Pottering Around the Kitchen: Making a Golden Snitch Cake

Last year I made this Death Star cake for our dear friend Ted. It was a poor imitation of a cake by JustKist on Cake Central (in my defence it took two people 25 hours to make their flawless moon of destruction). Aside from the dodgy execution, there were only two problems with it:

First, Ted was actually six not five.

Though we came up with a creative solution to that issue.

Ted wrote the post-it himself, it is meant to say that 

"Ted is Five Times the Average Jedi!" 

Second was that it was a spherical cake. Egads, what a horror job it is to ganache and cover a spherical cake and still have it come out looking like a ball. 

My X-Wing was a bit chubby but it was

also about 25mm long so it was hard to

make it more delicate. Please note that the 

Tie Fighter is Darth Vader's.

Given how hard I found it to make a spherical cake, whatever was I thinking agreeing to make my least favourite shape of cake for our friends and their daughter Gwen? 

The snitch cake had two real challenges for me: the first was that the Death Star was able to have a seam around the middle which meant I could mount the two cakes on boards and ganache and cover them separately; the second was that I somehow lost the recipe that I used very successfully on that previous cake. Spherical cakes are tricky, especially if they are larger than 8 inches in size, the depth of the tin means they have to bake for quite a long time which risks drying out the cake or uneven baking. In the end I chose this recipe for an oil-based chocolate cake (to keep it moist) and I used flower nails in the bottom of the tin to help ensure that the cake cooked in the middle. 

While we are talking tips, should you ever be tempted to buy a can of a releasing agent like this:

$9.95 at most cake decorating shops

around my way...Consider instead:

$2.23 from most supermarkets and

pretty much exactly the same product.

Let me also make the point that this is

the only time I ever use canola oil. Ever.

I bring this up because it is a good idea to use a releasing agent in ball tins, they are far too awkward to line with baking paper and, besides, life is so much easier when one can use a spray something isn't it? 

Enough chitter chatter, here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Method

1. Heat oven to 180°C. Spray 2 x 8 inch ball tins with releasing agent (see tip above).

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 55-65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

And the end result?

 I filled the cake with milk-chocolate ganache but covered

it in dark-chocolate ganache for stability. The book was a

cheat: I had to run out and buy a Dan cake from the supermarket

when I realised there was a bare patch on the board that needed

filling (which is also why it's a bit wonky). 

Wand and scarf were fondant.

When I arrived with the cake, the birthday girl exclaimed
"Oh! I thought it would just be a round cake, I wasn't expecting

a ball cake!"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I agreed to make my 

least favourite type of cake.