FONDANT CAKE

In part-two of Alisha Henderson's celebration cake series, learn how to coat the
outsides in chocolate ganache, how to cover with fondant and lastly, how to finish it
 RECIPE BY

with watercolour designs and fresh flowers. ALISHA HENDERSON


FONDANT
INTERMEDIATE

CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE


2 HOURS

GANACHE

COVERS
PRE-MADE 5" AND 7" TIERS

PREPARING THE GANACHE LIDS

EQUIPMENT METHOD

Glad Go-Between or substitute with freezer Place ganache lid onto Go-Between and cut a circle around
bags 5-6cm wider than the lid. Snip inwards, every 5-6cm, fold in
acrylic ganache lids 5” & 7” each tab, pull tight and tape in place.
scissors
masking tape

GANACHE LAYER
METHOD
INGREDIENTS
Using a thick layer of ganache, adhere the ganache lid to the
pre-prepared ganache top of the cake. Use a scraper to make sure the lid is in line
pre-made cakes on cake boards with the cake board on all sides. Gently press down on lid and
use a spirit level to check that all sides are level. Place back
EQUIPMENT in fridge for 5-10 minutes and repeat with top tier. Once the
ganache is firm, remove from fridge and place on a turntable.
medium angled palette knife Cover the sides of the cake in ganache, then use a scraper to
large metal scraper remove the excess, placing any excess back into the bowl. Add
small spirit level more ganache to fill any gaps and use the scraper again to
turntable even it out. Repeat until even. Place back into fridge to set and
small knife repeat process with the top tier. Once set, remove the cake from
fridge and run a knife around the top of the lid, separating the
Go-Between from the lid. Gently remove lid and Go-Between.
If there are any holes, fill with extra ganache and smooth out.
Repeat with top tier. Leave out overnight to firm.

Recipe from SAVOUR ONLINE CLASSES | savourschool.com.au

Copyright ©2019 Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School. All rights reserved.
FONDANT

METHOD
INGREDIENTS

Using your hands, coat the ganache in a thin layer of vegetable

pre-made cakes on cake boards
shortening so the fondant will adhere. To measure the amount of
vegetable shortening
fondant you’ll need, double the height of the cake and add the
fondant
diameter. In this case, ours was (h)14cm+(h)14cm+(d)17cm,
cornflour/ cornstarch
so we’ll need 45cm plus a few extra. Chop the fondant into
handful-size pieces and knead each piece to soften. Combine all
EQUIPMENT together and knead until smooth. Dust the bench with cornflour.
Before rolling out, get your fondant smoothers and acetate sheet
ruler ready. Begin rolling out the fondant with a rolling pin, shaping
rolling pin it as a rough circle. Use a pin to pop any air bubbles that may
pin appear. Turn fondant as you work it, so it doesn’t stick to the
fondant smoothers bench and roll until 0.5cm thick. Once the fondant is the right
acetate sheet size, take a smaller rolling pin and place it in the middle and roll
4 x cake dowels (substituted with bubble tea half of it back over the rolling pin. Use the rolling pin to lift the
straws) fondant and drape it over the cake. Use the fondant smoother
to smooth out the top. Pull open the fondant skirt and push the
fondant down over the sides, starting from one side and continu-
ing around. Trim the skirt and save the excess to reuse. Using
a fondant smoother, smooth the edges out, gently pressing the
edge into the base. Using the smoother in a back and forth
motion, apply pressure to the base to remove an excess. With
a medium pressure, moving one smoother in circular motions
on top of the cake and one moving up and down on the side to
sharpen the edges. Replace the smoother on the side with the
acetate to make the edges even sharper. Pop any air bubbles
with a pin and smooth out. Repeat process with top tier. Place
four dowels into the bottom tier and trim them so they’re level
with the top of the cake. Spread a small amount of ganache in
the centre of the bottom tier, in the middle of the dowels, and
centre the top tier on top. Use the smoother to smooth out the
edge between the tiers.

WATERCOLOUR & FRESH FLOWERS

TIPS
INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT
The Cake Decorator’s Rose Spirit is 95% alcohol.
Sweet Stick's edible art paint colours: The Cake Decorator’s Rose Spirit can be substituted with
watermelon pink, egg yolk and orange 100% alcohol.
Cake Decorator’s Rose Spirit or 100% Drip marks can be cleaned up with more Cake Decorator’s
alcohol Rose spirit or alcohol.
fresh flowers To decorate with fresh flowers, be sure not to insert any
scissors part of the flower into the cake. Trim the stem close to the
wax-coated florist tape base of the flower, inset a toothpick and wrap the stem with
wax-coated florist tape.

Recipe from SAVOUR ONLINE CLASSES | savourschool.com.au

Copyright ©2019 Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School. All rights reserved.