It was mine and Mr VST's first wedding anniversary this Sunday, 25th September and it's bringing back lots of happy memories. One of my favourite ways of keeping memories alive is by recreating some of the food we ate at the time. We (and all of our guests) were lucky enough to have my Mum make our wedding cake for us.
This was no ordinary wedding cake. Being chocoholics we requested a chocolate cake but couldn't have possibly imagined the fantastic cake that she made. It is a death by chocolate layer cake and it's the richest, most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted. My mother-in-law was addicted to it, I'm sure. After the wedding there was lots left and she couldn't get enough of it! Neither could Mr VST and I. We took some into each of our work places and then took some on holiday with us, to Iceland!
The cake and various fillings are easy to make but there's a lot of cooling and stages to making it. I thought I was going to have two long evenings where Mr VST was going for a long cycle after work on Monday and Thursday last week. Mr VST, not knowing about this, seemed to have subconsciously tried to scupper my plans by coming home earlier than expected or just plain early (he tells me that as I kept asking him what time he would be home he tried to come home early!).
I finally got some time on Thursday evening and made the 'sponge', when I say made, I mixed it all up and got it into the oven but Mr VST came back before I could take it out of the oven. I had no choice but to turn the oven off before the cake was due to be cooked, leave it in there and hope for the best. I covered the glass by hanging teatowels over the handle and I hoped that he wouldn't go in the oven, which he didn't. It did mean that the sponge was a little drier than I would have like though.
I got up early on Friday morning to carry out the next step which was to slice the cake horizontally into three, which I did by scoring it around the edge with a very sharp, serrated blade and then cutting through. Then I melted 200g of white chocolate (it was meant to be 280g) and spread it over each of the layers. I knew I'd be home before Mr VST so I covered the cake slices and left them to cool.
When I got home, I mixed the filling, chocolate, butter and brandy, and waited for it to cool as much as I could before reconstructing the cake. I put the bottom layer back into the case, poured in half the filling and repeated with the next layer of cake and filling before putting the top layer on. I then hid it in plain sight, well not quite, but one of the cake tins was out on the top under the fruit bowl and so I hid it in there to cool.
Thankfully on Saturday we were in no hurry. I hadn't wound down at all and woke up early without the assistance of an alarm. I got up at about 7.30am and relying on my knowledge that Mr VST loves a good lie in I decided to risk making the chocolate ganache icing. I needn't have worried as he slept until about 10.30am!
You warm up equal amounts of double cream and dark chocolate, pour the warmed cream onto the chocolate, leave it for five minutes and then gently whisk it to create the icing. While I was waiting I removed the cake from the tin and turned it upside down, having first straightened the top by cutting it and then eating the evidence. I hadn't appreciated the 'sponge' fully before, it kind of gets lost in the cake but it is wonderful, full of sweetness and chocolate and it was moist too.
I managed to ice the cake, I seriously need some icing lessons. I also had to do all the washing up, drying up and putting away so that Mr VST didn't suspect anything. I was so worried about leaving chocolate all over the place. On Thursday when we were eating dinner I managed to get chocolate up my arms, which he pointed out to me, thankfully not realising that it was chocolate! For the same reason I was strangely grateful for the kitchen light having blown. We were waiting for new bulbs to come in the post and they hadn't. It made taking photos difficult though!
The cake was iced - just decorating to do now. Now the material symbol for first wedding anniversaries is paper. I had ordered some rice paper leaves from the internet at the last minute and was desperately hoping that they would arrive before we left. As you can see from the first photo we had chocolate leaves on the original version. I retrieved some of the original gold ribbon that had decorated the wedding cake and pinned that around the edge. I tried cutting out paper shapes but they didn't quite look right so I left it with just the ribbon, put it back in the tin and wrapped the tin in tissue paper.
As I did this, having taken some 'secret squirrel' time in the bedroom, I called out to Mr VST who informed me that the post had arrived and of course in amongst the envelopes were my rice paper leaves. I unwrapped the tin, took the cake out and arranged the leaves in a '1' shape on the top, pinning them in place as the icing had set and I knew they wouldn't stay in place without help on our journey North.
I managed to safely convey the cake, in the tin, wrapped in tissue paper, wrapped in a plastic bag, in a 'bag for life', wedged behind my chair in the car to North Devon and not only that but it was a surprise! Mr VST didn't suspect a thing. He even asked when I had managed to make it. I told him that I would make it again, every anniversary if I can, but that it won't be a secret next time!
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