Ultimate Gummy Bear Cake

This has got to be one of the most outrages and memorable cakes I've made this year, and it's only February! I got the order for a gummy bear encrusted cake. Sounds simple enough except it had to be colour sorted and arranged in rainbow layers. One thing you don't realise is how many gummy bears it takes to cover a 11" round cake that is 8" high. Like a lot!

More Gummy Bears Than You Can Count

Assembling this cake was thoroughly therapeutic, though I realised this is one of those OCD nightmare situation - not a colour out of place, no alignment issues and no missing spots please. When I was finally done, it was nothing short of a bejeweled armour - a squishy, chewy, fruity one.

Bejeweled Blitz

The cake is a 4-layer moist chocolate cake covered in a satiny Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It was Mummy E who suggested a dark cake inside to contrast the colourful bright outside. The result was stunning. The kids went wild, of course.

Chocolate Surprise

If you were at the Candylicious boutique over the weekend and wondered where all the gummy bears went, well, now you know.

Rainbow Cheesecake

After having made more rainbow cakes than I care to count, I am now adding another spectrum to my multi layer colour baking - the Rainbow Cheesecake.

I'm not sure how many of you saw it on your Facebook feed but there was a post that was making its rounds on social media on how to make a rainbow cheesecake. It looked absolutely delicious! My sister-in-law J was the first to post the tutorial on my timeline with a message - "Make this please!"

It was a matter of time that the rainbow starts to invade all sorts of baked goods. There was no better time to try this than for my hubby's cousin's 16th birthday. Her dad had contacted me to bake something for her Sweet 16, and being family who have been recipients of my cakes on almost all occasions, I was happy to try something new for once.

I didn't care for the recipe in the tutorial. Every baker has their own cheesecake recipe - if it works, don't try to mess things up. I figured the only additional step would be adding in the food colours into the cheesecake batter.

So here goes...

Technicolor Cheesecake

The coloured batter spread like a dream. I think the next time I try this, I will make more batter to get one or two more colours in. The hubby also suggested that I could do a monochrome ombre cheesecake - Hunny, consider it done! :)

Anyway, the birthday girl was totally surprised when she saw the cake (even I couldn't stop looking at the cake after taking it out of the oven). She loves cheesecake and this was the ultimate birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Christel

Cake Out in Jakarta

Here's another one of my random musings about a baker's life. So I was in Jakarta last month and I've discovered that the Rainbow cake and Red Velvet cakes are hugely popular in the Indonesian capital! My hubby joked that my business would boom if I started baking there. Then I found out from my Indon friends that 2012 was the height of the coloured cake craze. Still, the demand is apparent seeing how many cafes, restaurants, supermarket counters and cake shops offer the multi-coloured cake.

This called for a bit of investigative tasting.

I went to Pacific Place, one of the many upscale shopping malls in Jakarta. There's a lovely cafe there called The Goods Dept Cafe & Diner. It reminds me of the first P.S. Cafe. It's actually a store selling exclusive imports as well as local designer goods from apparel to accessories and lifestyle products, books and gifts. I zoomed into the cafe as the cakes in the display caught my eye!

Here's the Red Velvet cake. Five layers of dense chocolate-flavoured crimson cake with cream cheese frosting in between and topped with cake crumbs.

Flatiron of red velvet

The cake looked impressive and at Rp 60,000 (approx USD6) a piece, it's considered a pricey confectionery. It's got good flavour but a little dry for my liking. The cake is very dense so although it's a modest slice, it was a feat to finish. 

And here's the Rainbow cake (also Rp 60,000). I've made so many Rainbow cakes but have yet to really sit down to eat a piece. The colours were perfect, so I was eager to find out how this tasted. 

Pelangi Pelangi ('rainbow' in Bahasa)

There is something quite artificial about the cake. I couldn't decide if it was my brain playing tricks because the colours were just too vibrant to be food. But I do believe this cake is not butter-based, probably oil-based which is not ideal for taste if there is no other flavour anchoring it - i.e. chocolate, banana cinnamon, etc. Having said that, it's just gorgeous to look at.

The perfect coffee break

I wanted to try out a few more Rainbow cakes, I really did... but I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy baking more than eating cake. Is that possible? If you're curious about how popular these cakes are, you only need to google 'rainbow cake' and 'Jakarta'.

Here's what you'll typically see in cake shops in Jakarta, Rainbow cake by the slice in the top shelf!

Dapur Cokelat Shop

The Harvest Patissier

Cakes in a Jar

Some weeks back, my friend Eve (thebottomsupblog.com) got me to bake a rainbow cake for her hubby, I blogged about it here. She had put together a rainbow themed party with a dessert table that was totally eye candy, you can read about it at her blog.

Now to back track a little, Eve had actually asked at that time if I could try baking in jars. She found a great idea online to make little gifts out of cakes in jars. She wanted the rainbow cake to be inside individual jars that could be given away to her guests at the party, which is genius!

Unfortunately, I just didn't have the time then to try it out and we couldn't get the most appropriate jars for the job. Well Eve, I just gave it a shot with those nifty Ikea mini jars and it turned out brilliant :)

This is what I did...

Prepare the rainbow cake batter and placed the individual coloured batter in piping bags.

Colours ready to go

Before using the the glass jars, sterlise with hot water and then make sure it is completely dry. Then grease the inside with a little butter or canola oil.

Recognise these jars?

Fill the glass jars one layer of colour at a time. Make sure to press the batter against the wall of the jar as that will give you the coloured layer look. Admittedly, these Ikea jars are not the best glassware for the job - it's irregular shaped and the opening is narrow. For best results, get straight jars with large opening.

Fill to the half way mark

These jars are too full 

As you can see from the picture, my jars are too full - ideally they should be 50-60% filled, leaving room for expansion. There was major overflow while the cakes baked but with some cleaning up, it turned out alright.

Jar full of rainbow

I made these for my dear cousin's surprise birthday. I decorated it with her name using art paper and glitter crayon. There's so many ways you could dress up these jars, they really do make great gifts!

Happy Birthday Gopi

Eve, thanks for sharing this great idea! You have cake credit with me ; )

Rainbow Cake

Rainbow Cake

This cake never fails to put a smile on my face no matter how many times I bake it. A light and moist cake layered in the colours of the rainbow and frosted with sweet mascarpone cream cheese, it holds a special surprise for the one who cuts into it.

Variation: This cake can be made in an array of colours. Pick a colour theme - pastels, primary colours, or try various hues of your favourite shade.