Autumn Leaf Cake

Autumn Leaf Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a recent cake I made that was inspired by the falling autumn leaves. It was a time consuming cake but not difficult.

Make yourself a chocolate cake, there are enough recipes out there to suit you and coat the cake in two layers of chocolate buttercream. I made a chocolate ganache buttercream on this occasion.

You do need to buy fondant icing in at least two colours, here I chose pumpkin orange and caramel brown. You will also need some leaf cutters in at least three different shapes.

I used oak, maple and ash I believe!

Warm your fondant icing in your hand and kneed until pliable. You can then roll out a little sausage shaped length in two colours and twist together. Roll out to a good pound thickness and cut out your leaves. Do this in small batches so you get a range of marbled leaf shapes.

Leave to harden over a curved surface such as a rolling pin or wine bottle, leave some to dry flat.

When the leaves harden arrange at the base of the cake pushing into the icing to neaten the edge and in a pile on the top.

Enjoy!

Tarty Tarte Tatin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tasty Tarte Tatin

This decadent tarte tatin really is as good to eat as it looks. Leave to cool slightly before tucking in so that the caramel starts to get a little tacky and sticks to your teeth before being washed away by the softness of the apple. Yum!

Ingredients

240g caster sugar

90 g unsalted butter diced

1 x 500g pack of puff pastry

2 pink lady apples

a little flour for rolling out

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

vanilla ice cream to serve

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200C/ 180 fan or gas mark 6

Take a heavy based  small frying pan and heat the sugar with a little water until the sugar dissolves and starts to caramelise, don’t stir as the mixture may crystalise.

Once the sugar has reached a dark caramel colour remove from the heat and add the sugar carefully so as not to splash yourself with molten liquid!

Roll out the pastry to the size of the frying pan around the thickness of a pound coin.

Peel and core the apple and cut each into four wedeges, arrange on top of the caramel place the cinnamon stick across the tart diagonally if using. Then tuck in the pastry just like a blanket and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes.

Leave to cool before turning out, and serve with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream and enjoy!