HELLO! I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in almost a month…. the longest hiatus yet! Between trips to obtain visas, and moving our lives to another continent, things have been a little hectic. But finally, we’re pretty well settled into our flat in Paris (although still waiting for our shipment from home to show up) – so time (finally) for a little blogging!

This is a cake that I made back in July for my Aunt Pat’s birthday. The frosting is done with a really simple technique that looks really cute.

First, I made the frosting (maple!) using this recipe from Martha Stewart :

INGREDIENTS

2 cups pure maple syrup
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
4 sticks of butter (2 cups), cold

DIRECTIONS

Pour maple syrup into a saucepan, fitted with a candy thermometer, over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, until the thermometer reads 240F.

Meanwhile, add the yolks to the bowl of an electric mixer, and whip until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

When the syrup is ready, pour into the yolks, with the mixer going, in a slow and steady stream.

Beat until completely incorporated, and the bowl has cooled slightly – about 5 minutes.

Cut the butter into pieces, and add to the mixer one piece at a time. Continue beating for about 5 minutes after all the butter has been added, until smooth.

Now for the fun part! Have your cake ready to go – I like to bake the cake the night before frosting it.

Start by stacking the two cakes with a layer of frosting in between.

Add a crumb-coat of icing all over the cake. It doesn’t need to be pretty, it just needs to hold all the crumbs in! I find it easiest to do this by rotating the cake on a turn table, and holding an offset knife still.

Once the crumb-coat is complete, refrigerate for an hour.

Once the crumb-coat is set, the main icing layer can be added without having to worry about the crumbs, and it will go on much more smoothly.

Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2″ round tip.

Pipe a line of vertical dots down the side of the cake, and flatten each one with an offset knife.

Continue adding dots of frosting and flattening, until you’ve gone all the way around the cake.

Just for a little added touch, I cut maple leaves out of red-orange fondant and added to the top of the cake :)

And that’s it! A cute cake in no time.

And, a lovely photo of my Aunt Pat and Uncle Art + family, blowing out the candles ♥
xxoo