White And Gold Cake. Because Mum is Gold!

Mum is gold! Mum is precious! Mum is love! And Mum is the world! Perhaps there is no greater truth than that. My Mum lives miles away from me and I wont get to meet her anytime soon but I have never felt her presence more than now. The funny thing is that I see so much of her in myself lately. In the way I try to reason, discipline and encourage my little boys. All the things that didn’t matter to me when I was growing up and I would turn a deaf ear to has magically assumed a place of utmost importance in my life. It’s weird and until last year I even hated to admit it. How could I possibly turn into the ‘eat your vegetables’, ‘put your jumper on because you sneezed’ kind of drama Mommy who will stand and watch until her kids have walked themselves all the way into the classroom during school drop-offs! What is wrong with me!!! I promise I always wanted to be a cool Mommy, whatever that means. All that being said, every Mum is special and deserves a day when she is spoilt through and through. I had this glittery, shimmering gold like cake in mind for a very long time and I feel this is just the cake for Mother’s Day.

So my love affair with mud cakes continues. They are just brilliant to turn into layer cakes especially for celebrations. This is a Caramel Mud Cake with an Orange Swiss Meringue buttercream and a chocolate ganache to top off. The cake is very simple to make with even layers so I didn’t even have to slice off and adjust. The golden border are just regular sprinkles (called 100s and 1000s in Australia) painted with a mix of edible glitter and a teeny bit of alcohol. It’s actually quite simple though doesn’t seem like it. Watch this video. The flowers on top are my latest obsession with gum paste. I’ve been having so much fun making flowers in different colours and varieties to go on top of my desserts. The other decorations are Hershey’s kisses and bay leaves with a touch of gold.

Do you celebrate Mother’s day? What are your plans for this special occasion? We celebrated Mother’s Day at the twins school today and I returned home totally spoilt and emotional. I need to do a completely separate post on that one. Wishing you and yours a beautiful Mother’s day.

White And Gold Cake
Makes a 3 layered 6 inch round cake

Caramel Mud Cake (adapted from Taste.com)

200 g butter, cubed
200 g white chocolate (Nestle brand), chopped
200 g (1 cup, firmly packed) dark brown sugar
180ml (3/4 cup) hot water
1 tablespoon golden syrup (or honey)
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 eggs, at room temperature
150 g (1 cup) plain flour
150 g (1 cup) self-raising flour

1 cup sprinkles (lighter colours are better)
edible glitter
fresh, edible or gum paste flowers

Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice or 1 tbsp orange liquor (like Grand Marnier)

Chocolate Ganache 
80 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream

To make the Caramel Mud cake: Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line the bases of 3 , 6 inch pans with baking paper.

Place butter, chocolate, sugar, water, golden syrup and vanilla essence in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat with a wooden spoon for 5 mins or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Set aside for 20 mins to cool.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift combined flours over chocolate mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Divide mixture evenly between the prepared pans and bake in preheated oven for 20-30 mins or until a skewer comes out almost clean. Stand cakes for 20 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the Orange Buttercream : Place the egg whites and sugar in a large bowl that is placed over a saucepan of simmering water (over low heat), and whisk continuously, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the bottom of the bowl is warm to touch

Remove the bowl from the heat and whip on high speed until meringue holds stiff peaks and looks glossy. The bowl should have completely cooled by now.
Add the butter, 2 tablespoon at a time, until thick and fluffy. If it begins to look curdled, continue to whip until it comes back together, before adding in remaining butter.

When the buttercream has come together, add the orange juice and orange zest and whip again until blended.

To make the Chocolate Ganache Place chocolate pieces in a small bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Alternatively, the chocolate and cream can be heated in short bursts together in the microwave. Let cool before glazing the cake

To assemble : Place a layer of caramel mud cake on a plate or cake stand. Dollop 1/2 cup of orange buttercream and spread out with an offset spatula.
Place the second layer and repeat the same process.
Cover with the third layer. Frost the outside (top and sides) with orange buttercream.
Stick the sprinkles around the cake forming a border. I did not use a piping gel as the sprinkles easily stuck to the buttercream. Place the cake into the fridge for 15 minutes.
Make the chocolate ganache 5 minutes before you take the cake out from the fridge. Once the ganche is cool, but still flowing freely when you lift it with a spoon, spoon it onto the cake slowly. Be gentle on the edges to create the drippy effect.
Let the ganache set properly before pinting with gold and decorating with flowers, candies and decorations.