Juke Kartel Cake
Last weekend, one of my favourite Melbourne bands, Juke Kartel, returned home to Australia over Easter and decided to treat us with a little tour. Amongst the gigs was an exclusive houseparty scheduled on the same day as my birthday. I really couldn't think of a better way to spend my first night as a 24-year-old, so I grabbed tickets straight away.
The invite said to feel free to bring a plate. Plate... cake... same thing, yeah? Besides, there's some unwritten rule about birthdays involving cake, so I really was fulfilling my duty in bringing one along.
The design was based off the JK Phoenix from their merch store. It's the same one for which a black silhouette was used on the cover of their song "Brightest Star", a song they wrote for the mother of their drummer, Jay, who was battling breast cancer. It was, as I saw it, the only right choice for this cake.
After a massive royal icing fail, I decided to stick with the one thing I know: fondant. I stayed up late the night before, making the fondant phoenix, as well as adding the final touches to my own birthday cake. This phoenix took me well into the hours of the morning: I turned 24 making this cake.
I probably should have made it straight onto the cake like I normally do. But I didn't know how it would work as I'd never done anything like this before. So I made it on acetate, let it dry overnight and put it on the cake the next day. Again, a lot of broken feathers were suffered, but it was more repairable than the royal icing bird, so I stuck with the fondant.
![]()
It turned out looking more like a cockatoo than a phoenix.
The guys were pretty awesome about it, though. That, or they just wanted not to hurt my feelings! They brought it out on stage and cut it up to share with the crowd.
The cake itself was a staple chocolate cake recipe of mine that I use for any decorated cake that doesn't require carving (it's too moist for carving).
Gratuitously Large Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 cups (500ml) water
3 cups (660g) caster sugar
250g butter (chopped)
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa
1 tsp bicarb soda
3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
4 eggs, beaten lightly
Method
1. Preheat oven to moderate, grease and line your baking pan.
2. Combine water, sugar, butter, cocoa and baking powder in the largest saucepan you have (I mean, seriously large - bicarb soda expands, and you do not want to lose this all over your stovetop).
3. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil; reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool.
4. Add flour and egg; beat until smooth.
5. Pour into pan; bake for 50 minutes
For more pictures of the cake, videos of the band with and without the cake, and more ramblings about the night on my part, check out the original post on my blog.
The invite said to feel free to bring a plate. Plate... cake... same thing, yeah? Besides, there's some unwritten rule about birthdays involving cake, so I really was fulfilling my duty in bringing one along.
The design was based off the JK Phoenix from their merch store. It's the same one for which a black silhouette was used on the cover of their song "Brightest Star", a song they wrote for the mother of their drummer, Jay, who was battling breast cancer. It was, as I saw it, the only right choice for this cake.
After a massive royal icing fail, I decided to stick with the one thing I know: fondant. I stayed up late the night before, making the fondant phoenix, as well as adding the final touches to my own birthday cake. This phoenix took me well into the hours of the morning: I turned 24 making this cake.
I probably should have made it straight onto the cake like I normally do. But I didn't know how it would work as I'd never done anything like this before. So I made it on acetate, let it dry overnight and put it on the cake the next day. Again, a lot of broken feathers were suffered, but it was more repairable than the royal icing bird, so I stuck with the fondant.
It turned out looking more like a cockatoo than a phoenix.
The guys were pretty awesome about it, though. That, or they just wanted not to hurt my feelings! They brought it out on stage and cut it up to share with the crowd.
The cake itself was a staple chocolate cake recipe of mine that I use for any decorated cake that doesn't require carving (it's too moist for carving).
Gratuitously Large Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 cups (500ml) water
3 cups (660g) caster sugar
250g butter (chopped)
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa
1 tsp bicarb soda
3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
4 eggs, beaten lightly
Method
1. Preheat oven to moderate, grease and line your baking pan.
2. Combine water, sugar, butter, cocoa and baking powder in the largest saucepan you have (I mean, seriously large - bicarb soda expands, and you do not want to lose this all over your stovetop).
3. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil; reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool.
4. Add flour and egg; beat until smooth.
5. Pour into pan; bake for 50 minutes
For more pictures of the cake, videos of the band with and without the cake, and more ramblings about the night on my part, check out the original post on my blog.