Birthday Cake

Just thought I may also post some pictures I made of a cake over the long weekend for a good friend of mine.

They requested I made a caramel cake so I went with salted caramel.
For the sponge I used a plain chocolate cake mix, buttercream flavoured with salted caramel ganache and I topped it with honeycomb and raspberries.

I made the little bunting out of coloured paper and sewed it together with the sewing machine then tied them onto skewers. They just look adorable don't they?

I will add the recipes in at the end of this post, but no how-to because I didn't take so many pictures. It was super easy though if you follow the previous instructions on buttercream and masking you can't go wrong!

Chocolate cake:
225g self raising flour
72g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
113g plain flour
330g castor sugar
225g butter (softened)
327g milk (room temperature)
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 yolk

Set oven to 140 degrees Celsius then prepare a cake tin, I used a 22cm round cake pan
Sieve the flours, cocoa powder, and bi-carb soda all together.
Place the milk, eggs and butter in bowl with paddle attachment first then on top add the dry ingredients. Mix with the paddle until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared cake ring and bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Salted Caramel Ganache:
300g castor sugar
450mL Cream
Maldon sea salt

Place the sugar in a saucepan and add a small amount of water just enough to cover the sugar, place this on the stove on a high heat and allow to turn to a light caramel colour. Add the cream all in one go and turn the heat to low, try not to stir too much at this point. This part can sometimes be dangerous so wear oven mitts if possible or a tea towel can help. Once the cream is simmering stir the caramel through slowly until all dissolved into the cream, take off heat then add in about 3 pinches of salt and taste. Place in freezer to cool down or alternatively make at least 4 hours in advance.

Honey Comb 
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda

Prepare a tray with baking paper, on the baking paper spray or wipe a layer of vegetable oil to keep the sugar from sticking.

Again add a small amount of water to the castor sugar, about 100mL and place this on high heat until a light amber colour is reached, add the bicarb soda all at once and whisk in only until just mixed through. Quickly pour out onto prepared tray and smooth out with very little force, otherwise you will loose all your bubbles and it sets very fast.

For the butter cream, follow the instructions below and do not add the vanilla bean. Follow all the steps until the butter is incorporated. Keep buttercream in mixing bowl and scrape the sides down to even out the mixture. Then pour in half of the salted caramel ganache and allow to mix into the buttercream. Taste and add more if desired.

Assembly of cake will require a cake board, piping bag and pallete knife.

First cut the cake into four equal parts, I did trim the top off a small amount to even the cake out.

Choose which slice you will use for the top and keep that aside, this will be the nicest and flattest piece, and this can come from inside the cake or the bottom, it doesn't matter. Next place a small amount of buttercream on the board to secure the first slice of cake, spread a thin layer of the salted caramel ganache on the sponge then pipe buttercream evenly over to make a layer then smooth out with pallette knife. Repeat these steps until you reach the last layer.

Because I was going for that naked cake style I just filled in with the pipping bag and sections on the side of the cake I felt would not smooth properly then with my pallete knife touching the sponge of the cake I smooth out and scraped around the cake until a smooth layer was achieved. After the sides of the cake I masked the stop nicely. You can find instructions on how to do this on my previous blog of the how-to wedding cake. This link will take you to it.

Next I waited until the salted caramel ganache left overs were chilled and much thicker, I spooned a layer around the cake to create the dripped effect. I then decorated with fresh raspberries, chocolate shavings, and chopped up honeycomb.

The end result was very pleasing and tasted great too. If you have any questions regarding the how-to or you need advice or you have run into a problem, please don't hesitate to contact me through facebook through Sivaan Chocolates and I will be more then happy to help.

Happy Baking!

The end result

So I have been given the pictures from the wedding I supplied the succulent cake to along with chocolates as well!

This is very exciting to see and they look so amazing, the bride did such a great job choosing the boxes and decorations. I am really pleased to see the end result of what I make, it will always bring me the most joy in my career. The cake really looked great with the theme of her wedding and from what I hear everyone at the wedding loved it too!

So the photographer sent me a message on facebook with the links to the blog and his information which I will share seeming that his work looks so fantastic. 

My favourite pictures of the chocolates in their little boxes and the cake is of the couple cutting through it, it gives me great satisfaction to view these photos. 

So here is my favourite of the cake and chocolates, but I strongly suggest looking through all of the pictures, some of them are just magical. 

For the link to the blog Click Here


The photographer was James Day and you can find him at the following links

Instagram: jamesdayweddings facebook: www.facebook.com/jamesdayweddings website: www.jamesday.com.au

Chocolate Showpiece

So I finally finished and competed in my first ever chocolate showpiece. I am so happy with what I achieved. I had some support from a couple of teachers but none the less I went through most of this journey alone.

This was my first ever attempt at creating anything out of chocolate which wasn't delicious. So I came to the conclusion that it is more of an artwork where the chocolate is the medium. There, an easy term for chocolate showpieces. Although the showpieces are far from easy themselves. First you have to know how to use the chocolate and the limits of what chocolate can do, then create a structure that can actually hold its own weight. Once these time consuming steps are done you better make sure that the design fits the theme and looks like a stand out piece. Exhausting is all I can describe it as for my first time. So many mistakes were made and so many things broke and almost sent me running off crying. There may have been a couple of days I started talking to the chocolate like it was almost my enemy and discussed how we had to work together just these next few days. Like an agreement, 'I'll start liking you again if you just don't break or melt this one time!' I found myself saying, but either way I still spent up to 14 hours straight working on this thing some days. 

The week before the showpiece was due I had almost finished making all the pieces and had 1 day available to work on it more, the day before the competition. So stressful. So what did I decide to do? Enjoy my Easter, go to family gatherings and get drunk and eat my weight in food and chocolate. Sensible right? I actually think it was the best decision I have made. I enjoyed it a lot more then stressing over chocolate and contemplating our moves together like a relationship. I would be safe to say that I spent about 6 hours accumulated over the preparation time just staring at the chocolate with a coffee cup in hand. Asking it telepathic questions like 'Why do you have to do this to me?" or "Where did we go wrong?" then there was the inspirational statements like "Come on chocolate I know we can do this together!"

Anyway moving along, the competition had a theme which was Steampunk. Pretty cool theme I think because the options are endless. Which is also bad as well. From my first designs to the finished product you couldn't even tell that the same person designed them. Most of my time was spent trying to make my first design work, well this was a waste of time so I just redesigned the entire piece two weeks before the competition. That could have been the reason for stress levels. Oh and trying to finish chocolate orders for my business too, they were the easy part though.

I luckily was given the opportunity to use dental Alginate, a product used by dentists to take a mould of your teeth. This stuff is so awesome, you mix it with water, let it set slightly, add in whatever you want to mould. I used objects like taps, screws and a little bird. Then add another layer on top and set again. There you have a mould for your chocolate pieces. This part was actually really fun to do.

So it gets to the day of the competition and I get everything loaded into the car and drive over to Tafe for the competition. There is one other competitor there and I was an hour and a half early. I set up my items and so does she. The competition doesn't start till 9am. I wait around and get a coffee. 9am comes along and no other competitors have showed up yet. This makes me even more stressed out because I just assume everyone else is so fast and amazing and only needs 30 minutes to put it all together. We are given four hours to complete the sculpture. The first hour I shake and sweat from being so nervous, and in my favour chef jackets aren't the coolest pieces of clothing out there. 

Finally I finish the piece and clean down after 3 hours of construction. Once finished I am a stinky, hungry, happy young lady. I couldn't have asked for a better result. Nothing broke. All that preying to the chocolate angels wore off! 

On the day they told us who came first, second and third. I didn't get any of these places but I was still really happy with what I achieved. Some part of me can't even comprehend that I actually built it myself. 

A couple of days ago I got an email that thanked us for competing and gave us back a combined score from the three judges. I glanced over it and saw with astonishment that I placed 4th overall, missing out on third place by 4 points. This was out of 18 people. I am definitely over the moon with what I achieved on the day. 

Requested!

So I have been asked to do another request by a customer.

Dairy free white chocolate. 

Not the easiest request I have been asked about but I will definitely give this a go because I just love to experiment.

So I found one recipe which used soy milk powder, icing sugar, vanilla, salt and cocoa butter.

I just made this and it contracted during the setting process which is a fantastic sign because this will allow me to use it in moulds. Contraction of the chocolate setting process is so important as it allows the user to be able to get the chocolate out of the poly-carbonate moulds easily. So this is a great sign!! 

Taste is the biggest issue with this recipe so far, the vanilla and salt were a bit too over the top for my liking which is easily fixed. The texture is completely different from normal white chocolate which has a smooth mouth feel and is creamy. The texture of this recipe was not like this at all. It was a bit grainy, this can be fixed with the help of a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder, but my main concern was the overall creaminess of the chocolate. 

To help me out I bought a block of chocolate from a brand who make dairy free white chocolate and tasted their chocolate before hand. This was slightly more creamy and not grainy at all. This is what I would like to achieve. 

So my next thoughts on this product is to add more fat that melts at the same temperature as our bodies, around 35-37 degrees would be perfect. Hopefully I can find some products which can be mixed easily with cocoa butter without sacrificing the temper that I already have from this recipe so far. 

Some extra ingredients I may try are, coconut oil, more soy milk powders. Maybe there are different types or maybe I can find things with extra fat contents. 

Having a chocolate background helps a lot with making chocolate. The chocolate is the easy part and I know how to treat cocoa butter and other important ingredients, thank goodness for that. 

Here is a picture of the chocolate I made today, doesn't look too far off from what I need to establish! 

Succulent Wedding Cake. How-To.

So I finished the Succulent cake all in a days work. 
I woke up super early and figured I would just get straight into it, as I seem to start my days off. Always the first kid up at the sleepovers... Such is life.

Anyway so I thought I would take some photos for you and give you a recipe.

Turns out I took enough photos and have enough info to make a How To guide for this cake. So that is what I will do.

Firstly this is a photo of the finished product:

Succulent Wedding Cake

For this cake the bride asked for a hummingbird cake, due to the fact she is sick of chocolate cake, fruit cake and anything else heavy and rich. So at this request I was a bit excited because I love anything to do with desserts and fruit.

So here the instructions!

First of all you need to make the cake. This takes an hour to bake so be aware of that if you have time restrictions, or even better make it the day before. This can help keep the crumb to a minimum when cutting as well. 

This is the recipe I used, I made this recipe two times to give the height of this cake which has four layers altogether. Each cake is sliced in half before constructing. Alternatively if you have two cake tins you can double this recipe and split it between the two tins and bake together.  

440g can crushed pineapple
1 cup mashed ripe banana
60mL of fresh passionfruit pulp
215g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly whisked
150g unsalted butter, melted
265g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons on cinnamon 


Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease or line a 20cm round cake tin.

Combine pineapple, banana, passion fruit and sugar together in large bowl and mix. 

Add the eggs and the butter and mix until combined, add the flour and cinnamon and stir until there are no lumps, you can use a whisk for this it is much easier.

Pour into tin and place in oven for 1hr and 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and let stand in tins for about 5 minutes. 

Remove cakes from tins and turn onto wire rack. Let cool completely.


Once the cakes are cooled, cut them in half horizontally with a serrated knife, the longer the better! It is much easier to slice a cake in half with a longer bread knife then a shorter one. 

To do this I usually slice a very shallow line all the way around the cake to mark it, holding the serrated knife parallel to the bench at all times to ensure it is straight, then I go along the same line again and slice into the cake while turning it at the same time. This usually gives me pretty even slices.

Before removing the layers cut a notch in the side of the cake as you can see in the images below. This will allow you to later place the layers back together in the exact same spots to ensure it stays as flat as possible.
I have also turned the cakes upside down which will give me a sharper edge to later work with when masking it. If any of your layers crack of break, don't be alarmed. This layer will go in the middle of the cake. Try not to use cracked layers for the bottom or the top. 

Cakes ready for decorating

Once cooled, I put my cakes in the fridge to help them set just a bit more before masking.

Now I make the Italian Vanilla Butter Cream, traditionally it is cream cheese icing, but I quite like butter cream and find it easier to mask with.

400g Sugar

100g Water

1 Vanilla Bean

200g Egg Whites

625g Unsalted Butter

Firstly place the sugar and water in a small saucepan.

Place egg whites in a mixer, for this recipe you will need a stand mixer.

Scrape out the vanilla beans from the pod and add these to the egg with a couple of drops of lemon juice.

Chop the butter up into small pieces, and set aside.

Butter needs to me small so it can soften up before you add it to the egg whites

Now turn the sugar and water on to high heat, cook until 110 degrees Celsius. Turn your egg whites on to full speed and let the sugar continue to cook until 116-118 degrees Celsius. By this time your egg whites should have come to a high volume and be at soft peak. If they need a little longer don't be alarmed, just turn off the sugar syrup and wait until the eggs are ready. This is an important step.

Egg whites should look like this, soft peak.

When the eggs are ready carefully pour the sugar syrup in while the eggs are whisking at full speed, drizzle this down the side of the mixing bowl, if it touches the whisk it tends to fly off and hit the edges of the bowl and set which will later give you lumps throughout the butter cream. 

Let this mix on high speed, for a while. It may take a long time but it needs to cool down, you will notice it becoming thicker and stickier as it cools. 

Cooled and ready for butter

Once it is cooled make sure your butter is not melted but very soft to the touch.

Add half the butter and whisk the butter in at high speed until just combined, add rest of butter and whisk this in until it looks lighter and holds its shape when stopped. If you find that it is very runny, keep the mix in the mixing bowl and place this in the fridge for about 5 minutes, whisk again. If still runny continue those steps until it becomes light and fluffy. Be careful because once butter cream has chilled too far it can split and have lumps throughout it. 

Once the butter has been added it should look like this

Ok so now we are ready to prepare the succulents and finish the cake off.

Firstly I got the succulents ready, I did this while I was waiting for the egg whites and sugar syrup to cool down to save time.

You will need:

Florist tape

Succulents, try to get a couple of different sizes

Wire, I used 16g

Wire cutters

Succulents I bought from Bunnings

I bought these particular succulents because they both had baby ones as well as the larger ones in the same pot. This gave me a couple of sizes to play with.

Firstly clean the succulents and wash them, be careful not to damage the leaves because they will fall off or have bruises on them. I was lucky enough to find the tiniest baby succulents in one of the pots underneath the soil. I had some small pots lying around the house and re potted these, hopefully they will grow!

So with the wire place it next to the stem, or insert it into the base of the stem carefully, the smaller succulents don't allow you to insert them because they are too fragile, so they are placed next to the stem.

I cut the wire quite long, about 10 cm to ensure when I place them in the cake the weight of the succulent won't pull it down. 

Get the florist tape and cut a portion off. Start to wrap it around the wire and stem together and stretch it at the same time. This is how florist tape works, you need to stretch it to make sure it sticks back onto itself.

Florist tape will turn translucent when stretched

Wrap around the wire and stem a few times while stretching then wrap it the rest of the way down the wire until you reach the bottom, continue stretching the whole way down the wire as well. 

Once you have all your desired succulents wired and taped set them aside.

Now onto masking the cake. 

Choose a cake board larger then the cake itself. Pipe a tiny amount of butter cream on the board to stick the first layer down, my first layer was the top of one of the cakes, and so was the third layer. The second and last layer were the bottom of the cakes flipped upside down.

Once the first layer is stuck down, pipe the butter cream on top in a spiral to give you the most even surface. Then spread it flat with a small palette knife. Make sure it goes all the way to the edges, don't worry if it looks messy because it will be fixed up. Place the second layer on top and then repeat with the butter cream until all layers are on the cake. This is also where the notches come into play. Use these when stacking the layers up because they will help keep it flat. 

This is the first layer

See how my notches all line up

Once this is completed pipe a spiral on the top of the cake, then pipe butter cream on to the sides of the cake.

Make sure your working area is free of all crumbs so that none of it gets on the outside of the cake.

Use a palette knife to even the surface onto the sides of the cake. I use an extra small palette knife because I personally like these but you can use whatever you feel comfortable using. 

Once all the sides are smooth you can move onto smoothing the top, remember to keep an even pressure and always keep the palette knife flat to ensure your surface is also even.

Don't be afraid to let the butter cream droop over the sides of the cake when your smoothing the top, you will fix it after.

Now with those edges, use a small palette knife and lightly smooth the sides of the cake again but only around the top, remember to keep that palette knife straight or you will dent in the sides. You will notice the butter cream will come over the top of the cake and stand up straight, this is good and you want this to happen! Go all the way around the edges.

Now the fun part. Using your palette knife on a 45 degree angle, keeping it straight, start on the edges opposite you and pull the knife towards you keeping the pressure even and the palette knife straight. Try not to put too much pressure on the knife or you'll dent the job you've done on the top. Usually I pull the palette knife in towards about the middle of the cake, then clean the knife, or wipe it dry and continue this process while rotating the cake every time, keep this exact same process going. 

Once the edges are finished the cake is just about done, I used a larger palette knife to make sure my sides were completely straight, I put a slight amount of pressure on the bottom of the knife while turning it around the cake to make sure it was always consistent pressure, almost like leveling it out.

Finished masking and ready for decorating

Try not to keep touching the cake and fiddling with it as this is butter cream and it can start to separate. 

Don't be alarmed if there is anything that doesn't look perfect, I have been doing this for a while and have masked many cakes so it just takes practice. 

Now for around the cake I went to an art store and found wire edged burlap, which is nice because after I cut the burlap to the right length to go around the cake I folded the edges in about 1 cm two times to give it a cleaner edge/boarder.

When applying the burlap I started with the part of the cake I didn't like most because the joining of the burlap is where the succulents go. 

So place 1 side of the burlap on and rotate the cake while sticking it on, do this at eye level to make sure it stays straight. Let it go all the way around. This doesn't require much pressure to stick on to the butter cream, be careful because if you push too hard it can make too much of a dent.

Now it is ready for the succulents, as I said before I put the succulents on where the join is on the burlap, this just covers it and creates a nicer surface. I only used 2 large and 2 small because it is a small wedding cake, other options are to place them on top of the cake as well. 

If you need to store the cake in the fridge, pull it out a couple of hours before serving so the butter is nice and soft to eat.

Now we are finished! 

This is a gorgeous simple cake that can be used for so many occasions, and it also tastes so delicious! 

Its that time of year...

Today I am making my first wedding order for chocolates and I have also been asked to do the cake.

Chocolates are the easy part as I do them very often. Its the cake which I haven't done much of in a while. Lucky for me the wedding is small and the cake only has to be one tier.

The bride has asked for succulents to be the decoration on the cake. I may have stolen some out of a community area because they were so irresistible, but still I need to go to Bunnings to buy more of them. I wonder if anyone knows the best places to get succulents at a good price? Usually this is my parents house but I'm not close enough to just swing by and grab some. This would take four hours driving!! 

The boxes she has chosen are very cute and the theme of the wedding is that gorgeous simple rustic look that has taken the world of weddings by storm. 

Alright well I better finish this cake off and there will be photos in the next post and some tips on how to make a similar cake.

Chocolate information.

Here's the difference between high quality and low quality chocolate.

Something not many people know about or wonder why some are more expensive and less readily available.

There are two types of chocolate, compound and coverture. 

The coverture is made using real cocoa butter and cocoa mass while the lesser quality, compound, is made using vegetable oil instead or in conjunction with cocoa butter. It is almost impossible to buy the higher quality chocolate from your local shopping center.

That's why when you buy chocolate from handmade chocolate shops or buy a much more expensive brand it tastes that much better. It has a less waxy mouth feel and melts in your mouth just like it should!

Give a few handmade and boutique chocolate places a go and see the difference. I guarantee you will not return to your 'normal' chocolate afterwards. 

You can also ask them for tips when tasting chocolate, this information will show you if the chocolate is of good quality and tempered properly as well. 

These include all of your senses:
Look: It has a glossy look to it
Touch: It should melt after touching for a while as chocolate can start to melt from 25 degrees Celsius
Listen: When you break the chocolate it will give you a nice clean snap. This signifies a good temper if the snap is clean. 
Taste: When you put the chocolate in your mouth,don't chew on it, it will start to melt on your tongue, this is the cocoa butter melting first with your body temperature.
Smell: The chocolate should have a beautiful aroma which is set off by the use of cocoa butter.

Also to keep in mind is that the lesser quality chocolates use more sugar and add other ingredients into the chocolate which you probably don't really want to eat.

So next time your out to try a piece of chocolate keep in mind there's a lot more to it then meets the eye.

Some of the products I make. Using coverture chocolate of course.

Getting Started!

So here is Sivaan Chocolates Blog. I figured I better get started and just go ahead a write something!

Sivaan Chocolates is a fine handmade chocolate business created by myself Sivaan Walker. I have studied at Ryde College and worked with Lindt Chocolate during my apprentice years. I have taken my knowledge of chocolate and turned it into my own creative outlet which you will know as Sivaan Chocolates.

The link to my facebook page is

www.facebook.com/sivaanchocolates

There you can see updated information on chocolates, ordering and a little about what I do and why.

I am always looking to create new flavours and use new techniques and I am on a search to expand my business online.

So I figure I'll blog about my daily/weekly/monthly updates about new items, chocolate information and tips and even some recipes I would love to share with the world.

Keep looking back for more chocolate information and updates!