A slice of magic! The crazy cakes that defy gravity
Just when you think you have a foothold in the land of cake, just when you think you’re inching up the frosted glacier of culinary knowhow towards the sugardusted summit of perfect bakes, something new comes along to upset the Apple Charlotte.
And this week that something is gravity-defying cakes.
I know. What in the name of jiggery pokery bakery is a cake that defies gravity? Not counting the slice of lemon drizzle that moves at the speed of sound at teatime.
Gravity- defying cakes are constructed in such a way that they suspend disbelief and perspective, making garnishes appear to float in mid-air. this is achieved using secret scaffolding — usually plastic straws, bamboo sticks or even metal rods — concealed within the cake or disguised with buttercream, ganache or icing.
You know those silver or gold ‘ living statues’ who plague city centres? Who seem to float while leaning on a flimsy walking stick? Well, the principle of the gravitydefying cake is exactly the same (although the cakes are marginally more edible).
the concept has fired the imagination of bakers all over the world, who have created crazy examples ranging from a bowl of noodles complete with suspended chopsticks and marzipan prawns, to tins of beer gurgling into foaming tankards.
But can any baker make one? I was itching to try.
One of the simplest and most popular is the M&M cake, in which an avalanche of the sweets appear to spill over a two-tier cake from a packet suspended in mid-air.
There are numerous methods, but I followed a short film made by Australian elise strachan on her Cupcake Addiction website, which you can find on Youtube.
elise’s instructions are clear and crisp, and although my own version differs somewhat from hers, as I adapted the recipe, it follows the same basic principles.
the scaffolding is provided by the kind of plastic balloon sticks you can buy in supermarkets or party shops, with some bamboo skewers slipped into the bottom cake to support the top tier. remember to remove while serving! It’s a real slut’s cake, made from packet cake mix and pre-made tubs of icing — but these deliver the strong consistency you need for this show-stopper.
Mix three packs of Betty Crocker’s Devil’s Food cake mix with 180ml vegetable oil, nine eggs and 750ml water. Beat that baby up.
Meanwhile, line and cuff one 9in loose-bottom sandwich tin and one 6in loose-bottom sandwich tin with baking paper. Fill each one generously with the mixture and bake at 160c. the smaller tin takes
about 45 minutes to cook, the larger one an hour.
Allow to cool, then slice off the tops and neaten. Split, and sandwich each pair together with a thin layer of Betty Crocker vanilla icing. Glaze the he tops with apricot jam thinned with a little hot water.
Then, using a palette knife, pave the sides and the top with the Betty icing. Freeze for an hour or so, then repeat the icing process.
Melt some chocolate and use it to glue a balloon stick, upright, to a 9in cakeboard. Make a hole in the centre of a 6in cakeboard. Slide the big cake on top of the stick, stick in some scaffolding skewers.
Place the smaller cake on the 6in holed board and also slip that on to the balloon stick. Make sure it’s slightly off- centre, more towards the back of the bigger cake, to give more drama.
Then, using stiff royal icing, start to glue M&Ms to the stick. Use normal M& Ms, not the larger peanut or biscuit ones. Still with me? Now, stick M&Ms on to the icing of the two cakes in a ‘spill’ pattern. Fill the M&M bag with a few cotton wool balls and stick to the top of the balloon stick.
Voila! Cake done. It looks incredibly impressive, although — I want to be honest here — it is not the greatest cake I’ve ever tasted, with that awful chemical undertow of the no-butter packet mix.
But does that matter if it is a show-stopper? When I think back to the birthday cakes of my own childhood, a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands was the ultimate in decoration. Children today look at a cake like this and say: ‘I want it!’ When they actually taste it, they might not want a lot of it — so it’s healthy after all!
There are some beautiful gravitydefying cakes out there, and bakers are limited only by their imagination. If I’d had enough time, I was going to bake a cake called The Ecclestone — a handbag with an avalanche of gold coins pouring into it from a pouch iced with the words ‘Bank of Dad’.
Agreed. Not very tasteful. Just like my gravity-defying M&M cake.