The fillings for the cakes were just Dairy-Free Swiss Meringue Buttercream with amped-up flavours. At the end of this post I will let you know which flavours the bride ended up choosing.
The bride really likes my Swiss-Meringue buttercream and originally wanted cupcakes topped with it, however, those of you who have transported this recipe will know, it doesn't handle the heat of the inside of the car on a hot summer afternoon. With the wedding being in late January (right in the middle of summer here in NZ) I can't risk showing up with a plate of melted mess.
The best compromise we could come up with was mini cakes with the buttercream as a filling instead of a topping, that way it wouldn't get direct sunlight and be ruined.
The cakes were filled with a swiss-meringue filling, dammed with chocolate ganache and covered in dairy-free modelling chocolate or royal icing
A full step by step for the buttercream can be found here, I made a double batch and split it into 6 bowls, then I made a 1/3 recipe with brown sugar and transferred that to one bowl.
To make the different flavours add the following to each bowl:
Raspberry: 2 Tbsp Good quality raspberry jam (I used Anatoth's)
Chocolate: 75g Good quality dark chocolate, melted
Salted Caramel: 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, 1/4 tsp salt (use the brown sugar version for this one)
Mint: 1/4 tsp Peppermint extract
Vanilla: 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
Peach: 2 Tbsp Peach jam
Lemon: Rind from one lemon + 2 tsp lemon curd
For the White modelling chocolate
400g Dairy free white chocolate
(I used Sweet Williams - Tip: it's $1-1.50 cheaper at Pak'n Save than Countdown)
110g Glucose syrup, diluted 4:1 with water or light corn syrup
- Melt the chocolate over a double boiler
- Microwave the syrup for 20 second
I found so many conflicting opinions around how best to make modelling chocolate without corn syrup. One forum had a discussion around the use of glucose syrup (a thicker, corn based, clear, syrup) and how it just makes a crumbly mess. Other forums 'discussed' (argued, on line yelled at each other) adding water to the glucose to thin it out. I can attest to the fact that this works. You end up with modelling chocolate that is firm without being un-usable and (after kneading) soft without being too sticky.
Don't bother buying modelling chocolate, even if you can eat dairy, it is ridiculously expensive, we're talking $8 for 100g here!!! The above recipe makes 500g for $15 and it would be even cheaper with Dairy-Filled chocolate.
If you can't have corn, you can substitute with golden syrup or honey but note that it will be considerably sweeter than this recipe.
To make with regular white chocolate, use only 300g White Chocolate
To make with dark chocolate use only 200g Dark Chocolate
The four flavour combinations the bride (and groom) chose were:
Lemon cake with vanilla filling - To cut on the day
Chocolate cake with chocolate filling - To take home for tradition
Vanilla Cake with raspberry filling - Mini cakes for guests
Chocolate cake with salted caramel filling - Mini cakes for guests
Come back next week for Day Three: Decorating
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