Remember a few weeks back when I was trying to decide what cake to make my son for his birthday? well we finally decided on a Horton hears a who cake. I was planning to make him a 2 tyre cake with Horton on top and the other characters on the sides. Sadly his sister’s final exams were rescheduled and his birthday landed right in the middle of them. So I had two choices, either postpone the birthday till after the exams, or make a small cake and a minimal party. I went with the second because I think a birthday loses meaning when it is celebrated on another day.
I can tell you that the birthday boy was extremely happy with his cake but he would not allow anyone to touch Horton..he is still in the fridge (Horton that is lol )and my little boy goes to check on him every 10 minutes..he opens the fridge …HOOOOOOOOOTEN (that’s what he calls him).. he smiles and closes the door..
To make the Figure I tried something new. Rice crispy treats figures. I have seen the technique before and now felt like the right time to try it. It was a lot of fun and much easier than trying to carve it out of cake, and on the plus side it is edible and yummy 🙂 on the down side I couldn’t get a smooth outcome. Next time I will pulse the rice crispy cereal a bit before using it to make the treats, I think that will help give a smoother texture
Another change I attempted this time is to use ganache under the fondant instead of butter cream. I have never been a big fan of butter cream. It is too rich and when layered under fondant, the sweet component kind of gets out of control.
The filling this time was cream patisserie. I love the velvety smooth texture of it and it is a beautiful compliment to anything it is paired with.
Horton hears a who cake
Cake recipe (my regular butter cake. recipe here)
Bake your cake and allow it to cool (It would be even better if you would do this the day before)
Divide your cake into 2 or more layers
Brush with simple syrup .
Fill with cream patisserie (recipe follows)
Frost the cake with a thin layer or ganache.(recipe follows)
Place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Roll out your fondant on a sugar dusted surface or on some wax paper
Carefull transfer the fondant and drape it over the cake and smooth gently.
Decorate to your heart’s desire. I used cookie cutter and small fondant balls of different colors
MMF(marshmallow Fondant. Step by step tutorial here)
For the cream patisserie (recipe from joy of baking)
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour)
Instructions
In a medium-sized heat proof bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together. (Do let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch (corn flour) together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan bring the milk boiling (just until milk starts to foam up.)
Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.)
Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture.
Then pour the egg mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 – 60 seconds until it becomes thick.
Remove from heat and immediately Stir in vanilla
Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.
Chocolate ganache
Ingredients
2:1 chocolate to cream (is you use 200 grams chocolate you need 100 ml cream)
Instructions
Chop the chocolate or
pour the cream over the chocolate.
Microwave using 30 seconds intervals.
After each interval stir the mix gently.
When the chocolate melts completely and the mixture is smooth, your ganache is ready.
Allow it to cool to room temperature
Rice crispy treats (RCT)
1 box rice crispy cereal
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 tablespoon butter
Grease a microwave bowl with butter, add the marshmallows and butter, microwave in 40 second intervals stir after each one. (You can melt your marshmallows over a double broiler if you don’t have a microwave)
Once the marshmallows melt completely add the rice cereal and stir untill combined.
Wait 5 minutes for it to cool.
Start making your figures
I formed the tummy, front and back legs first
Head (I inserted tooth picks in the head to help hold it to the body when assembled) and number 2.
The assembled pre- fondant Horton (assembled just to check shape, you need to cover each part with fondant first)
Allow to dry over night if possible (I didn’t have that luxury)
Cover each part with fondant then assemble and add the details you want.
Chef in disguise 