eight layers of vanilla-flavoured hell
Adriano Zumbo is a genius. An evil genius, but a genius nonetheless.
And, yeah, this cake is time-consuming and frustrating and rather intimidating, but the result is totally worth it. Even if you end up with a pile of mush, I'm pretty sure it would taste AMAZING.
I know we use the word vanilla to describe something boring or run-of-the-mill, but this does not describe this cake. Every vanilla-centric layer has a different taste and texture so you end up with a mouthful of awesomeness with every bite. There's the sweetness of the creamy ganache and chantilly creme, the fresh water gel layer, the slightly bitter brulee and (my favourite) the crunchy, salty almond crunch. Everything is in perfect balance and you keep chasing each of the flavours with each subsequent bite.
So here's the making of:
I'll spare you pics of the making of each layer, but rest assured that it took an entire day (and most of an evening) and featured a few hiccups along the way. Despite only being 2 lines in the recipe, the ganache ended up being one of the most difficult because it turns out that turning white chocolate into a creamy consistency with just a food processor takes a very long time. In fact, you will think it's NEVER going to happen and then suddenly, ganache has been born.
The best layers for sampling along the way were the toasted vanilla brulee, the vanilla almond crunch (mmmm salty goodness) and the vanilla ganache for the creamy sweet sugar hit.
Once every part of the cake has been made, it's time for construction! First, the vanilla creme chantilly is spread into an acetate-lined tin. FYI, out tin was a little bigger than the required size.
Then the vanilla water gel layer:
(the vanilla pod seeds kind of huddled themselves into the centre while setting)
A little smear of toasted vanilla brulee:
Then the vanilla macaron layer:
(it cracked a bit, but it wasn't a drama)
The rest of the brulee gets spread on top:
For some reason, we didn't quite have enough vanilla chiffon cake mixture to pipe onto our 18cm square, so there's a bit of cake without it. The cake is brushed with vanilla syrup for extra goodness:
Mmmm, vanilla ganache:
This is the vanilla dacquoise covered with a layer of the vanilla almond crunch:
We then had to invert this layer onto the stack so the dacquoise formed the base of the cake:
Oops. Our dacquoise was too soft and delicate, and the crunch a bit too coarse. In hindsight, I'd probably just spread some crunch on during the assembling of the cake instead of buggering around with the inverting step. Anyway, all the gaps are filled with creme chantilly, and it's popped into the freezer to set. Meanwhile, temper the white chocolate and spread on acetate to later cut into tiles and triangles for the flower:
After it has had time to chill, or in our case, once you've had some sleep and are in a rush to leave for a movie starring your tv boyfriend, it's time to turn the cake tin upside down and pop your cake out, then cover with the vanilla glaze. After that, whack on the tempered chocolate tiles around the side, and form the triangles into the nifty flower on top. (And maybe remember to clean it up before taking the photo. Or not.)
Not quite as polished as Adriano's, but the proof is in the cutting:
Ignore the edges due to the too-big tin and look at those layers! Yum! The glaze is a bit thick because we had trouble heating it to the right temperature (one of the aformentioned hiccups was the thermometer smashing on the kitchen floor half-way through the day) but it tastes good so it's not a big drama.
The unmentioned step is this recipe is the washing up, but again, totally worth it.
So I recommend giving it a go, just be prepared to set aside at least a day and a bit of cash for the ingredients, some of which are difficult to source. Then enjoy. In fact, I think I'm almost ready for another slice now *g*
And, yeah, this cake is time-consuming and frustrating and rather intimidating, but the result is totally worth it. Even if you end up with a pile of mush, I'm pretty sure it would taste AMAZING.
I know we use the word vanilla to describe something boring or run-of-the-mill, but this does not describe this cake. Every vanilla-centric layer has a different taste and texture so you end up with a mouthful of awesomeness with every bite. There's the sweetness of the creamy ganache and chantilly creme, the fresh water gel layer, the slightly bitter brulee and (my favourite) the crunchy, salty almond crunch. Everything is in perfect balance and you keep chasing each of the flavours with each subsequent bite.
So here's the making of:
I'll spare you pics of the making of each layer, but rest assured that it took an entire day (and most of an evening) and featured a few hiccups along the way. Despite only being 2 lines in the recipe, the ganache ended up being one of the most difficult because it turns out that turning white chocolate into a creamy consistency with just a food processor takes a very long time. In fact, you will think it's NEVER going to happen and then suddenly, ganache has been born.
The best layers for sampling along the way were the toasted vanilla brulee, the vanilla almond crunch (mmmm salty goodness) and the vanilla ganache for the creamy sweet sugar hit.
Once every part of the cake has been made, it's time for construction! First, the vanilla creme chantilly is spread into an acetate-lined tin. FYI, out tin was a little bigger than the required size.
Then the vanilla water gel layer:
(the vanilla pod seeds kind of huddled themselves into the centre while setting)
A little smear of toasted vanilla brulee:
Then the vanilla macaron layer:
(it cracked a bit, but it wasn't a drama)
The rest of the brulee gets spread on top:
For some reason, we didn't quite have enough vanilla chiffon cake mixture to pipe onto our 18cm square, so there's a bit of cake without it. The cake is brushed with vanilla syrup for extra goodness:
Mmmm, vanilla ganache:
This is the vanilla dacquoise covered with a layer of the vanilla almond crunch:
We then had to invert this layer onto the stack so the dacquoise formed the base of the cake:
Oops. Our dacquoise was too soft and delicate, and the crunch a bit too coarse. In hindsight, I'd probably just spread some crunch on during the assembling of the cake instead of buggering around with the inverting step. Anyway, all the gaps are filled with creme chantilly, and it's popped into the freezer to set. Meanwhile, temper the white chocolate and spread on acetate to later cut into tiles and triangles for the flower:
After it has had time to chill, or in our case, once you've had some sleep and are in a rush to leave for a movie starring your tv boyfriend, it's time to turn the cake tin upside down and pop your cake out, then cover with the vanilla glaze. After that, whack on the tempered chocolate tiles around the side, and form the triangles into the nifty flower on top. (And maybe remember to clean it up before taking the photo. Or not.)
Not quite as polished as Adriano's, but the proof is in the cutting:
Ignore the edges due to the too-big tin and look at those layers! Yum! The glaze is a bit thick because we had trouble heating it to the right temperature (one of the aformentioned hiccups was the thermometer smashing on the kitchen floor half-way through the day) but it tastes good so it's not a big drama.
The unmentioned step is this recipe is the washing up, but again, totally worth it.
So I recommend giving it a go, just be prepared to set aside at least a day and a bit of cash for the ingredients, some of which are difficult to source. Then enjoy. In fact, I think I'm almost ready for another slice now *g*