Bridal Shower Part 4 - Meringue Sandwiches

As if making two cakes and macarons wasn’t enough, I wanted to make something for my friend’s bridal shower party favours. Keeping with the theme of “a shower in Paris”, I decided on meringues. They are so much easier to make than macarons, and as I would soon discover, sooo much more delicious.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Meringue Sandwiches

Meringue recipe from Bakers Royale

Ingredients

3 large egg whites

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon white vinegar

Gel food colouring

Directions

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Wipe down a metal bowl (e.g., of your stand mixer) and whisk with vinegar to get rid of residual grease.
3. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks. Gradually add sugar while mixing on medium. Add vanilla and vinegar and continue to whip until stiff and glossy (there should be no granules when you rub between your fingers).
4. Add gel food colouring and beat to combine.
5. Place the meringue in a pastry bag with the tip of your choice. I used 2M. Pipe rosettes or other shapes to your liking, 1 inch apart. Smaller rosettes work better (see note at the end).
6. Bake for 90-120 minutes until the meringue easily peel off the paper. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling

Fillings are only restricted by your imagination. Some options are jam, buttercreams, marshmallow fluff, ganache, lemon curd, caramel, Nutella, cookie butter, etc.

I had leftover chocolate swiss meringue buttercream from the chocolate cake that I made for the shower.

Assembly

Spread filling on one meringue and sandwich with another. Place in an airtight container for 12 hours to ripen.This will soften the meringue and improve the texture and flavour.

Verdict: OMG these are amazing!! Go and make these right now! They are my absolute new favorite treat! The texture is so chewy marshmallow-y and delicious. So happy that I made these for the party favours.

Note: Be sure to pipe smaller rosettes as the moisture from the filling does a better job of making the meringue chewy. Larger rosettes stay relatively crunchy.

Bridal Shower Part 1 - Orange Earl Grey Cake

My very dear friend M is getting married! I’ve known this gal since we were in high school (we’re now in our 30’s to put this in context). We’ve been through a lot of fun and not so fun times (as is life) together and watched each other grow up. There have been times when we’ve been apart (she moved to Toronto for a while) and times when we didn’t get together often (I had grad school, she had a child!) but we have one of those friendships where we can jump right back in and nothing has changed. So I was delighted to help organize her bridal shower and send her on her way to her wedding in Santorini (talk about dream wedding!)!

We decided to throw her a Paris themed bridal shower since it’s her favorite place in the world and it’s where she got engaged. I decided to make an array of desserts to fit the theme, which I will post over the next little while.

First, cake! I made two cakes, an orange earl grey cake and a chocolate cake (to satisfy those for whom only chocolate will do). The orange earl grey cake was supposed to be two separate cakes (and orange creamsicle cake and an earl grey cake), but plans changed and I did a mash up - the flavours worked well together.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Orange Earl Grey Cake

Orange cake layers by Tessa Huff

I baked them in two, 6-inch cake pans and the remaining batter in a small loaf pan (for snacking on).

The cakes baked for around 40 minutes or until a toothpick came out clean (started checking around 30 minutes).

When cooled, slice off the domed tops and slice cakes in half so you end up with 4 layers. (If making ahead, wrap in plastic and freeze. Defrost with the plastic on when ready to assemble.)

Earl grey cake layers by Tessa Huff

I cut the recipe in half and baked in two, 6-inch cake pans for around 40 minutes (or until a toothpick came out clean - started checking around 30 minutes).

Tea syrup by Tessa Huff

Ingredients

½ cup water

½ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon loose leaf earl grey tea

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Bring down the heat to a simmer and add the tea. Let simmer for 10 minutes then take off heat and cool. Strain the leaves.

*I steeped the tea in the syrup for a week in the fridge for extra flavour

Cream cheese filling adapted from recipe by Tessa Huff

Ingredients

½ cup butter, softened

3 cups icing sugar

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened and whipped with a fork

Zest of ¼ of an orange

3 Tablespoons of tea syrup (recipe above)

Directions

In a bowl, beat butter and icing sugar until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add orange zest and tea syrup. Feel free to add more syrup to get the consistency you want (should be spreadable).

Earl grey swiss meringue buttercream

Adapted from recipe by Tessa Huff

Ingredients

3 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 ½ cup unsalted butter

3 Tablespoons tea syrup (from above)

½ teaspoon of ground earl grey tea

Directions

1. Wipe down bowl of stand mixer and whisk attachment with vinegar to get rid of any grease.
2. Combine egg whites and sugar in bowl and place over a pot of simmering water. Place a candy thermometer on the side and whisk more or less continuously until the mixture reaches 155 degrees F.
3. Take off the heat and whisk using the stand mixer until thick, glossy and cool. I like to put a gel ice pack around the bottom to speed up the cooling process.
4. Meanwhile, cut butter into cubes. When the meringue is cool, change to a beater attachment and beat on medium, adding cubes of butter one at a time. Beat on high until smooth (may take a while, sometimes up to 20 minutes).
5. While on medium, gradually add tea syrup. Stop and add the ground tea and beat to combine.

Assembly

1. Place orange cake layer on a cake board. Brush with tea syrup. Spread a cream cheese filling on top. Place another orange cake layer and repeat.
2. Repeat with the two earl grey cake layers. Finish with the remaining two orange cake layers.
3. Crumb coat with the Earl Grey Swiss Meringue buttercream. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to set. Add another layer of buttercream and repeat until you get a smooth coat. Decorate and enjoy! (Keep the fridge and bring to room temperature ~2 hours before eating.)

Verdict:

The shower came together splendidly! The bride was really happy with all the little details and had a lot of fun. I’m so happy with how everything turned out and glad that I could send her on her way with a bang! I’m still coming down from the high of the event!

Oh and the cake? It was delic. I especially liked the fluffiness of the orange cake. The earl grey flavour was a complimentary flavour.

Black and White Bridal Shower Cake

My friend’s family, along with her bridesmaids, were throwing her a (somewhat of a) surprise bridal shower.  Her mother asked me to make a cake that feeds 30-35 guests.  She gave me free range to do whatever I wanted with the cake!  What flavor combination should I do?!  What design should I do?!  So many options!  Yet, I decided to play it safe, and went with a (new) white, vanilla cake recipe with raspberry filling as I keep getting requests for this combination.  I kept with the Black & White theme of the shower and made black and white carnations for the decorations. I was so excited to surprise her with this cake!

Wait until the end to see the verdict!

Vanilla Cake

Adapted from here.

I doubled the following recipe for 2 cakes fitting a 13 x 9 x 2 inch cake pan.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup butter, room temperature

3 ¼ cup sifted cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons milk

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

5 egg whites, room temperature

1 ¾ cups sugar

Directions

1.       Line baking pan with parchment paper for easy cake removal.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.       Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a cup, mix milk and vanilla. Set aside.

3.       Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

4.       In a large bowl, cream butter with a beater until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy.

5.       Mix the flour into the butter in 3 batches, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.  Beat until just combined.

6.       Re-whip the egg whites with a fork or manual whisk to combine (if it’s been sitting for a while, there will be liquid at the bottom and will just take a few seconds to re-combine)

7.       Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter at a time.

8.       Pour into the pan and tap on counter to release air bubbles.

9.       Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Cool and slice.

Batter before baking...

After baking.

Buttercream recipe

I tripled the following recipe for this 3 tiered cake.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature

4 cups icing sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowel and beat until fluffy.  Add more milk for a thinner, less stiff consistency.

Fillings

Raspberry buttercream (Mix buttercream with jam to taste)

Raspberry jam

Fondant Carnations

I used pre-made fondant for these carnations.  I added (a lot) of food colouring to dye the fondant black. Here’s how I made the carnations:

1.       Roll out some fondant.  The longer and wider the roll, the bigger the carnation.

2.       Use a spatula to press and drag the fondant, working your way from one end to the other.

3.       Use the spatula to scrape under the fondant to release it from the work surface, in one motion from one end to the other.

4.       Starting from one end, gather the fondant to make a carnation.

Adding gel food colouring to the fondant.

Final colour.  It had a slight purple tint to it...but it'll do.

 

Fondant rolled out.

Pressed and pulled by spatula.

Gathered to make carnations.

Cake Assembly

1.       Cut the cakes to the desired sizes.  I made 3 different sizes for a 3 tiered cake. (Notice that I pieced the top tier together from scraps!)

2.       Slice each tier in half so that they can be filled.  At this point, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and froze them to make them easier to work with, although this is not necessary.

3.       Place each tier on their pre-cut cardboard bases.  The middle and top tiers are placed on cardboard that is flush with the cakes (exact size). Use a dollop of buttercream to secure the cake to the base.

4.       Spread raspberry jam on the bottom slice of one tier.  Spread the raspberry buttercream on top.

5.       Place top slice to sandwich the filling and repeat with the other tiers.

6.       Cover the tiers with buttercream. I used Wilton piping tip #789 to cover the cakes.

7.       Cut and insert dowels into the bottom and middle tiers (I used chopsticks for the bottom and straws for the middle tiers).

8.       Stack the cakes

9.       Pipe buttercream into the crevices between the tiers.

10.   Arrange fondant flowers, securing with more buttercream.

11.   I glued tulle fabric around the edge of the cake to hide the foil base.

Final cake:

Verdict: The bride-to-be loved the cake, and the guests thought it was delicious!  A small slice goes a long way with this cake and there was a lot left over.  They ate the rest of the cake at a BBQ hosted by the bride-to-be’s family 2 days later.  Thanks to my friend Tina who promoted my blog as I was cutting the cake by yelling “tast-e blogpot”!!!