Handbag bridal shower cake

I was attending a bridal shower this weekend for a very dear friend. She was my bridesmaid once upon a time, and she put so much effort into my bridal shower and hens night, so I wanted to make her something really special.

The theme for the day was "An Afternoon of Glamour", so my original plan was to make petit fours. I was going to bake three different cakes, each of which was going to be cut into nine squares and iced and decorated individually... seemed easy enough until the orange and almond cake fell apart when I took it out of the tin. So I decided to simply things, make just one cake, but make it glamorous somehow. Inspired by the Womens Weekly book of childrens birthdays cakes my first thought was a shoe, but since this was my first ever attempt at a novelty cake I opted for a handbag instead, which seemed simpler.

I used the Chocolate Birthday Cakes recipe from the Crabapple Cupcake Bakery book, but baked it in two square pans instead of cupcake papers. The first cake I just leveled and covered in a thin coat of chocolate buttercream, followed by pink fondant, which I found easier than I expected. The other I cut levelled, cut in half, sandwiched the halves together with chocolate buttercream, then shaped into a trapezoid that resembled a handbag.

Then came the tricky part - I made handles and a front medallion ahead of time from fondant I had dyed black. The first ones I made fell apart, and the replacements didn't have time to dry properly so one of the handles broke, but it didn't shatter like the first one so I could still make it look alright. I covered the bulk of the handbag in white fondant, the sides in pink, and the piping and "zipper" in black. I then gently pricked all the black parts to look like they had been stitched.

Look, for my first ever novelty cake it's not bad. Everyone at the shower loved how it looked and how it tasted. I am really proud of it, but I was frustrated, because I know it could have been better. I'm considering taking a cake decorating course to hone my skills a bit. At the very least I plan to make a few more fondant cakes, because I want to make one for Little Princess's birthday and I want it to be perfect :)

Layed chocolate mousse

In the interest of being a fair and impartial blogger, I think it's fair that I post the good and the bad - and the disasterous. This recipe falls into that third catergory.

The recipe looked simple enough, with the added bonus I could make it a day before having friends over. But since I only own one bowl for my mixmaster, I decided to do the white choc layer first, and the dark one much later. Thank goodness I did.

I managed to get the cream semi-whipped with no problems. Melting the chocolate was a tricky process (some found it's way on the floor) but that went fine. Whipping the eggs in a steel bowl over simmering water proved trickier than I expected, but still went ok.

When it came time to add the eggs to the chocolate that's when things went wrong. Adding the eggs caused the chocolate to seize. Enough stirring just managed to save it, but then I added it to the cream and the whole mixture curdled and went lumpy. I didn't even bother trying to let it set, I just chucked it out.

I'm not sure where I went wrong. I've since re-read the instructions, and I think I did everything right. I may attempt it again one day, for for now I'm just relieved I still have plenty of eggs, cream and dark chocolate left over because now I can attempt something else for my dinner tomorrow :)