Island Cake Tutorial; Breached Whale With Island
Introduction: Island Cake Tutorial; Breached Whale With Island
So the Island Cake was apparently really popular last year. Which means I only found out about it this year.
When I saw the photos on island cakes online, I really wanted to make one. They were so mesmerizing! I am a sucker for stuff involving water or clear, glass-like sculptures, so this was really awesome to me. When Instructables put up the Edible Art Challenge, I knew I had to go ahead and try to make an Island Cake.
Supplies
For the cake:
1. Springform pan
2. Cake batter of your choice
3. Aluminum foil (not pictured)
For the gelatin water:
1. Clear gelatin packages
2. Food coloring
3. Flavoring of your choice (I am using lemon juice)
4. Stove top pan
5. Water
6. Medium sized heat proof bowl
7. Spoon for mixing
For the ganache:
1. Cream
2. Chocolate chips
3. White baking chocolate (DON'T use white chocolate chips like I did; it won't set up)
4. Stove top pan
5. Large heat proof bowl
6. Whisk
For the mountain vegetation:
1. Coffee grinder (not necessary, but really useful)
2. Pecans (or whatever kind of nut, crackers, graham crackers, or cookies you can crush and color)
3. Green food coloring
4. Small bowls and spoon for mixing (not pictured)
For the modeling chocolate:
1. Candy melts in white
2. Light corn syrup
3. 515
Large heat proof bowl
4. Spoon
5. Measuring utensils
6. Plastic wrap
7. Food coloring
8. Dental tools for modeling
9. Small knife
Other useful tools not pictured: paper towels, toothpicks, kitchen towels.
Step 1: Bake the Cake
The reason I am not going to instruct on how to make the actual "cake" portion is because I think you should use what cake you like best. I am using the Hershey cake recipe - you can find it on the back of the cocoa box or you can find it here. I think it is the best chocolate cake ever.
Wrap the bottom of the springform pan tightly in two layers of aluminum foil to minimize leaking. My cake batter is practically water thin and it didn't hardly leak at all, but it will depend on your pan.
Pour you cake batter in as carefully as you can. Clean up any leaks with a paper towel. Don't pour too much in; this is going to be the base or the underwater surface of the ocean, so you don't want it to be very tall. Our ocean will only go as far up as the sides of the springform pan, so keep that it mind.
Pour the rest of your cake batter into other pans to cook. These portions will be what you use to shape your islands.
I was originally going to make a smaller cake as a test cake, but I ran out of time, so I ended up working on it for no reason.
Cook the cake like normal, just check on your springform pan more often. Since it has less batter in it than normal, it will cook faster. Or theoretically will, because mine actually took longer than my regular cake pan. Just check it often so you don't accidentally burn it.
Remove the cakes and allow to cool COMPLETELY. As in, no heat whatsover, maybe even overnight.
Step 2: Make Ganache
While your cake is cooling, you can make the ganache. The ganache will be what makes our cake "gelatin proof" so the gelatin doesn't just sink into your cake. Think of it as your caulk. I am using <PERSON> recipe from his "How to Bake Everything" book.
Measure out 1 cup of cream and 8 oz of the chocolate chips. Put the chocolate chips into the heat proof bowl.
Pour the cream into your pan and place on the stove, turning the burner on medium low. "Heat the cream until it starts to steam" is the original directions, but I didn't really see steam, I just held my hand over top of it and felt the heat with my hand. If you start seeing little bubbles on the sides, you are definitely there.
Once the cream is hot enough, pour it directly on top of the chocolate chips and whisk the cream and chocolate chips together. At first this will be hard, but it won't take too long before all the chocolate chips have melted and you have ganache. Simple.
Set the ganache aside. You can put it in the fridge for the next day if need be. 515