basil
  • 38g Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 120ml Warm Water
  • 120ml Milk
  • 60ml Grape seed / Corn / Vegetable / Safflower / Canola Oil
  • 100g Frozen mixed berries (small berries)
  • 4 Average sized Plain Tea Biscuits, crumbled
  • 4 Whole Strawberries for garnish
  • 4 Heaped Teaspoons of Vanilla Yoghurt for Garnish
  • Pure icing sugar for garnish

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius for initial heat boost. Place a large pan of water into the oven to create steam for a softer, more delicate crust on the muffins.
  2. Line the muffin molds with commercial large muffin liners – if you don’t have the correct size to match your tins (groceries usually sell smaller ones) you can cut a large square of baking paper, crinkle it then unfold and gently push into the muffin mold, and neatly make a few folds along the wall to make your own version of muffin liners. They look decent for a quick fix, and are much cheaper.
  3. In a medium bowl whisk together the sugars, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, frozen berries, dried basil and salt.
  4. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, water, milk, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. It is normal for the batter to look quite thin, don’t worry.
  5. Evenly divide the batter between the 4-5 large commercial sized muffin molds and then lightly sprinkle some crushed biscuits over the muffin batter. Don’t fill the molds anymore than 1cm below the brim of the mold or it might overflow and you’ll have a few volcanoes rather than muffins 😛
  6. Place into oven, dropping the temperature down to 180 right away.
  7. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake just comes out clean. For the first 15 minutes, only monitor the muffins through the windows of the oven, prevent any heat from escaping or the raising agents won’t do their job and you won’t have a well-risen muffin.
  8. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then remove the muffins from their molds and cool completely on a greased wire rack before decorating.
  9. To garnish, simply spoon a heaped teaspoon worth of firm textured yoghurt over the muffin, then dust generously with icing sugar for a snowy, appealing look. Place one whole strawberry on top, leaf and all, and then lightly dust the greens with some icing sugar.
  10. Wrap them as you like and they are ready to serve 🙂 Store in fridge if not eaten by the end of the day, keep an eye on the yoghurts condition if you leave it out for a lengthy amount of time.

***NOTE: These muffins are very moist and have a high ratio of wet ingredients, so don’t be too paranoid about over baking, instead, try to ensure you really cook it through. Otherwise, the product will sag and it won’t look as impressive.

CINNAMON ROLL-ADE = Original Recipe

Posted on by misterbowtie

CINNAMON CUSTARD FILLING Ingredients:

  • 3 Tablespoons of Custard Powder
  • 100g (1 Cup) + 4 Tablespoons Cake Flour
  • 5 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
  • 200ml (2/3 Cup + 2 Tablespoon) Milk
  • 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
  • 150g (2/3 Cup) Caster Sugar
  • 2 Large Eggs + 2 Yolk, Slightly Beaten

 

METHOD:

  1. In a small pot, combine custard powder, cake flour & sugar together.
  2. Heat over low heat, adding milk gradually whilst whisking constantly.
  3. Stir in beaten eggs, then butter.
  4. Cook until ingredients are well combined and if you like, adjust the sweetness as needed.
  5. Take it off the heat and allow to cool briefly. You can use it at room temperature for easier spreading onto the bread, or wrap and store in fridge for later use.
  6. If storing, transfer into a cling wrap-lined bowl, press tightly to wrap with cling wrap keeping contact with surface of custard.

 

 

BUTTERY CRUMBLE Ingredients:

  • 158g (1 + 1/4 Cups) Plain/All-Purpose Flour
  • 82g (1/4 Cup + 2 TBSP) Caster Sugar
  • 100g (1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Melted

 

METHOD:

  1. Melt the butter, allow to cool for a few minutes to ensure it isn’t too hot.
  2. Add sugar, then sift in the flour.
  3. Lightly toss the ingredients to combine just until a dough forms.
  4. It should be easy to crumble little bread crumb sizes with your finger tips onto a lined tray or plate.
  5. Chill until the crumble sets hard, keep chilled while you make the dough.

 

COCOA BUN Ingredients:

  • 2 + 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Yeast
  • 240ml (1 Cup) Warm Milk
  • 180g (3/4 Cup) Caster Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Cardamom
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 76g (1/3 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Melted
  • 60g (1/2 Cup) Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder, Sifted
  • 438g~563g (3 + 1/2 ~ 4 + 1/2 Cups) Plain/All-Purpose Flour
  • Extra Egg, Beaten for Eggwash

 

METHOD:

  1. Combined the yeast and warm milk and allow to activate, around 10 minutes (becomes foamy).
  2. In mixer bowl, add in the dry ingredients, then melted butter & eggs.
  3. Add in the yeast mixture once it is activated.
  4. Knead dough with dough hook attachment on low till it is smooth, then gradually add flour in small amounts, mixing well in between until it starts forming a ball and pulls away from the sides.
  5. **Alternatively by hand, place dough on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and when you dent the dough with your finger it bounces back half way quickly then it is done.
  6. You’ll want the texture just barely tacky and moist to the touch, I used no flour at all when rolling mine out which led me to believe I went a bit over with the flour.
  7. Shape into a ball, lightly spray to grease the mixer bowl and return the dough.
  8. Spray lightly the top of the dough and cling wrap, allow to prove until doubled in size.
  9. To efficiently prove during colder seasons or at home in general, you can place a tray of boiling water on the base of the oven, place the dough bowl uncovered on a rack above the water with oven door shut. This will help simulate the prover humidity.
  10. Once the dough is doubled and sinks when pressed down, it is ready.
  11. Shape the dough into a neat rectangle, then roll with rolling pin the proved dough out into a roughly 40 x 30cm rectangle on a lightly floured surface.
  12. Shape into as neat and straight a rectangle as you can by pressing out the dough with your hands or stretching the corner dough for last adjustments.
  13. Spread with damp hands or palette knife the custard all over the bread.
  14. Start from the lengthier side, roll up the bun as tightly as you can.
  15. Feel any part that is thicker and not uniform in width, simply stretch the dough to even it out.
  16. Slice in half, transfer to a large baking tray lined with baking paper.
  17. Lightly spray to grease top with non-stick vegetable oil spray, and cover with cling wrap to prove till doubled in size.
  18. Be patient with this one, slightly over proofing will give you a super tasty bread than under proofing. So allow the yeast to do its work.
  19. Once almost there, preheat the oven for 30 minutes at 180C (350F).
  20. Egg wash rolls generously with beaten egg all over, then press lots of crumble all over the top. Apply some pressure to help the crumble press into the bread to stick. Once baked it will stay relatively well on top.
  21. Optional, if you prefer a very crunchy crumble it will need additional baking but to not overbake the bread do it separately ahead of time. Lay it out on a tray lined with baking paper at same temperature for about 10-15 minutes, then chill it till firm before doing the above step.
  22. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the crumble is nicely golden in colour, if you are unsure, remove the rolls and slice down the middle of one roll to check if bread is cooked through. It will definitely take a minimum of 50 minutes, was a bit undercooked at 45 min mark for me.
  23. Lovely served warmed or toasted after slicing,  but great just at room temperature too.
  24. Serve within a few days as it has custard if you’re storing at room temperature.
  25. If stored chilled, since it is bread texture may not be as great just ensure it’s airtight and warmed before enjoying 🙂

 

 

= SACHER TORTE & SALTED APRICOT BITES with FLOATING ISLAND TWIST = Original Recipe

Posted on by misterbowtie

10245481_769802673093409_4219727486394448912_n

HEY YOU LOVELY BAKERS! This one is a lengthy one, since there’s a few components to it. It’s definitely a more advanced looking recipe, but really the only difficult part that requires bit more patience and practice is the glaze as when we did the same glaze in pastry school it often set too quickly depending on the temperature of your cake and how fast you maneuvered your palette knife 😛

So leading up to Christmas I guess this cake isn’t exactly Christmas themed in terms of flavor, but typically a lot of people enjoy a mix of chocolate fruity flavors during Christmas time. In that sense this cake fits quiet well, especially when considering Australia’s hot climate around this time of the year, it’s nice to have a refreshing component of fruit in the dessert.

Alright, let’s talk about how this idea came about. As you can tell if you know about Sacher torte then you’ll know this is my own twist on it and the presentation is almost a different cake in entirety. But keep in mind presentation is entirely up to you, you can present it any way you prefer or opt out some of my ideas and switch it for traditional ones, or your own.

So I decided to make this to have at Christmas Eve as my friend from work kindly invited me to join them for Christmas and I remember her mother who is totes a cool kid asked I should totally make this ages ago, but I never gave them the recipe or made it – busy man I am LOL But in case you don’t know, in a gist Sacher Torte is a type of chocolate cake invented by Austrian Franz Sacher, typically with two layers of cake sandwiching a layer of apricot jam, covered in ganache and then glazed in chocolate glaze. Traditionally the finishing touch is to pipe the name Sacher Torte on the glazed cake. It was invented in 1832 for the Prince of Vienna. Also, apparently 5th December is national Sacher Torte day, looks like it IS suitable for Christmas season after all haha.

Anyway, back to the arrival of this idea, I was on youtube and saw someone make their own fancy version of the cake and they had a layer of round mousse disc on the cake and I loved that look, and never done something like that so I instantly decided I want to do that 😀 As per usual I wanted a twist to the flavor and look, and after considering various approaches I decided to keep the main components of the glaze, cake, and apricot jam and syrup the same, tweaking some of the glucose amount for more sheen. Mostly because I had very vague memories of the recipe from school so I wanted to try it again and see how well I can do it with almost 2 more years of baking experience now 😛 and more so I wanted to keep this cake out of the fridge so I won’t take up too much space from my flat mates. And since the components were set for that to begin with, I just wanted to play around with enhancing flavor contrast and balance, and varied components to have a bit of fun. And I wanted to improve on more fancy looking presentation which I don’t always do since I often go for rustic looks 😀

I decided to mix up salt and sugar to coat the apricot bites as they are apricot flavored but offer a very different but desirable texture and punchy flavor, whilst the hint of saltiness will really enhance the dark chocolate flavor of the cake and offset the richness and fruity sweetness. It’s also a very unusual ingredient and I don’t think I have seen people use it as a garnish before so when I thought of it I was like AH-HAH! *Plus I love these little treats they were one of my fav when I was younger.

And I didn’t want mousse as it would need to stay in the fridge and would not survive the long trip to their house as well, so I figured another layer of firmer ganache would be good since it holds well, has good flavor and texture to offset the thin glaze and ganache on the cake already. And to make sure it hits the sweet, salty, rich and bitter equal balance of all flavors, I decided to dust the ganache disc with cocoa powder for a nice presentation (have always wanted to try doing that XD so excited) and that bit of bitterness.

The meringue part or floating island twist comes from Sorted food’s video for a Floating Island recipe – I was trying to type up the recipe and thinking about garnishing this cake – that’s when I was bored and clicked on some of their old videos and came to this one which I had seen before but had never before thought of wanting to make it. But that was when it sprung an idea into my head and became relevant that the fluffy, soft and almost marshmallow-y pudding texture and fancy quenelle shape would do this recipe justice on elevating the balance furthermore. Plus it was easy to do 😛 So why not?

Lastly, from experience it’s simple enough to just warm jam and brush onto fruits to glaze them but they do weep in the fridge, and I assume at room temperature they would run off eventually too and ruin a glazed cake to say the least. As an improvement to my skill set, and a nice shiny finish to match the cake, I decided to go all out and make a proper glaze even just for the canned fruits for garnish 😀 It’s the little details that make the difference no? 😀

So there you go, have fun and if you make it let me know how it goes! Would be awesome to see some pictures!

Question of the day: Have you had a Sacher Torte before? Where from, and did you like it? If it was up to you to alter the traditional way of it, what would you change?

= SACHER TORTE & SALTED APRICOT BITES with FLOATING ISLAND TWIST = Original Recipe

Yields 1 x 23cm cakes

= SACHER TORTE CAKE =

INGREDIENTS

125g UNSALTED BUTTER

125g CASTER SUGAR

155g DARK CHOCOLATE

125g EGG YOLKS, (room temp)

3ml VANILLA EXTRACT

188g EGG WHITES

95g CASTER SUGAR

Pinch of SALT

125g PLAIN FLOUR (Remove 2 tablespoons from this)

2 TBSP CORNFLOUR

METHOD:

1: Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius, spray with non-stick vegetable spray and line the base of two identical round cake pans with baking paper. An efficient way to do this is to take a large square of baking paper, fold in half to form a triangle. Continue to halve this until you end with a sharp, pointy triangle. Hover the point over the middle of the top of the cake pan, and snip off a little before it meets the edge. Unfold and you have the circle baking paper for your base.

2: Separate the egg yolk and white, cling wrap and chill the egg whites in the fridge till needed.

3: Melt the dark chocolate in microwave in intervals of 10 seconds, stirring in between, or over a bain marie just until almost melted. Remove from heat and stir till melted. Set aside to cool until lukewarm.

4: Cream 125g butter with 125g caster sugar until light, pale and fluffy – around 5 minutes.

5: Whisk together the vanilla and egg yolks and add it to the butter mixture in three parts, whisking in between until well combined before adding more.

6: Add the lukewarm melted chocolate and stir till combined, scraping down the sides and base of the bowl.

7: Combine the plain flour and cornflour in a bowl, sift the mixture 5 times to lighten. Alternatively you can also just use sifted cake flour in place of the plain flour and cornflour, sifting then weighing out 125g.

8: Whip the egg whites to stiff peak just until it begins to form clumps of fluffy clouds that are still glossy. Add the sugar and whisk on low-medium speed just until it becomes glossy again.

9: In three additions, fold into the cake mixture alternating with the sifted flour, starting and ending with the meringue. In the first addition, only use 1/3 of your meringue to mix into your cake mixture to lighten it up.

10: Pour batter into the two identical round cake pans, and bake just until a skewer comes out with moist crumbs.

11: Spray the wire rack with the vegetable spray to prevent sticking, and invert the cakes onto it to cool right away and form a level top.

12: After 20 minutes or so of cooling, reverse the cakes and let cool completely. Once cool, wrap twice in cling wrap and chill in fridge until firm.

= DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE =

INGREDIENTS

400g DARK CHOCOLATE 70% (Chopped into bite-sized pieces)

400g THICKENED CREAM

75g GLUCOSE (spray non-stick vegetable spray on measuring utensil first)

METHOD:

1: Whilst waiting for the cake to cool, prepare the ganache by adding cream and glucose to a pot, and bring to a boil before pouring over the chocolate.

2: Ensure chocolate is submerged and leave for 2 minutes before stirring to combine. If it is not completely smooth you can use a whisk to stir, or gently warm over a bain marie and stir just until smooth.

3: Tap the bowl on the counter firmly a few times to raise any air bubbles, then carefully pour it into the prepared pan till just roughly under 1cm thick in height. 4: Cover and freeze the ganache in the pan until solid. Cling wrap the remaining ganache and leave to set at room temperature. If in a rush, place in fridge and stir every 5 minutes or so to speed up setting but prevent lumps.

5: Prepare a small tray that is bigger than the size of your ganache pan, and lay a baking paper over the top.

6: Once solid, dip the outside of the ganache cake pan in hot water briefly just until the sides loosen. Place the baking paper and tray on top of the pan. Flip swiftly and the disc of ganache should come out clean.

  1. Glaze the cake over a sheet of baking paper over the wire rack and smooth it out with the same instructions as the cake glazing. Tap and let it settle before you transfer it onto a flat surface to place in fridge to set again until needed.

* You can do a square or circular ganache, whichever you prefer for your final presentation.

= SACHER TORTE PUNCH =

INGREDIENTS

160g CASTER SUGAR

200ml WATER

80ml KIRSCH (Optional)

METHOD:

1: Whilst the remaining chocolate ganache sets to almost spreading consistency, boil the sugar and water until no sugar granules remain, and let cool.

2: Add liquor if desired.

= SACHER TORTE GLAZE =

INGREDIENTS

245g DARK CHOCOLATE

170g UNSALTED BUTTER (Diced)

30g GLUCOSE

20g WATER

METHOD:

1: Place all ingredients in a glass bowl over a simmering pot of water (bain marie or double boiler).

2: Melt all ingredients very gradually and mix until smooth, be careful not to overheat it. Cool to 26 degrees Celsius before glazing.

= SALTED APRICOT BITES =

INGREDIENTS:

APRICOT BITES (Each square cut into quarters)

100g CASTER SUGAR

15g CRACKED SEA SALT (Table salt if you don’t have any, though flavor won’t be as refined)

METHOD:

1: Whisk together the sugar and salt in a medium sized bowl.

2: Chop the apricot bites into quarters each.

3: Warm the apricot bites just ever so slightly in a microwave until it is warm to the touch.

4: Toss them in the sugar salt mix until evenly coated. Set aside until needed.

** TORTE ASSEMBLAGE **

1: Remove the chilled cakes and coat the top surface of both layers with the cooled sugar syrup.

2: Spread thin layer of apricot jam evenly over one layer, then place the other layer on top.

3: Using the set ganache (Should be spreading consistency, similar to that of a frosting), cover the entire cake and smooth the surface. Start by lathering up a thicker layer of ganache around the sides of the cake, then do the top, and finally smooth out the edges to make them neat and straight by bringing in the ganache from the edge towards the middle, smoothing it out.

4: Place remaining ganache in a piping bag with a medium sized round piping tip, and pipe short logs (maybe 5 cm each) of ganache around the base of the cake.

5: Once smooth, briefly chill the cake until the ganache sets firm to touch without sticking.

6: Place the chilled cake onto a round cake board of similar size, then wire rack over a wide tray to catch excesses. Elevate the cake on a firm bowl turned upside down just tin bit smaller than the diameter of the cake. Bring the glaze to 26 degrees Celsius and pour it over the cake around the sides and then the middle generously, and quickly. Then as fast as possible, in one swift motion, using a long palette knife, starting from one end of the cake top, swiftly push the excess glaze across to the other end to form a thin, smooth layer of glaze. Tap the cake a few times to even out the glaze.

7: Once happy with the glaze, leave it to set at room temperature until it is no longer wet. Should not take long as the cake is cold.

8: Finally, remove from freeze rand loosen the disc of ganache from the baking paper and tray, and then place it back on top. Dust with sifted cocoa powder until completely covered.

8: Using a palette knife, and your hand, carefully lift the disc from the base, and place it at the center of the cake.

9: Place diced apricot bites into the logs of ganache around the cake base and gently push them into position.

10: Finally, spoon the big quenelle of the floating island meringue onto the disc part of the cake, offsetting it a little from the center for a professional looking finish.

11: Garnish with the glazed peach halves and quarters as see fit.

12: This cake can then be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days in hot weather.

= OPTIONAL GARNISH: RECIPE =

= HONEY APRICOT SYRUP GLAZE =

INGREDIENTS:

7g UNFLAVORED GELATIN POWDER

85g HONEY

250ml SYRUP FROM APRICOT CAN

CANNED APRICOT HALVES (x 2), QUARTERS (x 4), chilled in fridge

METHOD:

1: Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the syrup in a pot, let sit to rehydrate for 5 minutes or so.

2: Once the liquid is absorbed and it becomes spongy, turn on low heat and stir until completely dissolved with no gelatin granules left. Be careful not to boil the mixture.

3: Remove from heat and stir in the honey until dissolved.

4: Let the mixture cool until almost cold and slightly thickened, place in fridge briefly, checking every 3 minutes or so just until it thickens enough to dunk the apricot to enrobe and place on a clean tray or sheet of baking paper. Let set in fridge or room temperature before transferring onto cake.

= FLOATING ISLAND MERINGUE=

INGREDIENTS:

4 EGG WHITES

100g CASTER SUGAR

DASH WATER

METHOD:

1: Whisk the egg whites in clean glass bowl until soft peaks form (just until when if you scoop with a spoon and drop it back in the meringue sits atop of itself), sprinkle in the sugar gradually as you whisk until stiff peaks.

2: Scoop with a spoon-shaped large ladle, a quenelle and place in a microwaveable dish and add water ½ cm high. Microwave on high for 30 seconds.

3: Make two or as much as needed in case one breaks, etc.

4: Spoon onto the cake as see fit for decoration.

***NOTE: It is advised that you bake the cake, make the ganache/disc in advance as see fit, but do not glaze or make the garnish until maximum 2 days before serving as the cake and ganache disc can be stored in the fridge, whilst ganache at room temperature in a covered bowl keeps for several days at least, but once glaze and assembled, the cake may sweat in the fridge. So it is advised to store at room temperature once you finish assembling. If using the canned fruits for decoration, despite the glaze to seal off the oxygen contact, if in season of extreme heat, pay attention as fruit generally have shorter shelf life.

**Other Tips: I ran out of egg yolks for the cake itself, so what I did was added yoghurt to make up for it, as they are both fat content that can be substituted around.