Today I have baked a Peggy Porschen recipe for white chocolate layer cake covered in a whipped cream and white chocolate ganache. The recipe is from her latest book Boutique Baking and is reproduced with permission from the publisher below.
Cake lovers will be pleased to hear that covering cakes with sugarpaste is old hat.
Rather than rolling out giant circles of sugar paste and fretting about tearing and cracking, en vogue is covering cakes in buttercream or ganache.
The bad news is that covering a cake immaculately in buttercream or ganache isn’t any easier than sugarpaste.
Unless you’re Peggy Porschen.
I watched Peggy demonstrate how she smooths buttercream onto sponge cake at this year’s Squires Sugarcraft Show in Surrey where she was promoting her new book Boutique Baking. Like all professionals, she made it look very simple, I found it a lot trickier at home!
It’s down to wrist technique, Peggy was giving the knife a gentle wave as she moved around the cake. I need a bit more practice. Definitely a cake turntable helps.
A couple of cakes caught my eye in Peggy’s new book Boutique Baking – Kelly at American Cupcake in London had pipped me at the post to do the limoncello layer cake so today I present the white chocolate passion cake.
Technically mine isn’t passion cake, I didn’t have passionfruit jam or curd so I used apricot. But it is definitely a cake to be passionate about.
I was concerned making it as the batter seemed so liquid, but fear not the white chocolate helps it firm up. It has a moist crumb texture and definitely tastes of white chocolate.
Hazard number two was piping with white chocolate ganache. First it’s too hard then it goes soft in your hands through the piping bag. You have to work deftly and confidently to get all the way round.
I was also worried I’d not have enough ganache to both cover the cake and do the piping. It’s a bit tight but there is just enough if you are careful. Probably I’d be happier with slightly more ganache so I could cover the cake more thickly but I just about managed it.
Another thing to watch out for is that the bobbles of white chocolate piped around the base of the cake stuck to my cardboard cake lifter! I would pipe these on in situe next time.
My favourite thing about this cake is the size. It is uses three 6 inch tins which yes, I had to invest in because usually I make 7 or 8 inch cakes. It’s a really elegant size for a three layer cake, not too big, not too small. So I’ll definitely be getting more use out of these tins.
Have you ever tried getting a smooth covering on a buttercream cake? How did you find it?
Peggy Porschen recipe: White Chocolate Passion Cake
Ingredients:
For the cake mix
125g white chocolate, chopped or in buttons
170ml milk
60g soft light brown sugar
225g caster sugar
105g unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
215g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of saltFor the chocolate buttercream
50ml whipping cream
65g white chocolate, chopped or in buttons
55g unsalted butter, softened
55g icing sugar, siftedFor the filling
2 tbsp Peggy’s Passionfruit Jam or any other good quality passionfruit jamEquipment
Basic baking kit
3 x 15cm (6in) round sandwich tins
Cake leveller or large serrated knife
Non-slip turntable
Flat disc to place on top of the turntable
(Peggy uses the loose base of a 30cm (12in) springform cake tin)
15cm (6in) cake card
Metal side scraper
Plastic piping bag
Plain round 4mm piping nozzleDirections:
Bake the sponges one day ahead of serving. Prepare the buttercream filling and assemble and decorate the cake on the day of serving.
Preheat the oven to 160c/ gas mark 3.
Prepare the sandwich tins by greasing and lining them with greaseproof paper.
To make the cake
Place the white chocolate, milk, light brown sugar and 85g of the caster sugar in a deep saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring with a spatula.
Place the butter and the remaining caster sugar in a mixing bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.
Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl and slowly add the butter mixture while whisking quickly.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the butter mixture in two batches. Mix together at a slow speed until the batter is just combined.
Slowly pour the hot chocolate mix into the batter in a thin and steady stream, mixing at a medium speed. Scrap the bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure the batter is well combined.
Immediately pour the sponge mix into the lined cake tins, dividing the batter evenly. If you find it difficult to measure by eye, use your kitchen scales to weigh out the amount of cake mixture for each tin.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven. If you are using deeper cake tins, the sponges will take longer to cook. The sponges are cooked when the sides are beginning to shrink away from the edges of the tins and the tops are golden brown and spring back to the touch. If in doubt, insert a clean knife or wooden skewer into the centre of each sponge, it should come out clean.
Once the sponges are baked, let them rest for about 30 minutes outside of the oven. Once just warm, run a knife all the way round the sides of the tin, remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
Once cool, wrap the sponges in cling film and then rest it overnight at room temperature. This will ensure that all the moisture is sealed in and the sponges firm up to the perfect texture for trimming and layering. When trimmed too soon after baking, the sponges tend to crumble and may even break into pieces.
To make the chocolate buttercream
Place the cream in a saucepan and bring to a bare simmer. Place the white chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the top. Whisk together until smooth. Once combined, leave to set at room temperature; the white chocolate ganache should have the consistency of very soft butter.
Place the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy. One spoonful at a time, add the white chocolate ganache to the mixture and stir through until combined.
To assemble the cake
Trim and sandwich together the three sponge layers using the passionfruit jam. Reserve one tablespoon of the chocolate buttercream for the piped decoration, then with the remaining buttercream, cover or mask the top and sides of the cake. (More detailed instructions how to do this are in the book) Chill until set.
To decorate
Place the cake either on a cakestand or on top of the turntable covered with a piece of greaseproof paper.
Place a round nozzle into a plastic piping bag and fill with the remaining buttercream. Divide the top of the cake into 12 equal segments. At the top edge pipe a series of double swags (I managed a less elegant single swag!!) all round the sides, revolving the turntable as necessary. To finish, pipe dots on top of the swag joints and pipe a row of dots all around the bottom edge of the cake. (More detailed instructions on this are elsewhere in the book). If the cake has been placed on greaseproof paper, chill until the piped dots are set before transferring to a cakestand.
Serve the cake at room temperature. This cake is best enjoyed within 3 days of baking, but it can last up to 1 week.
Up until 15th July I am giving away three copies of Boutique Baking so hop on through if you would like to win a copy. (EU entrants only).
With thanks to Quadrille for review copy of Boutique Baking. Peggy Porschen recipe reproduced with permission.
Having watched Peggy with you I can comfirm that it is not that easy at all to get a good finish. A crumb layer helps, but i need to frost a load more cakes before I get good at this!
Probably not having exactly the right tools doesn’t help, I had a stand but not a proper scraper.
What a fantastic cake! So pretty and irresistible.
Cheers,
Rosa
Wowzers. Looks fantastic and sounds delicious
Thanks, it was!
I am so impressed with this cake. I know how tricky icing a cake as well as this can be and it certainly isn’t a strong point of mine but your advice is really helpful, thanks!
I just love everything about it and think the white chocolate buttercream sounds like heaven :-)x
It was tricky to work with, especially piping with such a small quantity left over and it going melty in your bag but I’m fairly pleased with the result as a first attempt!
Wow. This looks amazing and you say this was your first attempt! I never liked the taste of sugar paste and always use ganache pr buttercream for frosting my cakes. Of course m a novice at this and still trying to learn the tricks. This book sounds like a good investment.
HAve a nice day!
Anuja
It’s a lovely book and I recommend a trip to Peggy’s Parlour if you are in London 🙂
Aww, thanks for name dropping my cake! Yours looks pretty good. I’m investing in a better cake scraper. Lakeland sell them for 99p I think. I love my cake turntable! I bought one after I saw Lorraine Pascale use it on her show.
I love my cake turntable, it makes getting at them so much easier!
This cake looks fab! You did a fine job!
I’ve never heard of Peggy but I can confirm that buttercream is bloody difficult! I think it is easier if you have more to work with, but you know what is uber-cool now? No icing. Yep, nude cakes. You heard it here first. At least, that’s the new trend in our house. I had a minor meltdown shortly before my daughter’s third birthday party thanks to some meringue buttercream – the memory is still too fresh!
Your cake looks fantastic! I looked at this recipe in Peggy’s book and thought it looked delicious, but wondered where I would get the jam for it. Did you use apricot because you couldn’t find the passion fruit jam, or because you didn’t want to buy it? Do you know where I could find the passionfruit?
Peggy does her own passionfruit jam in the Parlour, I just don’t like passionfruit anyway and prefer apricot!
What a fabulous cake, I just had to pin it when I saw it!
I’m delighted that buttercream is making a comeback, I find sugar paste a bit icky, though useful if you have to cut out shapes.
I am investing in a turntable when I get back in September, and I’m going to use your book and practice piping, because, unlike you, I am hopeless!
I’ve heard so much about Peggy’s book and this blog post has confirmed for me that I need to have it. So I have put it only my birthday list for a couple of weeks time. Do you know if anywhere actually sells passion fruit curd? It would be helpful to be able to buy some. The white chocolate sounds amazing and useful to know that a little more is needed. I’ve just started covering a few of my cakes with whipped buttercream. It’s tough to get it perfect but good fun trying.
Peggy’s Parlour sells her own jam – and some lovely aprons! (not to mention cake)
My frosting skills are really bad!! And I’ll have to frost at least a 100 of them for it to look as incredible as yours, Sarah! LOVE the idea of white chocolate and passionfruit together! 🙂
That looks A-mazing! Beautiful cake, and beautiful picture. Love the blue in the background. Clever you.
Hmmmm…I love White Chocolate, this is such a yummy cake and looks very addictive. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Fabulous looking cake. When making Hubs’ birthday cake in December I had to put a perfectly smooth layer of ganache under the sugarpaste, my turntable was my friend. I’d like to get better at it though as personally I can’t stand sugarpaste!
What a fabulous cake…as you say, certainly a cake to be passionate about! I also concur with the comments about the difficulty of getting a perfect covering! I’d love to try a slice of this! 🙂
What a lovely cake! I’m a massive white chocolate fiend so this is right up my alley. I really like working with buttercream, even if I can’t get it completely smooth. My excuse is that I like a bit of rustic charm! It must have been great watching a pro though!
Wow, this looks perfect!
I have never tried making a buttercream cake, but I think it will happen in the near future!
BEAUTIFUL!!! I recently made a chocolate cake that needed some trimming to make both halves the same and level, but had no idea that by doing that, the cream cheese icing I was about to spread across it would pick up quite so many crumbs!! THAT was frustrating.
Yes you need two coatings – the first one is the crumb coating, so called for that very reason!
This looks amazing! My favorite cuban bakery makes a similar cake and I love it!
This is stunning ….. for a lack of words to really tell you what I think. Wow!
My goodness that looks wickedly good! Wish I had her new book I have the others. Amazing job 🙂
This looks beautiful! I think I need a cake turntable!
Mr Glam loves white chocolate. This is definitely one to bring out for the next big family dinner. I think covering a cake smoothly with buttercream is tough, but yours looks fab. GG