Cake therapy!

I was obsessed with the idea of baking and decorating a three tiered semi-naked cake. These obsessions tend to creep up whenever looming deadlines are in view. This time was no exception. I was dreading an upcoming exam.

Baking a cake is easy. Decorating it not so much. The only cake pans I got at home are 4-inches in diameter to assist me with my mini baking experiments. The flavour combination i picked to play with are chocolate (cake base), english breakfast tea (Swiss buttercream) and walnuts (textural component between the layers). In hindsight perhaps a sharp component should have been added to cut through all the richness. But since I cut down all the sugar in my recipe adaptations, the end product was not too overly sweet which helped dial down the richness.

I used this chocolate cake recipe and modified this London fog butter cream recipe..

I topped the 3 tier cake with chocolate ganache, walnuts and chocolate leaves. Not bad first attempt at assembling and decorating a cake if I must say so myself. Decorating the cake was so fun as a stress relieving activity and I shared most of it with friends. As the holiday season approaches, hopefully there will be more opportunities to bake for friends and family.