It is Dawn's birthday on Saturday; however, as I now work 3 days a week at one place and 2 days a week at another place while I am on secondment, I made her cake for Wednesday at work. I like cakes that give a bit of bang for my buck, so when I saw the Pistachio Petit Four Cake here on Smitten Kitten's site (who in turn found it on Leite's Culinaria), I knew I had to try it. This gorgeous stunner of a cake is from Sky High: Irresistable Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman, Peter Wynn and Tina Rupp. I now have the book on order from Amazon, and can't wait to receive it.
Even though this cake looks complicated, it is very simple to make. It consists of 3 layers of pistachio flavoured cake:
with each layer covered with apricot jam, marzipan rounds and ganache:
stacked "sky high" on top of each other:
and covered with more ganache, and decorated with marzipan roses and pistachios:
I used my William Angliss flower making skills to make the marzipan roses. I hated the yellow I tinted the marzipan - I added too much tint, as I was hoping for lemon, not gold. I also liked the more subtle effect of the edible chalks on white better than this solid block of colour. However, I was pleased with the shape of the roses.
I used a slightly different ganache recipe to the original which uses less chocolate, but otherwise, I followed the recipe to a "T".
Verdict: This cake is a visual stunner. It also tastes pleasant enough, although it was not my favourite thing. However, my colleagues, and most importantly Dawn, seemed to like it a lot, and even the crumbs were scooped up.
9 comments:
This cake is easy on the eye but as for the taste...send a piece and i can confirm/refute your opinion!
Oh my - that is a huge cake!! Even I would only have one slice. Or the second slice would have the be very small.....who am I kidding?
I've said it before. Your colleagues are lucky to have you. It's stunning.
That is such a beautiful cake! I saw it on Smitten's site and thought it sounded so interesting. You did a fantastic job with your decorating. I could never make roses like that. I'm glad it was enjoyed!
As long as your mailing out tastes I'll take a slice, thanks ;)
Seriously, I love pistachio cake (actually, anything) so this is definitely a winner in my book. And I can't believe you made your own roses. I buy mine :(
What a splendid birthday cake! And the thought of each layer being covered in apricot jam just makes me happy.
Oh, this looks tasty. I love tall cakes - there's something so deliciously decadent about them. And the roses are charming. :)
I love cake with ganache. It makes great compliment to any cake, especially chocolate one. Your marzipan roses look gorgeous, Gaye!
I think the cake is so big I could dive into it! Dawn is a very lucky person :)
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